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The
comp got underway at around 10:30 if I remember rightly, due to a
small number of competitors this year it was decided that two fixed
rounds would be flown with the best score to carry forward. Jake
Robinson kicked off the whole comp with his PC9 for the 120 fixed
schedule and the ball got rolling from there. Matty and Dorgan were
very close in scores at the end of this round, with less than 5
normalised points between them. Chris Card pulled out a surprisingly
good schedule despite his lack of practice and last minute entry!
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The
Advanced saw things get even tighter with Simon leading the pack (thus
scoring 100) but with Alex right behind at 96.7...
The Unlimited class (aerobatic legends, wizards and maestros of the
void of never-ending adventures class), did not disappoint! Some truly
fantastic flying here, Mr Bonkers (Ian Watson) probably shocked a few
folks with his flying (awesome snaps mate!) and pulled out all the
stops to pull off a well deserved win, however Paul Skinner was having
none of it and only 2.1 points separated these two.
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Martin
Bell perhaps shocked even more folks, despite a last minute switch to
his .57 powered Stiletto following engine problems with his 50cc, and
a brand new con-rod he put on a cracking fixed schedule, naturally the
lack of power and wind would prove to be his downfall but he managed
to squeeze in a very tidy flight, scoring 94 points. Mike Williams as
usual put on a super smooth routine and snuck in a 92.2, although a
problem with throw meant his model would not snap properly and so
probably cost him a few points. Any excuse Mike.... |
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Now
onto day two. The
Set music round was totally new for this year but was highly
anticipated...Jakes model of choice was unfortunately unserviceable
and he had to a use a sports type PC9, which he flew to good effect
but it would be no match for the proper freestyle machines. The
rivalry between father and son, Darren and Matty Dorgan would prove to
reach a new level as they were separated by only 2.7 points this time
around... |
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Advanced
proved to be a real eye opener with some great flights put in by all
three competitors, Lucas stole the show and went onto win the round
but Potter held on to score a 95.5. However the gap between Potter and
Lucas was closing...
Unlimited once again, blew me away entirely. The fixed music for the
Unlimited was by my own account a bit pants if not difficult to put a
versatile routine to however the opening pilot Mr Bell put in an
absolutely bang-on flight and set the bar for the rest of the pilots.
Mike Williams was up next the spectacle of his 3.1 Super Extra being
put through its paces was a visual treat as always. But once again the
real fight for the title was between Watson and Skinner. These two
were so close to was impossible to define a clear leader but the
scores did the talking and Watson took the second round, but only by
1.2 points!
By all accounts and across all the classes, very very close battles
were being fought!
Now onto the one everyone was looking forward to, except the
competitors probably! The pure "freestyle" round, where
pilots fly to a piece of music of their own choosing.
The 120 class title was once again a close fight, with brilliant
flights from both Dorgan's. The gap between them was closed to
virtually nothing with Darren winning the class by 0.4 points!
Freestyle was proving to be Lucas' strength all through the event, and
he didn't disappoint putting in an energetic and innovative routine to
music, despite winning both this round and the previous round it
didn't prove to be enough to overcome Potters excellent fixed schedule
flight and Potter won by 0.7 points!
Unlimited still had everything to play for with a mere 16.4 points separating
top and bottom pilots at this point (the total score possible for two
rounds is 200...). Mr Skinner opened up the round with a very
energetic and exuberant flying display, which pushed the limits with
some awesome low down and dirty stunts, definitely some of the best
freestyle I've seen to date! Martin Bell was next up and put on
another awesome flight, technically very challenging especially given
the size of model yet executed with absolute precision throughout with
excellent adhesion to music, however it was clear that throughout the
day the models lack of power was working against Martin. Hats off to
you for keeping up with the rest of the field mate! Your final
"normalised" was still 94%...what a guy.
Mike William followed and put on what can only be described as some of
the best freestyle I have ever seen him fly, and as a flight in it's
own right just awesome. From the most graceful and precise pattern
style manoeuvres, to low down and daring 3D with the model levelling
off inches from the deck, Mike really pulled out all the stops to try
and claw back points. The presence of the model was enhanced ten-fold
in true Williams style, by keeping things in nice and close in whilst
making good use of the flight area. He clearly had won this round, a
text book flight by anyone's standards.
Ian "The Doctor" Watson proved to have opened up a vital
lead and continued his fight for the title with a ballsy flight, he
really went for the higher scoring stuff with a rolling harrier
vertical 8, as well as near enough writing the model off with a VERY
close brush with first the bank, then a tree. Some things never
change...he went onto win the trophy despite his model dead sticking
on him 20ft up and inverted the day before (which luckily was a
straightforward fix), and also having a very swollen finger from a
wasp sting earlier in the day...
As a judge I can honestly say anyone of the Unlimited pilots could
have taken that trophy, I witnessed world-class flying from every one
of them and the thing that put a smile on my face is that they all
want to go to the next level and take on the real big fish out in
Europe and beyond...watch out folks one of these fine pilots may be
bringing back a foreign trophies in the not-too-distant future. |
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| Shahid
Banglawala |
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