Competition Day 1

Hi All,

Today was a great day out on the race course here in Phoenix. The weather was threatening with clouds and chance of showers, however the weather held all day and it was a great day for racing. A little cool in the morning but the sun came out in the afternoon. Not much wind.

There are 77 entries represented by the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Venezeula, and the Netherlands.

We flew five rounds today (100 heats) beginning at 8:30am and ending at 4:30pm.

Team Canada survived the day, for the most part, with only Hank losing his GR-7 in his first round due to some low flying and possibly bad air around pylon #3. Hank then moved to his new Sweet-V with the unmistakable "Riddler" paint scheme. I flew my yellow Sweet-V, Roy flew his Canadian record setting Sweet-V from Shelton, Doug flew his white Sweet-V with black and yellow checkers. Terence flew his Two-Sweet. Harold started out the day with his Candace but then moved to the new Strega later in the day. Henry flew his Candace.

There was quite a bit of race wreckage today. A number of mid-airs. Two of which resulted in at least three of the pilots continuing to race. In one of these, two planes mid-aired and turned completely upside down in a graceful roll coupled together. They parted and continued to fly. Several other mid-airs were not so graceful and ended with disastrous results. I don't think anyone hit a pylon today but there was some bad air around pylon #3 for sure.

The hyped up Jett motors are running well for some but I would say there is some work to be done on consistent motor runs. I would say some of the fastest guys are Bryan Batch of Spokane flying his Nelson powered GR-7. His motor is VERY strong and fast. Harold's Strega looks good on the course and is quite fast. Lee VonDerHey's Sweet-V (Nelson) earned fast time today with 1:01. Other fast guys are Tom Scott (Jett) and Craig Grunkermeir (Jett) and AJ Seaholm (Nelson). Tom, Craig and AJ finished first/second/third respectively today after completing five rounds.

During our five rounds, our Canadian team had a mix of good strong first place finishes as well as our share of cuts, double cuts, and no starts. After five rounds, here is where we sit:

8th -- Randy

22nd -- Roy

32nd -- Henry

39th -- Doug

43rd -- Harold

45th -- Hank

69th -- Terence

These standing can change quite a bit depending on how many rounds we get in tomorrow. The goal is to fly three rounds but there is forecast for showers and possible rain. So far the weather looks flyable.

Stay tuned for the final results tomorrow evening.

Racey Randy