DOUGLASVILLE, GA...............August 16 & 17 was a typical gathering of Senior Pilots, families, airplanes, fun and fellowship at the Douglasville, GA airfield. The Douglas County Aeromodelers club turned it's nice facilities over to club members CD Dan Dougherty and Chief Judge Scott Sappington, while other club members cooked, greeted, etc. Club President Kurtis Lynn greeted attendees both days of the contest. Participants from Dallas, TX to the outer fringes of the Southeast and East contested til the delightful award ceremony shortly after noon on Sunday. There were NO serious crashes despite strong and sometimes circular winds making landing extremely difficult. Some models were removed from "flying capable", but none demolished.

The weatherman even held off the summertime showers from the immediate area although neighboring communities reported several tenths of an inch showers at times during the weekend.

Mike Clements, a native to Florence, AL but now a resident of Dallas, TX, won "kudos" for having traveled the furthest. Mike is active with the hub club of SPA West, the Fort Worth Thunderbirds.

Now for the results.

• Fred Robertson of the Alabaster, AL club had the NOVICE class all to himself. He flew his electrified Killer Chaos very well, but suffered fuselage damage when an unexpected wind gust interrupted his Round 4 landing.
• Dan Dougherty CD'd and flew as well garnering a victory in the Sportsman class. Dan won 3 rounds for a total of 3837, while Duane Wilson kept the heat on him, winning one round for a total of 3620.
• The ADVANCED class had 3 pilots who each won two rounds, hence the mere 45 points between 1st and 3rd. Ken Blackwell won Rounds 3 & 4 and jockeyed his COMPENSATOR to a winning score of 3967. Jim Johns, flying a Daddy Rabbit he obtained from Ron Reed, became better acclimated to the DR to K both Sunday rounds and score a total of 3940 to take 2nd place. Mike Clements won Rounds 1 & 2 but fell just short of Johns with 3922 for 3rd place.
• As was expected, some honest-to-goodness precision flying was demonstrated by the EXPERTS. Greg Hoke from Macon, GA proved to all he had been practicing a lot lately. Take a look at the Round 5 score with less than ONE itty-bitty point seperating Hoke and Warren Oliver. Hoke K'd 5 of the 6 rounds to win 4,000 to 3922. Kevin Clark kept them honest with a 3rd place score of 3466.
• In the "old mans class", Senior Expert, Jeff Owens topped 4 others with a clean score of 4K. Bruce Underwood was 2nd with 3938. Keith Watson took 3rd with 3472, Russ Chiles 4th with 3419 and Dave Phillips, Jr (Dad) scoring 3265. Sponsors provided picture frames to all participants and recognition of all at the awards ceremony.

Douglasville's club had a ruling against "raffles", explained Dan....however, we've some prizes we are giving in exchange for donations to the cause. Here's the listing of prize winners: 48" metal ruler to Ken Blackwell, mini jeweler's files to Becky Chiles, sharpening stone to Scott Holcomb, another 48" metal ruler to Debbie Hoke, a gallon of 15% Cool Power fuel to Bruce Underwood, and the grand prize of the Nova Rossi engine, gotten by the sponsor for a fraction of it's regular price from SMT Distributing....went to Duane Wilson.

You made us VERY comfortable DCA....thanks so much for the tremendous effort's you and your sponsoring friends exhibited, on our behalf Dan. You made for another wonderful weekend in the HUB of SPA's founding. It's folks like YOU who keep the wheels of SPA spinning. Everyone was a winner because of your efforts.

Bruce Underwood, PIO

Webmaster's addendum: Atlanta locals Scott Holcomb and his son Tom (right) came out to watch the goings on Saturday. Scott had contacted me earlier in the week for details about the contest. They watched very carefully, asked smart questions, and otherwise enjoyed themselves. Tom expressed interest in joining in the fun soon, and we look forward to seeing him on the circuit, as new folks are always welcome.