The Camden IMAC was held on September 17, 18, 2010 at Kershaw County Flyers and WOW! Where do I begin? With 29 pilots, every one of them had the same look of determination, to finish at the top of each of their class.
First, a Big Thanks to Brad, Roger and all the Kershaw club members for their support to IMAC, two contest in one calendar year is a lot of work our hats off to you.
With much excitement I arrived at the field around 3:30 pm and could not wait to get set up and have a flight or ten in. From what I remember Mr John Schroder and Tina were there all ready and setting up, is always a good idea to camp next to them, great company and Tina is a great cook. (LOVED THE CHICKEN). My good friend Brent was there and ready to fly his first contest in the sportsman’s class, next to him Mr John Snider and his posies just having a ball and getting in some practice time. Jim Langford was there as well and looked to be having a good time flying with Donald Martin. Little by little more guys, Doc with his new weapon oh yeah we’ll get to that later, the ultimate duo Charles and always with a smile Ms Phyllis, they make a great team. With a heavy heart Bill Harden and his wife came to spend the weekend with us, all of his flights were dedicated to his sister in law Jeanette who had just passed away I had the honor to call for him a couple of times.
Around 4:30 or so practice came to a stop very quickly due to some rain but 45 minute later it was wheels up again. After all the practice was done it was time to hang out and tell lies about how good our point rolls, and snaps were JK. Mark McClellan arrived with Adam and Adam’s better half Ila, and you guys know what time it was after that CHOLESTEROL time BABY!!!! And thank goodness because Jacob and Luzy were hungry my two boundless of joy. Later that evening a new IMAC member came to fly in his first full contest Danielle Jones and his dad Jason. Danielle had the taste of IMAC at the youth masters this year, FOR EVER HOOKED.
After a while more hanging out with friends by Johns RV Kevin, Doc, Tina, Phyllis, Danielle, Jason, Charles, Brent, Gerry and few others we were up till 1:30 AM. When you are with good friend’s time is like a known sequence it just flies.
Saturday morning the flight line was full of planes, fuel up, batteries check and ready to go. Pilots meeting at 9:00 and sometime after that we started flying.
Basic on the left and our elite pilots on the right fighting off the sun, after a few pilots the weather moved in, Mr Wayne Mathews had to abort the sequence after his plane disappear in the clouds for a few seconds, in our minds that’s like ten minutes. The two hour delay was spent doing what we love hanging out flying electric stuff and me Jacob and Luzy had fun with a rocket.
With round one in the books the competition is on the way, pilots eager to see the scores. Bill Harden splits a round with Avery Poole and not far behind Ken Blackwell and John Wolfe. In sportsman Charles and John Snider split a round with Charles ahead by only 1.7 points, John Blackwell is right on their heels, our favorite dentist Doc with his new weapon with a solid round, Jerry Hailey says my stomach is about to fall out but I’m here baby. Garry and Brent having a great time. We had four guys in intermediate. Jim Langford, Mike Jenkins, Donald Martin and myself. Jim and I split the round with Mike just a step away from us and Don in fourth. In unlimited. The silver fox outrunning all the prey by winning both sequences, Craig Baker close, in second place, wow! This guys are good most of them scoring in the high 900s Mark and Kevin looking for their A game.
In round two John Wolfe takes over first place in basic with a solid round, Bill, Ken and others with very good scores and everyone is watching. In sportsman Charles shows no signs of backing up and Doc looking to find his MOJO with his new plane. Mike Jenkins jumps ahead of Jim with a great round and closing in on the ROLLERMAN sorry had to do it. WHAT? There must be something wrong with the score keeper the Fox is asking, great round for Adam, John, closing in on the silver Fox.
Let the battle begin says Ken Blackwell, if you guys can do it so can I winning both sequences in round three. Looks like the heat got to the rest of the pilots. Charles almost pulled away from the field but John Snider would have none of it by winning a sequence, James looks to have his confidence back. Great battle guys. Mike Jenkins takes over second place in intermediate and closing in on Primo. Wayne (AKA SILVER FOX) opens up a can of voodoo and holds on to first but not by much.
Man what a great day, great flying, excellent lunch fantastic friends, Well except Brad and Craig I think I saw Craig laying on his back while Brad was kicking him, this two love to hate each other, you have to be around them to appreciated, funny stuff.
Well nobody has walked away with the contest; I believe this is the first contest that I attended where all classes could be decided with the unknown OH the pressure. With first place on the line everyone was very focus, not too much joking around. Unlimited was up first and their unknown was one they wished they had practice. Sportsman’s class had a tough one as well, extra attention was needed, John Blackwell shows no mercy, but was it enough. The enthusiasm of the basics guys was great to see, watching, listening trying to pick something up to give them the edge. The last class to fly was intermediate, Donald Martin flew first, and I followed and left the door open for Jim and Mike.
Over all a great contest lots of flying, great friends and always lots of food. Brad sheds a tear while announcing his victory over Craig.
Final Results:
This contest was flown according to modified rules.
Bill Harden won the Basic class. There were 10 pilots in Basic. The winning order was: (1) Bill Harden, (2) Ken Blackwell, (3) John Wolfe, (4) Avery Poole, (5) David Livingston, (6) Gerry Smith, (7) Nathan Everhart, (8) Michael Jackson, (9) Daniel Jones and (10) Angel Figueroa. They flew 8 known sequences (4 rounds). The scores ranged from a low of 4,081.4 to a high of 5,855.5 (a range of 1,774.1 points).
Charles Youngblood won the Sportsman class. There were 7 pilots in Sportsman. The winning order was: (1) Charles Youngblood, (2) John Blackwell, (3) John Snider, (4) Jerry Hailey, (5) James Taylor, (6) Gary Hammett and (7) Brent Good. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,577.8 to a high of 4,837.8 (a range of 1,260 points).
Primo Rivera won the Intermediate class. There were 4 pilots in Intermediate. The winning order was: (1) Primo Rivera, (2) Jim Langford, (3) Michael Jenkins and (4) Donald Martin. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 3,970.8 to a high of 4,895.4 (a range of 924.5 points).
Wayne Matthews won the unlimited class. There were 7 pilots in Unlimited. The winning order was: (1) Wayne Matthews, (2) Adam Rank, (3) Bradley Petty, (4) Craig Baker, (5) John Schroder, (6) Mark McClellan and (7) Kevin Dixon. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 4,238.2 to a high of 4,845.9 (a range of 607.7 points).
In addition to the standard classes, there was 1 special class: Seniors.
Charles Youngblood won the seniors class. There were 4 pilots in seniors. The winning order was: (1) Charles Youngblood, (2) Wayne Matthews, (3) John Schroder and (4) Donald Martin. They flew 6 known sequences (3 rounds) and 1 unknown round. The scores ranged from a low of 0.582 to a high of 0.750 (a range of 0.167 points).
The tightest competition was for 2nd place in the Basic class, with only 2.216 points difference between Ken Blackwell and John Wolfe.
Thank you for taken the time to read my first report, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did writing it, seems like I was there again.
Primo Rivera
ARD South Carolina