Airpark Elite Pylon Race, July 19, 2003

  Our third pylon race of the season is now history...and so are Duane Gall’s and Jon Williams’ Q40 planes.  More on that later.  Can you say “hot and humid!”  The weather felt more like a lovely Louisiana summer day rather than a cool Colorado one.  Fortunately the winds were calm most of the day with the exception of a small and isolated microburst occurring exactly over the field just as Kurt Bozarth was landing his Q40.  Turn out was good with three in AMA 424, eight in AMA 428, and five in AMA 422 (reduced by almost 50% in less than a lap – but more on that later).  The Civil Air Patrol was there in full force so all judging stations were manned.  Once again, the off-course judging and lighting system worked great.

 Our day began with a delightful pilots meeting conducted by our club founder, prez, and den mother, CD Tom Neff.  After the typical pre-race berating, a standard set by our infamous and celebrated Hal Garwood, the meeting ended with “let’s race and have fun!” Hal Garwood immediately protested – he had issue with the last two words.  Racing started shortly thereafter with two rounds of back-to-back 424, followed by one round of 428.  What happened next can only described by one word: horrific, ghastly, wife-curdling and finally, emotionally scarring.  After completing only one lap of the first race in Q40, Duane Gall and Jon Williams mid-aired coming out of turn #3 – stage center for all spectators, young and old.  As expected, Jon and Duane exchanged insurance information, dusted themselves off, and forgave and forgot.  Unfortunately, Jon only entered Q40 so his race day was somewhat short – but he did an excellent job judging #3.

 428 has become highly competitive, and we love it!  Our times have dropped and no races are “gimmies” for anyone.  Right when we thought everything was going fine, Hal “Double-cut” Garwood had issues.  Seems he received two cuts from pylon #1 on the same lap.  The rest of us didn’t really have an issue with it, and simply wrote it off as deliberate “friendly fire” from the CAP cadets judging pylon #1 -  seems they’ve gotten to know Hal just like the rest of us.  However, CD Tom Neff did some token investigating and offered Hal a re-fly.  Hal, satisfied with the opportunity to protest something, declined the offer, and things were back to normal just like one big happy family.

 With only one heat remaining in 428, it looked as if season points leader Brian Neff had everything wrapped up.  However, Duane “call a cut on me and I’ll have you audited” Gall, fully recovered from his Q40 incident, was only a point back.  Duane won his final heat.  All Brian had to do was win his last race– but like I said, no “gimmies” around here anymore.  During take-off, Brian’s plane and another hit, causing Brian’s plane to cartwheel down the runway.  He fell from 1^st to 4^th.  To help Brian feel a little better, Duane was overheard telling Brian not to worry about those little speeding tickets. Congratulations to Duane!  Especially since nobody knew Duane even had a Q500 plane anymore, let alone a fast one.

 Q40 was a bust.  Duane and Jon mid-aired, Doug Clancy had engine problems, and Kurt either couldn’t keep his engine running or couldn’t stop from double-cutting (I honestly don’t think the lights were working because both times I got double-cuts, I never got lights at #1).

 Here are the results: July 19, 2003

            AMA 424 (3)

           1^st: Hank D.

           2^nd: Bob Gerner

           3^rd: Alan Thovson

            AMA 428 (8)

           1^st: Duane Gall

           2^nd: Tom Neff

           3^rd: Kurt Bozarth

            AMA 422 (5)

           1^st:  Brian Neff

           2^nd: Kurt Bozarth

           3^rd: Doug Clancy

 See ya next month!!!!!        Kurt Bozarth