posted on January 02, 2012 08:54
2011 is officially over and I would have to say I am satisfied! We have completed more contests in the SW than any other region …..20! The South West has 214 paid members of IMAC compared to the total membership worldwide of 988; twenty one percent of all IMAC members are in our region. Florida is first with 112 members and California has 92, Arizona membership is climbing and is now 64. Colorado is really coming on strong with the leadership of Jim Brink in Denver…they now have 32 members. I am very pleased to see this and I enjoyed meeting and flying with many of them this year at the judging school that we did at Denver. Utah now seems to be growing with 9 members and I have heard tell that Idaho is likely to send some people our way to fly if we put together a contest close to them. Nevada has a steady 11 membership and I have heard from Tim May in Las Vegas and he wants to put Bennett field back into play in 2012.
I did not calculate the contestant average of our contests but the numbers speak loudly when you consider that in the South West we had 45 BASIC pilots to fly in a contest this year, this is quite a few more than other regions. Top Five basic pilots in the region were:
Tony Johnson 5000, Tim Gottermayer, 5000 (second with the tiebreaker), George Silva 4726, Michael Triebe 4707, Brad Hartman 4679. These are the best out of, as I said, 45 pilots trying out IMAC.
Not far behind in numbers was the SPORTSMAN class with 40 pilots. Contention was deep with the top five finishers in the region as follows:
Robert Walden 4964, Matt Abrams 4939, Matthew Dillon 4904 (these three duked it out at Hemet) and in 4th place Don Brown 4883, Dan Bridges 4838 was fifth. Top five out of 40…..nice job guys it was really fun to see the final contest decide the top three.
The INTERMEDIATE class was smaller because as the difficulty goes up the numbers usually go down. True to form we had only…..only 21 intermediate pilots in 2011 but no lacking of contention. Rusty Fried with 6 wins takes the crown and should be considering Advanced based on that but he by IMAC rules does not have to move up because the move up rule states that you must have 4 other people in the contest to count for move up in all five contests.
Rusty Fried 5000, Randy Dreyer 4977, Joe Mac Gregor 4860, Jim Spurlock 4843, and Howard Pilcher 4801 fought it out for the top spots and this is the order of finish.
ADVANCED class, with 16 pilots, saw some really outstanding pilots contend for regional honors and second through fourth was very close. Bryant Mack moved up after winning a couple of Intermediate contests and then did well but did not have enough contests in Advanced to make the top five but did podium at the Tucson Shootout. Bill Adams won at the Tucson but flew in one contest too few for regional honors. Cameron Irwin flew in many contests and won all of them until The Shootout. Final standings were:
Cameron Irwin 5000, Spencer Nordquist 4962, Kirt Campbell 4933, Curtis Pilcher 4824, Michael Scileppi 4000. Michael from Colorado needed to make the long trek to Hemet to get a higher place but I can understand his reluctance to drive from Colorado.
UNLIMITED was a contentious group of youngsters, all friends with one another, a total of 16 competed in this class which I believe is tops in the country. A number of unlimited are residents of the South West and do not fly in many contests because they are invitational pilots of some reputation: Mark Leseberg, Jeff Szueber, Matt Szueber, Ryan Archer and yes they come to a contest once in a while and thrash the young whelps when the feeling moves them. Matthew Szueber needed just three contests to qualify for the Tucson Shootout and did not need to be a member of IMAC….he went on to win the class at the 2011 Tucson Shootout. These young guns gave it all at the Shootout and proved themselves in the region as well.
First place Todd Bridges 4972.27, Second place by 1.18 points was Matthew Stringer (these two finished behind Matt Szueber at Tucson). Then right there with them all year was Kyle Goodwine at 4932 for 2011. “ King of the old guys” Steve Nelson was very respectable at 4709 and Frank Oliver had an enjoyable ride this year and finished in 5th at 4301.
SENIOR division was, a huge, 36 pilots registered throughout the region. Joe MacGregors idea for the SW has been a terrific success and proof that you do not need to be 20 years old or less to achieve excellence but let’s be clear…….hand-eye coordination, eyesight, nerves, deft skill with fine motor coordination and seeing spatial relationship with geometry and snaps having to stop on time; youth will be served. Recognized for excellence if not for youth are:
Rusty Fried 5000, Don Brown 4882, Joe MacGregor 4868, Howard Pilcher 4852 Jim Spurlock 4836
Congratulations to all top five winners in their divisions!!!! WELL DONE !!!!
2012 season is coming very soon with Superstition IMAC near Apache Junction the first of 22 contests that are projected for this year. Remember to register for Superstition and the other contests early and volunteer to help if you are a member of the host club. Remember to get that IMAC number early so that you do not lose your contest points after you have won your first contest. You must be a member before the contest is over. Five contests is the minimum to be in contention for the region but only three to qualify for TAS. Some plaques are still in my possession and will be given out as the year progresses. It will be my privilege to serve my fourth year as your regional director and thank you so much for being part of this great experience. I do enjoy you all and the good times we have and the healthy competition of the IMAC fraternity.
Finally, I am looking for a highly qualified dedicated individual to take over my position on the Scale Aerobatics Contest Board. Forward your nominees to me to be passed on to the VP of District X.
I will be at the AMA convention on Saturday, January 7th and part of Sunday…..be sure to look me up and say hello. I will be hanging out around the AMA kiosk from time to time.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL……hoping to see everyone having fun in 2012 in the South West Region !!!