"BorderLine Blitz" Impressions…

A hearty “Thank You” goes out to the Bell Air Flyers Club & Members for allowing the use of their superb aerodrome to host the “BorderLine Blitz” IMAC Contest. This was their first IMAC contest ever and it was even sweeter when one of their own took home hardware in his class. Congrats to Tom Landry on taking second in his first contest in Basic! Thanks also to “Executive Chef” Donna and her crew for keeping all attendees sumptuously fed and content. All volunteers (score runners, scribes, fire marshals, sanitary engineers, etc,) are also very much appreciated and the inhabitants of the “Score Cave” were tolerably pleasant.

Many of our Basic Pilots moved to Sportsman this year, creating a slight vacuum in Basic and a huge pool of competitive juices flowing in Sportsman. 2010 is shaping up to see many close races.

All four classes flown were hotly contested, with less than 12 points separating the closest first/second finish. No birds were lost during the contest but we did lose one to structural failure after the contest (tail feathers separated from the fuse) with no harm or damage to any contestants.

The weather was awesome & warm with clear blue skies all day Saturday and light haze/clouds on the Sunday.

Points of Interest:

• - Venus was very visible in the early to mid evenings.
• - An excellent apple pie & watermelon feast was enjoyed Friday night.
• - A lively debate on the location/identity of the “Big & Little Dippers” was most entertaining and went unresolved.
• - Coyotes yapping & Bullfrog baritones provided the “tunes” on Friday night.
• - An Intermediate plane confusing it’s occupant with a basic sequence mounted on the dash.

A good time was had by all with friendship, camaraderie and helpfulness being the order of the day…

Having a Great Time,
Peter Butschek.

Contest Results… 05152010 "BorderLine Blitz", Bellingham

Overall, there were 22 pilots flying in the 05152010 "BorderLine Blitz", Bellingham contest. In no particular order they were: Jerry Ruscheinski, Brian DeVerter, Jeff Phillips, Michael Raines, Dan Lurvey, Azhar Osmanbhoy, Bill Newman, Geoffrey Dryer, Harvey Dhiman, Chris Elliott, Thomas Landry, Henry Piorun, Warren Wilson, Michael Williams, James Robb, Brant Gladstone, Nick Bowling, Greg Zettler, Bill Fong, Keith Leifsen, David Easley and Stephen Lentz. These pilots flew a grand total of 320 judged sequences.

This contest was flown according to modified rules.

Chris Elliott won the Basic class. There were 5 pilots in Basic. The winning order was: (1) Chris Elliott, (2) Thomas Landry, (3) Brian DeVerter, (4) Stephen Lentz and (5) Jeff Phillips. They flew 7 known sequences (4 rounds). The scores ranged from a low of 3,810 to a high of 5,000 (a range of 1,190 points).

Michael Williams won the Sportsman class. There were 12 pilots in Sportsman. The winning order was: (1) Michael Williams, (2) Azhar Osmanbhoy, (3) Bill Fong, (4) Dan Lurvey, (5) Nick Bowling, (6) David Easley, (7) Geoffrey Dryer, (8) Greg Zettler, (9) Bill Newman, (10) James Robb, (11) Keith Leifsen and (12) Brant Gladstone. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,483.5 to a high of 4,820.4 (a range of 1,336.9 points).

Henry Piorun won the Intermediate class. There were 3 pilots in Intermediate. The winning order was: (1) Henry Piorun, (2) Michael Raines and (3) Warren Wilson. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 4,452.7 to a high of 5,000 (a range of 547.3 points).

Harvey Dhiman won the Advanced class. There were 2 pilots in Advanced. The winning order was: (1) Harvey Dhiman and (2) Jerry Ruscheinski. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,769.5 to a high of 5,000 (a range of 1,230.5 points).

In addition to the standard classes, there was 1 special class: Seniors.

Michael Raines won the Seniors class. There were 7 pilots in Seniors. The winning order was: (1) Michael Raines, (2) Dan Lurvey, (3) Nick Bowling, (4) Greg Zettler, (5) Bill Newman, (6) Thomas Landry and (7) James Robb. They flew 7 known sequences (4 rounds) and 2 unknown rounds. The scores ranged from a low of 0.493 to a high of 0.644 (a range of 0.151 points).

Harvey Dhiman won the Freestyle class. There were 2 pilots in Freestyle. The winning order was: (1) Harvey Dhiman and (2) Michael Williams. They flew 2 freestyle rounds. The scores ranged from a low of 1,880 to a high of 2,000 (a range of 120 points).

The tightest competition was for 1st place in the Sportsman class, with only 11.8 points difference between Michael Williams and Azhar Osmanbhoy.