The third annual Woodstock IMAC, held at the Woodstock Airport in Connecticut came to pass just recently. As always, we saw a great mixture of guys from the Northern and Southern parts of our region come out to battle it out for bragging rights and trophies! The Woodstock R/C Flyers once again rolled out the red carpet for us to come in and take over the airport for the weekend with all day-access the Friday before for all those wanting to practice. All in all, we had 22 registered pilots with a distribution through each of the 5 classes. In no particular order, the pilots attending were: Frank Puccio, Steve Stanton, and Paul Cormier in Basic. Alex Davis, Andy Fomin, Anthony Massaro, Artie Johnston, David Heath, Scott Melville, and Tom Chabot in Sportsman. Bill Lairsey, Jim Cyr, Eric Guilmet, and Stan Berger in Intermediate. Trent Schneider, Jim Baker, Ray Labonte, Peter Nesbeda, John Banks, and Cody Wojcik in Advanced. Neil Westdorp along with Matt Fortin flew in the Unlimited class. Special not to Matt Fortin for stepping up to Unlimited at this contest so that Neil would have some competition in Unlimited after making the long trip to Woodstock! Thanks Matt!!!
Friday Practice
Friday opened up with fantastic weather for practice with over a dozen guys showing up to spend the day to get some flights in. The sun was shining and the winds were around 5 to 10 out of the west giving us a slight cross wind to work with and better improved our wind correction skills! Practice was flown off the grass strip with the main runway being available to any that wanted to use it (as it would be used the next day when the contest began). Being a private full scale airport, traffic was light with the intermittent airplane in and out, but radios were at the ready to ensure full traffic control and utmost safety throughout the day. While full scale traffic was light, model traffic was high where at one point I counted 14 airplanes in line waiting for their turn to practice! Friday practice concluded at dusk as we were all treated to a beautiful sunset and very mild temperatures!
Saturday 8/8
Saturday began with the promise of gorgeous weather for flying! Pilots started arriving bright and early Saturday morning and registration got started right off the bat in order to get everyone prepped and ready to go. Judging standards guides were handed out to pilots to help them refresh the "basics" and to prep them for the upcoming day. The pilots’ meeting was held promptly at 8:45. Within the pilots meeting, a lot of importance was stressed on the efficiency of the contest. It was noted that although we did not have line bosses, that pilots were asked to help keep things moving by firing their engine on the 7th maneuver of the 2nd sequence while on deck and to be in the air by the time the pilot in front them exited the box. A basic safety briefing was also held to cover the operations and safety standards we had in place to ensure the safety of any full scale in the area.
After the pilots meeting, classes lined up at their respective tent and wheels were "up" by 9:30. I have to give all the pilots credit as they did a fantastic job of keeping things moving. Even with several large classes (Sportsman and Advanced) we were able to fly (no pun intended) through 3 rounds of knowns and finish up the day early around 3 p.m. allowing those to fun fly, practice, or congregate afterwards. I have to give another shout out to all my helpers from the Woodstock Flyers and they helped keep things moving as well as keep all the pilots fed with the BBQ going for most of the day!
The day ended with close competition in all of the classes. Some notable close matches being the sportsman class with Artie, Anthony, and Alex all gunning for top contender, and in Advanced with Cody, Trent, and John all vying for the top spot with a mere 60 points between the 3 of them, and only 1.2 points between Cody and John for the #1 spot! It was going to be a nail biter going in to Sunday!!!
Sunday 8/9
Sunday started off once again with great weather, but with threats of rain moving in later in the day. At the pilots meeting, a vote was taken and was decided that we would knock out the unknowns first thing, and then proceed on to fly a 4th round of knows in all the classes. Once again, the pilots stepped it up and were able to get right through the unknowns and the round of knowns in under 4 hours! A true testament to flight line control and pilots ensuring that there at least two airplanes in the sky at almost all times! I could not have achieved this without the pilot’s cooperation! As the last flights were flown and the dust settled, the weather held out for yet another perfect day for flying (albeit overcast) and the pilots gathered around for the Awards/Results around 1:30 p.m.
Final Standings
In Basic, Frank Puccio once again took the top spot with an even 7000! Steven Stanton followed in 2nd and Paul Cormier in 3rd. Scores ranged from 7000 to 6054.7 (a range of 945.7 points).
In Sportsman, Artie Johnston took 1st with a score of 7444.1. Anthony Massaro in second, Alex Davis in 3rd, Andy Fomin in 4th, Tom Chabot in 5th, David Heath in 6th, and Scott Melville in 7th. Scores ranged from 7444.1 to 4784.2 (a range of 2659.9)
Intermediate concluded with Stan Berger taking the number one position with a score of 7437.0. Eric Guilmet, Bill Lairsey, and Jim Cyr finished in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spots respectively. Scores ranged from 7437.0 to 6732.2 (a range of 704.8 points).
Advanced was very close to the very end with John Banks edging out Cody Wojcik for the top spot. John finished with a score of 7445.2. Jim Baker, Ray Labonte, Trent Schneider, and Peter Nesbeda finished out the rest of the rankings. The scores ranged from 7445.2 to 4353.2 (a range of 3091.9). A special note that only 86.5 points were all that separate first and second. Unfortunately, Trent Schneider was not able to fly Sunday due to a cold that put him in no condition to fly and finish the contest on Sunday! The good news is that he recovered without issue.
Unlimited finished off with Neil Westdorp in first place with a score of 7000.0, and Matt Fortin in second with a very respectable 6571.6. Considering this was Matt's first contest in Unlimited as well as flying a borrowed airplane, I have to applaud him for his great flying as well and thank him for moving up! I know that Neil was appreciative of the competition and we advanced guys were glad he decided to stop beating up on us!!! Congratulations to both guys for some excellent flying!
Special thanks to the Woodstock RC Flyers, Bruce Fortin, David Teer, and my father, John Banks III for all their help once again this year! Without the pilots and my faithful volunteers, this contest would not be possible!
Next Up!
Next up on the Northeast Region Schedule is the annual IMAC Summer Sizzle in Milford PA that is run by Mark Vukmanovich on August 22nd and 23rd! This is another long standing contest in the NE region and is sure to be a great one once again in 2009! Milford is a great location for a contest with amenities close by and a great town to go out in at night! Couple that with the fact that the contest has the beautiful Pocono Mountains as a backdrop which makes this contest a winner year in, and year out! See you there on the 22nd!