Marvelous Masters

From the season-opening contest in Cullman, AL.....this 2004 SPA contest season has just been a "crescendo"...building toward the Masters finale contest this past weekend in Knoxville, TN.

Yes, the delay thrust upon the event by hurricane IVAN had a minute effect on the gathering...but not bad.

At the outset, CD Dennis Hunt declared, "had all showed up that pre-registered, this would have been the largest MASTERS in years with 40 pilots. There were 10 "no-show's" according to the CD...but due to the rescheduling, that was understandable.

From the opening invocation by Chaplain Denny Evans to the dismissal admonition to "drive home safely" by Hunt....."nary a NEGATIVE was encountered....with one exception". On about Round 3 Saturday, Keith Watson and Matt Hampton elected to fly in the same airspace at precisely the same instant.......and all heard that yucky THUD.......and glared at the debris flipping and flopping like a presidential candidate toward river occupied Terra-Firma. These guys, despite their innermost hurts, maintained their cool, forced smiles, and accepted with sincerity all the sentiments voiced them by all.

One, with knowledge of contest-holding, couldn't help but notice the depth of detail in planning by Hunt, his Co-CD Hartley and all the stalwart KCRC clubbers. An electric raffle-ticket mixer ran almost all day Saturday mixing the raffle tickets for the Radio won by lucky Carl Sten of Alcoa, TN. Banquet tickets were professionally designed for this event with graphic designs on them. Absolutely NO delay in starting both days.....KCRC even arranged for the morning sunshine to be out of the flying area covered by neatly-placed clouds far above max altitudes. (Suppose Chaplain Denny arranged this ? ) Nearly all computer entries were already made in advance thanks to the "pre-entries" motivated by the incentive of an additional raffle ticket for having pre-registered.

Special guest speaker for the annual MASTERS banquet Saturday night at an Oriental Buffet restaurant in nearby Oak Ridge, TN was former AMA President (9 years)....active RC pattern pilot and model kit designer.....Don Lowe. Don flew competition in this years MASTERS, he had only flown in our SPA contest in Gadsden, AL one day back in 1995. He and son Jon shared Jon's A6 Intruder. He still has what it takes to execute those maneuvers beautifully. Mrs. Lowe (Clara) did the drawing for the raffle radio, provided in part by Pyramid Hobbies in Cullman, AL.

Lowe's' address was scored a "10" by the attendees.....he commented in depth on the formulation of RC modeling and its' growth to present. Don has an article forthcoming titled "WHY IS COMPETITION IMPORTANT?" Our PIO has a verbal commitment for a draft of it just as soon as it is Tran scripted by Mrs. Clara (the typist). He opened himself to questions following his address and opined "you guys have a good thing going, your' format is ideal". He was asked, "other than having the big event in Carolina named the Don Lowe Masters Tournament" and served 9 years as AMA President, what is the most memorable event for you?". He gleefully answered...........the contest in (Ohio, I think) when I beat Jim Whitley!

The highlight of the Masters contest each year is the fly-off for the Memorial Trophy...this year, the fly-off followed round 6 on Sunday. It was a TOC like replication. Results from the "fly-off" and contest results will be posted on the SPA website shortly. Kudos to the 4 qualifiers who contended for this "most prestigious SPA award".....just imagine the pressure...flying for not 2 but 5 of your' peers.....high and low scores discarded.....nobody in the air but you with a loud- mouthed PA announcer encouraging every spectators' eye to become focused on your flight. Each of you 4 qualifiers deserve compliments. You are the "super-heroes" of our sport/hobby. Your dedication and talents are manifested by your' execution.

There were a number of door prizes given contestants....prizes solicited by Scott Anderson and given via a draw from that motorized ticket-mixer. Contest addendums such as this require much time and effort.....KCRC invested that time and effort, as opined here in this report.....the result.. an event that'll be relived and enjoyed via memories way beyond the ensuing season.

KCRC......again...................it was just GREAT !
SPA PIO

From The Contest Director

I was most disappointed when I learned from Jim Scarborough that only 30 pilots had registered for the contest and two of those were pilots I had not expected. Eleven pilots were KCRC members and I think that may be an all-time record. If the 10 "noshows" that had pre- registered had arrived we would have broken the SPA record for attendance at a contest. However, later I realized that it was probably a blessing. Keeping 40 flyers on the move is considerably more difficult than with 30 and whereas we would have struggled to complete four rounds and the Memorial Trophy Fly-Off because of the Saturday morning showers, we were only a little past the scheduled noon finish time on Sunday with five rounds and the fly-off completed.

The first two rounds of Novice were flown using the double maneuver sequence which SPA adopted a few years back. Because of time restraints I decided that would have to be changed to the original single sequence. I was expecting groans from some of the 12 pilots in that group so I pleasantly surprised to learn from a couple of them that they preferred the shorter sequence.

From the outset my main concern had been with the judging. With such a large number of novice pilots the burden of judging falls on a relatively small number. Fortunately Jerel Zarestky and Paul Funk came to the rescue and that greatly simplified the task. The few non-competing KCRC members who came along to help did a magnificent job and I thank all of them for making this contest the most successful of all the pattern contests I have had the pleasure of running in the past 20 years. The weather couldn't have been much better and the overcast skies allowed us to continue flying well past the 4.30pm limit when the sun is shining. Everything, including the Saturday Lunch run by Angie May, ran smoothly and competing in the Masters also added greatly to my personal enjoyment.

Having AMA Past President Don Lowe competing was one of the many highlights of the event. Another was the Saturday evening banquet at the China Buffet in Oak Ridge. Don Lowe's talk was most interesting and the good quality of the food was mentioned by quite a few of our visitors. Apart from the Futaba 9C system which was won by KCRCer Carl Sten at the dinner some 18 others prizes were handed out following the Awards Ceremony at the end of the contest.
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Dennis Hunt
Contest Director
2004 SPA Masters

From The Assistant Contest Director

I started working in earnest on the contest in February when I contacted Sid Austin of Pyramid Hobbies and asked if he could get us a Futaba 9C radio. As usual, Sid said no problem! Well Carl Sten is happy Sid fulfilled his promise.

I enjoyed the great fellowship. Words cannot express my personal enjoyment seeing and spending some quality time with my old friend Don Lowe! Each of us participating in this hobby owe Don a major debt of gratitude for his many years of tireless work on our behalf.

It seems like each SPA contest is better than the last for fellowship and fun. Dennis, Scott Anderson and I did what now seems like much more work than usual on this one. It was well worth the effort judging by comments and emails from those who attended.

The only bad thing this weekend was the mid air between Matt and Keith. I felt very sorry for both. Keith had to fly a borrowed plane in the fly offs. I and several others offered to let him use ours. He opted to fly Jim Roger's beautiful Atlas. As great as it flew, I am sure Keith would have faired much better with the one he had practiced with.

We acquired Derek Koopowitz PASS software for this year. This is great stuff! It allowed us to easily enter all the pre-registered folks and made sign in extremely fast. We need to thank Joel Hebert for his tireless work entering and compiling scores.

Thanks to all who played pass around Ed's camera for many of the pictures associated with this contest. Be sure and visit the "Rogues Galery".

I look forward to seeing everyone on the circuit next year!

Ed Hartley
Asst. CD

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