3rd Annual GAMARC SPA Contest
 Fort Valley, GA
Sept 7-8, 2024

  Scores   Photos  


The Pilots competing at the 3rd Annual GAMARC SPA Contest
 L-R: Terry Boston, Jim Johns, John Amerson, Joe Grant, Paul Hives (kneeling), CD Greg Hoke, Dave Phillips, Howard Moore (kneeling), Jeff Owens, Duane Wilson, Norman Bonnette (kneeling), Gordon Talbot, Victor McIntyre, John Wolfe, Paul Higginbotham, Joe Ryan & Robert Lane (kneeling)

The 3rd Annual SPA Contest, sponsored by the Georgia Aircraft Modelers Assn., was held the weekend of September 7-8, 2024 near Fort Valley, GA.

Several fliers arrived in their RVs on Wednesday, while others arrived over the next 3 days. The weather was a mixed bag. Wednesday and Thursday were beautiful, Friday was drizzly off and on all day which allowed some practice between rain drops, Saturday started cool and rainy then changed to bright sunshine and hot by afternoon and Sunday started partly cloudy and ended sunny. 

17 pilots completed registration Saturday morning - 9 from Georgia, 4 from Alabama and 1 each from Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi & Tennessee. Electric powered models outnumbered glow powered models 13-4.

CD Greg Hoke called the Pilot's Meeting at 9 a.m. and explained the field rules and judging procedures. The group photo (above) was taken at 9:55 after the light morning rain subsided, and the first aircraft were in the air soon thereafter. Due to size of the Sportsman class and in order to have appropriate judging, Basic and Advanced flew on one line and Sportsman on the other for Round 1, then swapped lines for Round 2. Expert and Masters then flew Rounds 1 & 2 before a brief intermission for lunch. Advanced and Masters flew Rounds 3 & 4 after the break, while Basic, Sportsman and Expert classes flew Rounds 3, 4 & 5. This was necessary due to the field's Sunday morning noise rules - no glow or gas engines in the air before 10 a.m. out of respect for the neighbors. Therefore, Advanced and Masters flew Rounds 5 & 6 back to back beginning at 8:30 Sunday morning because all competitors in those classes flew with electric power, then the other classes flew their 6th round. Competition was finished around 11, the scores were totaled and the awards were presented by CD Greg Hoke.

  • BASIC was dominated by Joe Grant who earned four Ks to take 1st place. Paul Hives flew his Ugly Stick to 2nd place with Norman Bonnette finishing 3rd and Victor McIntyre in 4th.

  • SPORTSMAN had five contestants and was quite the battle with 4 pilots each winning at least 1 round. In the end, Gordon Talbot won the last 2 rounds to secure the victory by a mere 18 points over Howard Moore with Duane Wilson in 3rd. John Amerson and Paul Higginbotham rounded out the class.

  • ADVANCED was a dog fight all weekend between Terry Boston and Jim Johns. Each won 3 rounds, but Terry took the win by less than 17 points courtesy of his 994 score in Round 1.

  • EXPERT had Jeff Owens take the honors with 4 Ks, closely followed by Dave Phillips and Robert Lane.

  • MASTERS - CD Greg Hoke was the runaway winner after scoring 5 Ks, followed by Joe Ryan and John Wolfe.

The raffle for the choice of one of several airplane kits was won by Brian Ozment who selected the fiberglass UFO. CD Dave Phillips invited everyone to the 2024 SPA East Masters contest October 5-6 at Mac Hodges Field near Andersonville, GA. There will be a chili supper on Friday night before the contest - everyone is welcome.

Greg's wife Deb then presented a cake to Jim & Bobbie Johns to commemorate their 43rd wedding anniversary. It was shared with all after thank yous and goodbyes were exchanged.

Thanks to all who helped out, especially GAMA Secretary/Treasurer Kevin Bartoe who did most of the scoring on Saturday.

Jim Johns
Final Scores
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