ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE HEATS WAS WHEN LAIRD OWENS ON THE LAST LAP PULLED HIS MIGHTY SHARK AROUND PYLON THREE TO EDGE OUT GARY SCHMIDT WITH A SIZZLING 100.49.
You might say I had help from a pylon 3 judge on that last lap.....sorry Gary As you said, we've all been on one side or the other on calls like that.
Despite low entries, the level of competition was really up there.
Thanks to Doug for putting on a great contest in difficult conditions. It's the only race I'll get to fly this year, so I appreciate the extra effort.
Congrats once again to Mario and Dan. These two guys have practiced and work harder than any team I know of over the last few years.
I had planned on flying but damaged my new Ashely in a silly landing incident a few days before. I had the days off and the hotel booked, so decided to go up anyway. Ended up calling for long time friend Gary Long. Had two memorable heats that made whole trip worth it. I also spent a few heats watching Doug run the line and worked pylon one for half a day. Trying to learn what it takes to run one of these things so I can be more helpful for next years west coast races.
Got to see a few people that I had not seen in a long time, Gary Schmidt (and his wife) who I worked with at the Discount Hobby Warehouse back in 97'. Also, Mark Lattimore and his wife Debby stopped by.
The new Miss Foxy Lady was looking really good. Paint Jobs looked great.
Flying or not, it was great to be there and see friends and some great racing!
Thanks to Doug for motoring through all of the red tape to make this race happen.
Dave
Last edited by Dave Yost on Wed Sep 30, 2020 11:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
A big "Thank you" to Doug Killebrew for pulling this off...
He had to navigate through some pretty murky waters to make this race happen, so we could all have fun last weekend, so great job done by Doug and all the race Volunteers for donating their weekend to help out with the race.
Thanks to EVERYONE (the list is pretty big) who donated raffle and / or prize items. This is much appreciated!
Thanks to Vonderhey for his trophies contribution (Can't wait!), and for his recap and pictures of the race... Well done!
Finally, I'd like to thank my friend, airplane builder extraordinaire and overpaid caller Dan Thordarson for a great job helping me keep the focus on the big picture last weekend...
Against all odds, we had the Champ Race in California and I want to thank several people for their efforts including all the pilots that went against the odds to get on a plane and travel to the event. We completed 5 rounds on Saturday, 4 rounds on Sunday along with 3 fly-offs by roughly 2:00pm and yes I had my first refly in over 5 years due to a system glitch. 94 heats!! I believe that after 9 rounds, Mario earned the first place position and he was invovled in the refly, so he had to win that heat twice.
First of all, thanks to my son Josh who did a great job working as the starter with the help of Chuck Andraka, Dave Lloyd, Tony McDonald and others who offered to assist whenever they could so I could call for others, compete myself, oh and be the CD.
2nd person I would like to thank is Faith. She was extra fantastic this weekend. Besides calling out the heats and posting the results, she handled all the registration, passed out all the heat money, and sold $2,000 worth of raffle tickets that is all going to the Cliff Telford Fund, and really much more to those who observed.
Thanks to Travis, David and others for setting up and tearing down the system each day and specifically Chuck Andraka for handling the matrix which resulted in some of the toughest heat racing I've seen in some time. Thanks to Laird Owens for overseeing the pylon 1 judging, training, recruiting, etc..
This was a group effort from the minute the pilots showed up and that made it easier for the event to be successful. A big thanks to the Valley Flyers Club and members who loaned us the field for several days along with support volunteers who worked the event. The workers left with some $$ and the club received a donation of $2,000 in a year that has crushed events along with the ability to make money.
Last of all, a public thank you to all of our sponsors that contributed to the event and helped make it possible to sell tickets and raise the money for the Cliff Telford Fund. Robert Hollik, Bob and Charlie Smith, Tom Scott Models, Chuck Bridge, Dub Jett, Mike Langlois, Lee Von Der Hey, Jerry Elert, Dan Kane and the NMPRA.
As the CD, again thanks to everyone who helped make the event a success...
Doug Killebrew
Last edited by killerd on Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
As you said, we've all been on one side or the other on calls like that.