It's been two days since Temple Hill's SmAC Combat Contest and I can still feel the wind in my face and hear the cheers and cries of "Heads up!" The SmAC was a HUGE success. When I said it was going to be the "Biggest Damn Combat Contest of All Time," I was half joking. We were all surprised when people just kept coming and coming. Within a few hours there were easily 100+ people up on the hill. A lot of the competitors brought along their families to watch the carnage. When the final tally came in, we had 46 people signed up to compete in the Unlimited division and 30 people in the Warbird division... by far, the Biggest Damn Combat Contest of All Time! The large amount of competitors was pretty difficult to deal with very quickly since only about 17 people pre-registered. There were about 20 people with frequency conflicts. Two frequencies had 4 people on each of them and there were a few with 3 people apiece. Luckily, everyone was patient and we were able to sort out just about every one of them (one guy got screwed, but he was nice enough to bow out of the Unlimited division since he competed in the Warbirds). The competitors were a "who's who" of the soaring world. Notables included Joe Wurts, Larry Jolly, George Joy, Ben Clerx, Dave Sanders, Pat Bowman and lots of others we've all heard about. Later on in the day, Daryl Perkins showed up but he wasn't allowed to enter because the plane he brought exceeded the 48" wingspan limit (it must have been closer to 120") and I don't even think it had an EPP leading edge either! Maybe next year, Daryl. Once the heats were set up, the combat began. Unlimited was first and it started sort of slowly since everyone was testing the lift and getting used to the hill. Soon, however, it really started picking up. As the day progressed, the lift just kept on getting stronger and stronger (and guys... that was a typical day at Temple during the Summer. Maybe a little light, even) and the combat got more and more intense. Warbirds were fun to watch because the field was smaller and it was a game of cat and mouse with lots of individual dogfights (heh, make sense of that). Unlimited was just crazy. 20+ wings in the air with collisions that sometimes included up to five wings at a time. After two rounds of intense flying, the finals were set up and the carnage really began. 16 people flew in the Warbird finals and kills were happening all over the place. In the Unlimited division there were 26 finalists and there were more kills in that round than in the first two rounds combined! Most everyone was flying in a nice compact box in front of the hill which allowed for a ton of nice hits. It was huge fun competing with and watching all these great pilots as they do their best to try to kill or keep from being killed. In the end, after the broken planes were picked up and dust settled, we had the winners. In Warbirds, Pat Bowman and Dave Sanders had to have a fly off for second place which Dave eventually won. First place was taken by Bill Malo who was really kicking some big time butt all day long. In the Unlimited division, there was a fly off for third place between Doug Reel, Pat Bowman and Chris Claxton. Pat Bowman won that one to take home the third place trophy. I was able to get enough kills to take second place and the first place honors were given to Jim Porep with an impressive 15 kills in the finals. I knew Jim would win since he always kicks my butt. He had 14 more kills during the day than ANYONE else in either division. Everyone had a blast. I don't think anyone left the hill in a bad mood. I'd like to thank all the people that helped put it all together including Dan Borer, Flaviana (Ann) Sokenu, Ron Runyan, Edgar Vera, Nathan Woods, Terry Trimble, Chris Claxton, Mike Sheridan, Nathan Woods, Steve Patton, and everyone else that lent a hand. I'd also like to thank the ALL people who donated to the raffle. It was one AWESOME raffle, even though I didn't win anything. Keep your calendars open for SmAC 2000! next year! Mike Robinson Temple Hill Slope Squadron http://home.earthlink.net/~windrider007/index.html Cogito Ergo Slope - I think, therefore, I slope - RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
