Twin Falls, Snake River Flyers IMAC 2010 Impressions…
Well the Twin Falls contest has come and gone and I would like to, first of all, thank all that took the time out of there busy lives who attended. I would also like the thank the Snake River Flyers for the use of the field for the weekend. And a big thank you for the score keepers Sherry Burgad, Jackie Green, Cheri Kuhn, and Cindy Mitchell (my wife).
The contest was sponsored by American Windshield Repair Systems (Darren and Cheri Kuhn). With their generous contribution we where able to give out cold hard cash to the first place winner of the first three classes as well as giving $100 to the farthest traveled to give back to the cause of travel expenses. Robert Ritchie from Smart Fly was another big giver with there donation of $230 worth of electronic goodies that they produce. All of the trophies for the contest where sponsored by the Imagination Station here in Twin Falls as they have always been very supportive of our IMAC and other local events. Again a huge thanks out to all who contributed.
We had a total of (20) pilots with 5 in Basic, 3 in Sportsman, 3 in Intermediate, 4 in Advanced, and 5 in Unlimited. The contest attracted pilots from all over the Northwest and Southwest regions with pilots from as far as Calgary, AB Canada to Salt Lake City, UT. This was the biggest contest that we have had here and we anticipate it to only get bigger and better. We had more local pilots at this contest than we have seen in the past as we are seeing more interest every year. The weather was outstanding with temp’s in the mid 70’s and a light Easterly breeze right down the runway. We where truly blessed by Mother Nature. We ran only one flight line, as we have in the past, so that we have a better judging pool to pick from. I think only the Unlimited where judged by the same judge twice. That has been very successful here at this somewhat small contest. We started flying Saturday morning about 9:30 and finished two rounds of knowns by about 3:30 and onto the Freestyle finishing that by later afternoon. On Sunday we started with the Unknowns and went right into the final Known round. We finished flying by about 2:30 and handed out the awards and were wrapped up by 3:30 so that the travelers could get home ASAP. You can read the results for the contest under Contest Results and see how it all panned out.
I look forward to the contest again next year with more pilots competing!
Best wishes,
Michael Verzwyvelt
Contest Results…
Overall, there were 20 pilots flying in the Snake River Flyers IMAC 2010 contest. In no particular order they were: Tony Fairbanks, Kelly Fairbanks, Brandon Peterson, Tim Cooper, Brandon Rosenquist, Tony Sarra, Michael Verzwyvelt, Keith Bodeau, Jeff Blaylock, Jim Grady, Michael Dick, Darren Kuhn, Bill Burgad, Brian Copfer, Kevin Demaree, Raymond Green, Berry Spaulding, David Fox, Aaron Harrington and David Martinez. These pilots flew a grand total of 289 judged sequences.
This contest was flown according to modified rules.
Tony Fairbanks won the Basic class. There were 5 pilots in Basic. The winning order was: (1) Tony Fairbanks, (2) Jim Grady, (3) Berry Spaulding, (4) Aaron Harrington and (5) David Martinez. They flew 7 known sequences (4 rounds). The scores ranged from a low of 3,256.5 to a high of 4,945.8 (a range of 1,689.3 points).
Kelly Fairbanks won the Sportsman class. There were 3 pilots in Sportsman. The winning order was: (1) Kelly Fairbanks, (2) Tony Sarra and (3) Michael Dick. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,937.6 to a high of 5,000 (a range of 1,062.4 points).
Brandon Rosenquist won the Intermediate class. There were 3 pilots in Intermediate. The winning order was: (1) Brandon Rosenquist, (2) Tim Cooper and (3) Brandon Peterson. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 4,210.8 to a high of 5,000 (a range of 789.2 points).
Michael Verzwyvelt won the Advanced class. There were 4 pilots in Advanced. The winning order was: (1) Michael Verzwyvelt, (2) David Fox, (3) Kevin Demaree and (4) Bill Burgad. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,595 to a high of 4,928.2 (a range of 1,333.2 points).
Jeff Blaylock won the Unlimited class. There were 5 pilots in Unlimited. The winning order was: (1) Jeff Blaylock, (2) Keith Bodeau, (3) Brian Copfer, (4) Darren Kuhn and (5) Raymond Green. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 4,356.1 to a high of 4,942.7 (a range of 586.6 points).
In addition to the standard classes, there was 1 special class: Seniors.
Bill Burgad won the Seniors class. There was 1 pilot in Seniors. The winning order was: (1) Bill Burgad. He flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round.
Darren Kuhn won the Freestyle class. There were 3 pilots in Freestyle. The winning order was: (1) Darren Kuhn, (2) Tim Cooper and (3) David Martinez. They flew 1 freestyle round. The scores ranged from a low of 663.2 to a high of 1,000 (a range of 336.8 points).
The tightest competition was for 2nd place in the Unlimited class, with only 48.1 points difference between Keith Bodeau and Brian Copfer.