CONTEST SUMMARY
The 2009 Black Dirt IMAC Challenge was held on September 19-20, 2009 at the home field of The Black Dirt Squadron Model Airplane Club in Goshen, NY. We could not have ordered any better weather then what we had. For 3 consecutive days the winds were light, the temps were in the 65 – 70 degree range, humidity was low and for most of the contest there wasn’t a cloud to be seen in the sky. Twenty three pilots competed in all classes with 4 testing their skills during the Freestyle competition. Food was abundant with Hamburgers and Hot Dogs being served on Saturday and on Sunday everyone enjoyed a delicious a 7 foot hero - half Italian and half American.
The field was open for practice on Friday and 11 of the 23 pilots arrived early and took advantage of the great weather and field conditions to set up their tents and begin practicing for the contest. Flying finally concluded on Friday at 7:00 only because it became too dark to continue.
The weather on Saturday morning was a little chilly at around 55 degrees but many of the pilots “weathered” the cool air and began practice flying at 7:30. Tony Bonanno, Contest Director, opened registration at 8:00 and kicked off the contest with a pilots meeting at 8:45. The competitive flying began at 9:20 and continued almost non stop for 2 days with planes constantly flying except for a half hour break on Sunday between the Unknowns and the 4th Known Round.
Two flight lines were used to move the contest along, one for Basic, Advanced and Unlimited and the other for Sportsman and Intermediate. On Saturday 3 Rounds of Knowns were flown and since the flying was completed by 4:45, it was decided to also fly the Freestyle on Saturday. The competitive part of the day was concluded at 6:00 and many of the pilots continued flying once again until around 7:15 when they were forced to stop only because of the darkness.
On Saturday evening, while no event dinner was planned, it seemed like everyone ended up at the Outback in Middletown, NY as we managed to take over most of the restaurant and end the day with food, drink and fun.
On Sunday morning the weather was similar to Saturday and started off a little chilly but that quickly changed as the sun rose and began to heat us all up. As is usually the case on Sunday morning, all the pilots except Basic were deeply involved in memorizing their Unknowns and flying the sequence with their stick planes. You could hear a pin drop as everyone was focused on their Unknowns.
Tony Bonanno held a brief pilots meeting at 9:00 and competitive flying commenced at 9:30. The weather was again absolutely awesome as the temps rose to 65 – 70, humidity was low, winds were light and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen anywhere. Flying continued non stop except for a half hour break between rounds and was concluded by 1:00 and at 1:30 everyone gathered around for the awards presentation. Tony kicked off the presentation by thanking all contestants for coming to the meet, thanking Frank and Claire for their dedication in handling the contest scoring and thanking the 14 club members and 5 spouses that helped make the Black Dirt IMAC Challenge the huge success that it was.
Overall, there were 23 pilots flying in the Black Dirt contest. In no particular order they were: John Banks, John Sabini, Charles Davis, Stuart Chale, Eric Johnson, Robert Both, Steve Stanton, Anthony Szabo, Bill Lairsey, Eddie Meyer, Eric Guilmet, Jake Ruddy, Andrew Bird, Bill James, Mitchell Kugler, Brian G. Foveaux, Jim Cyr, Kenneth Warren, Scott Melville, Frank Puccio, BIll Bouchard, Alex Davis and Ted Hauser. These pilots flew a grand total of 418 judged sequences.
This contest was flown according to modified rules.
Stuart Chale won the Basic class. There were 9 pilots in Basic. The winning order was: (1) Stuart Chale, (2) Frank Puccio, (3) Eric Johnson, (4) Charles Davis, (5) Kenneth Warren, (6) Robert Both, (7) Steve Stanton, (8) Anthony Szabo and (9) BIll Bouchard. They flew 9 known sequences (5 rounds). The scores ranged from a low of 3,843.3 to a high of 5,980.4 (a range of 2,137 points).
Alex Davis won the Sportsman class. There were 6 pilots in Sportsman. The winning order was: (1) Alex Davis, (2) Andrew Bird, (3) Bill James, (4) Scott Melville, (5) Ted Hauser and (6) Mitchell Kugler. They flew 8 known sequences (4 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 4,793.9 to a high of 7,467.1 (a range of 2,673.3 points).
Jake Ruddy won the Intermediate class. There were 5 pilots in Intermediate. The winning order was: (1) Jake Ruddy, (2) Bill Lairsey, (3) Jim Cyr, (4) Eric Guilmet and (5) Eddie Meyer. They flew 8 known sequences (4 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 6,290.6 to a high of 7,417.9 (a range of 1,127.3 points).
John Banks won the Advanced class. There were 2 pilots in Advanced. The winning order was: (1) John Banks and (2) John Sabini. They flew 8 known sequences (4 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 6,564.4 to a high of 7,500 (a range of 935.6 points).
Brian G. Foveaux won the Unlimited class. There was 1 pilot in Unlimited. The winning order was: (1) Brian G. Foveaux. He flew 8 known sequences (4 rounds) and 1 unknown round.
In addition to the standard classes, there was 1 special class: Seniors.
Bill Lairsey won the Seniors class. There were 2 pilots in Seniors. The winning order was: (1) Bill Lairsey and (2) Scott Melville. They flew 8 known sequences (4 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 0.691 to a high of 0.714 (a range of 0.022 points).
Alex Davis won the Freestyle class. There were 4 pilots in Freestyle. The winning order was: (1) Alex Davis, (2) Jake Ruddy, (3) Jim Cyr and (4) Brian G. Foveaux. They flew 1 freestyle round. The scores ranged from a low of 774.6 to a high of 1,000 (a range of 225.4 points).
The tightest competition was for 3rd place in the Basic class, with only 1.9 points difference between Eric Johnson and Charles Davis.
Another big thank you to the Black Dirt Squadron Model Airplane Club and its members for allowing us to use their beautiful flying site in Goshen, NY.
Two contests remain in the NE Region, the New Hampshire Fall Foliage the weekend of 9/26-27 and the NE Regionals in Salem, CT the weekend of 10/9-11.