Thanks Duane. And Thanks to our great club KCRC. I couldn't be more proud of our members and the great job they did organizing and officiating this race. You made my job as starter, very easy. Our CD Craig White did a great job building the lap counters and running the show in the pits. Great day!
The lights and clock constructed by the Olathe Barnstormers worked flawlessly for the 50 heats flown. We knocked out the last 3 rounds at 5.7 minutes flag to flag, a testament to the pilots and our great course workers.
Huge THANK-YOU to everyone that came out to support this event. As Duane said, we had 28 registered pilots to start the day. We lost a couple during practice but filled 7 heats per round.
Duane Gall traveled all the way from Colorado. Tom and Ellie Degroodt came down from Iowa as did Keith Begin. Charles Gray came over from Indiana and the Millers made the long trek from Omaha. The Jumps and Victor Kirkpatrick hailed from Wichita. Dana Calef made the drive up Highway 71 from Joplin. The always entertaining Rayne brothers came over from KS, as did our normal contingent of Barnstormers.
The racing action was very good all day. The quality of competition in the area continues to improve. The fly-off for first between “The Chop” Ulledahl and Eddie/Karla Jump was pretty spectacular, though it ended a little early. Coming across the Start/Finish line on Lap 3 both planes got tangled up in one of the loudest mid-airs I’ve heard in awhile. The pits erupted in claps and cheers to show their appreciation for the show. The contest defaulted to time since neither finished the fly-off. Ulledahl had the fast time and earned a great victory.
Eddie flew awesome all day and has improved tremendously this season. I can tell the time under the tutelage of “Clean Sweep” Tallman is paying off.
The fly-off for 3rd was no less entertaining. Duane Hulen, Robert Williams, Lonnie Finch, and Rick Miller put on a heck of show. Causey has some great photos of all 4 planes stacked up through 2/3 (I’ll get those posted with a complete placing later this week). It turned out to be a cutfest and Duane Hulen kept his nerve, flew rock solid, and didn’t cut, the perfect fly-off winning combination.
Scott Causey flew well all day and took home the fast time honors. In the Fly-Off round he posted the first teen this season with a 1:18.80. His father Larry called for him all day, hope I don’t get cut…
KCRC will host 2 races next season, the last weekend in April and the first weekend in October. Racing continues to grow with the 424/short course formula and I hope we can carry the momentum into next season. We don’t plan to change a thing next year other then have a 2 day event next October.
Fly hard, have fun…