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2022 SPA
West Championships
Competitors began arriving around 7 am Saturday morning and registration and the pilots meeting were completed by 9 am. We had terrible weather with misting rain, low clouds & 25 mph winds, so we finally started flying at 11 am. We had 19 preregistered pilots including SPA VP Frank Cox who was not able to attend due to a car wreck that he was in at the Georgetown contest. We're hoping he has a fast recovery and is back to flying soon. We did have 15 contestants that made it and flew in the tough conditions on Saturday. Since everyone in attendance preregistered, I was able to have the flight lines and judging ready to go 1st thing. We started out with 1 flight line and I had Basic setup to go last so they would not have as much problem with the sun. We stayed with one flight line and got a total of 3 1/2 rounds in Saturday and were finished up at 6:30. Pat and Leslie Ensign donated and cooked fish for anyone that wanted to stay after flying on Saturday and we ended up feeding around 18 people and had a great time just hanging out. We started up again Sunday morning at 9 am and completed the final 2 1/2 rounds by 2pm. I am very pleased with the turnout since we had rain on Friday and the forecast called for temperatures in the 60’s and wind 15 to 25 mph. Basic had 3 contestants with Howard Moore flying his 17 oz. stick that handled the 20+ wind on Saturday better than some of the other planes at the contest. Great job, Howard. Bob Petrinec had some motor issues, but Steve Bird (HOTMAC president) loaned him a motor and Bob was able to finish the contest. Charles Cehand is back from a 20+ year absence from pattern and flew great until he had a minor issue and couldn’t continue. However, he stayed and helped out with judging. Howard More was 1st, Bob Petrinec 2nd and Charles Cehand 3rd. Advanced had a great turnout with 5 competing. The top 2 guys had a close battle all day long and it came down to the last round with Bobby Zikes finishing 1st, Ken Knotts 2nd and Chris Berardi 3rd. Expert had 4 competing with Wayne Galligan 1st, Cliff Bradford 2nd and Chuck Lee 3rd. Masters is a class we have been flying all year in the West and we had 3 competing. The finishing order was Todd Blose 1st, Pat Ensign 2nd and Danny Jackson 3rd SPA WEST Annual Points Champions
For the raffle we had 2 kits - a Tower Hobbies Trainer ARF (donated by the Blose’s) and a UFO donated by Aero Composites https://aerocompositesrc.com, as well as Futaba merchandise donated by Futaba USA Raffle winners.
I would like to send a special thanks to Pat Ensign for his help and Leslie Ensign for taking care of the scoring and getting the plaques together. A big thanks goes out to the HOTMAC club for all the support. A special thanks to the following HOT MAC members:
Looking forward to next year. Todd Blose, CD |
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Senior Pattern Association |
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| Dedicated to the Building, Flying and Competition of Vintage Pattern Model Aircraft | ||
The Heart of Texas Miniature
Aircraft Club (HOTMAC) held the SPA West Championship
contest on October the 29th and 30th. Wayne Galligan,
Max Blose, Danny Jackson and Gary Kropat were campers at
the field. The HOTMAC members worked Friday to get
everything ready for Saturday and Sunday and as always
were there for support throughout the weekend.