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Airpark Elite Pylon Race, May 8, 2004 Our 2004 Airpark Elite race season kicked off with a terrific start on Saturday, May 8th, 2004. 13 severely disturbed social misfits arrived with incredibly expensive toy airplanes and paid $25 each to see if they could go home at the end of the day with the same number of parts. Unfortunately a few did not accomplish this goal. Once again, lunch was excellent (thanks Phil). Steaks and burgers – we should race every weekend. The weather was typical for Colorado – 80 degrees with a light tail wind most of the day. Only one new face was seen in the crowd: John Jaunilas from a neighboring club joined us in 424. Hopefully we’ll see him again. Other than John, same old ugly group of guys. Even our planes are starting to look alike, thanks to all of the inbreeding. Tom Neff, club prez and den mother, was the CD and Nick Smith was once again our beloved starter. Nick pulled double duty by also flying in 424. Unfortunately, Mother Earth’s attraction with Nick’s plane convinced him to limit his duties to that of starter (i.e. Nick crashed). The Civil Air Patrol was out in force and did a great job at #1 and at the lap counter/timer station. Speaking of lap counters, Airpark Elite’s R&D Director, Myles Barnhart, designed and built both a beautiful digital starter’s clock AND 5 incredibly-easy-to-use lap timers. Even Tom “I don’t need no stinkin timer” Neff could operate one of these with ease. Thanks to Myles, Airpark Elite has some first class equipment. Next on Myles’ list are micro-GPS receivers on each plane and a home theater installation at my house. Gary “gearless” Johnson, in an attempt to reduce drag, just slightly impacted the ground during a 428 heat and conveniently removed only his landing gear. Although no formal protests were filed, several of the Club A.R.S.H.O.L.E.s (Airpark Rules Subcommittee Hardly Objective Law Enforcers) were consulted, and no action was taken. Besides, Gary’s prop stopped during the daring maneuver and he was never able to complete all 10 laps. Maybe next time. Five rounds of 424 and 428 were flown with a few trainer rounds thrown in for fun. Only three of us entered 422, but because of tailwinds and the fact Duane G. withdrew, we only flew one round and then put them away for next time. Why Duane G. withdrew, we’ll never know - I don’t think flying Q40 with an eye patch is as difficult as Duane says. (just kidding – no eye patch. It was a joke. A joke. No patch. Dangerous. A Joke). John Williams and Kurt Bozarth showed up with new conventional tailed Shotguns and rumors have it that more are on order. Here are the day’s results: Trainers (3 rounds) 1. Alan Thovson 2. Nick Smith AMA 424 (5 rounds) 1. Alan Thovson (20 pnts) 2. Steve Vaughn (18) 3. Bryant Johnson (15) 4. John Jaunilas (12) 5. Nick Smith (2) AMA 428 (5 rounds) 1. John Williams (20 pnts) 2. Kurt Bozarth (17) 3. Mike Farnsworth (12) 4. Brian Neff (9) 5. John Sandusky (9) 6. Tom Neff (9) 7. Gary Johnson (4) 8. Duane Gall (0) See ya next month. Kurt Bozarth
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