| Gateway Rumble, Jacksonville, Florida, October 2nd, 2004 |
click on any photo below to see a full size image
| The first AMA/RCCA Combat contest in Jacksonville, Florida was conducted by Patrick Lanfri and the Gateway RC Club. The skies were clear the winds light and the temp and humidity high. The two classes flown were SSC, and Open B. There were 9 entrants in each class. To have enough judges the decision was made to hold heats of 4 and 5 planes so that after flying a match the pilot would judge the next heat. Some pilots entered both classes and flew a total of 12 rounds while judging another 12. It was a long hard, and fun contest. |
| Patrick Lanfri holding his Ron Horton designed WASP |
| Bob and Patrick. Bob was the CD and spent 8 long hours on the hot asphalt so we could all fly combat. A big thanks Bob |
| Patrick line marshaling a heat standing in front of Lou Melancon's SSC Cobra |
| SSC and Open B winner, Larry Killingsworth, RCCA #485, from Dawsonville, Georgia |
| SSC results: 1st place: Larry Killingsworth with 2228 points 2nd place: Steve "slam" Lamson with 1708 points 3rd place: Don Pruitt with 1356 points 4th place: Wayne Vogler with 1280 points 5th place: Andrew Stanley with 1128 points 6th place: Donald Grissom with 1060 points 7th place: Lou Melancon with 1008 points 8th place: Ron Horton with 1000 points 9th place: Patrick Lanfri with 220 points. Open B results: 1st place: Larry Killingsworth with 1892 points 2nd place: Andrew Stanley with 1868 points 3rd place: Ron Horton with 1648 points 4th place: Steve "slam" Lamson with 1578 points 5th place: Wayne Vogler with 1324 points 6th place: Miller "Bo" Joiner with 1188 points 7th place: Patrick Lanfri with 732 points 8th place: David Sharpe with 590 points 9th place: John Hall with 516 points |
| Contest Report Saturday dawned cool with light fog. The temps were in the low 70s but the humidity was making its presence felt. At 7:10 am Larry Killingsworth and Wayne Voyles of Georgia were already setting up their pit area. Larry worked with Ron Horton several years ago to develop new combat designs and his first effort was the "Georgia Twister". Working with life long modeling friend Wayne Voyles he created the Lanier Ripper and Slasher. Don Grissom and Don Pruitt also of Georgia were unloading planes, so by 7:20 all the Georgia boys were in the house. Steve "Slam" Lamson and Andrew "Drewjet" Stanley of Orlando pulled up a short while later and the Smack Talk started soon thereafter. They insulted my flying ability. I will usually argue with anything but the truth is pretty hard to shake, I don't fly as well as any of the others do. Ron Horton had arrived from Montana the day before and his parents had come down from the Atlanta area to visit with him. Ron started flying with Patrick Lanfri when he was doing design work for a Jacksonville firm. |
Don Grissom, an up and coming
SSC combat flier from Georgia
SSC combat flier from Georgia
| Larry Killingsworth in the pits |
RCCA Southeast District
Representative Don Pruitt of Georgia
Representative Don Pruitt of Georgia
| Wayne Voyles, Larry Killingsworth, and Ron Horton |
Andrew Stanley on the flightline
Steve "Slam" Lamson and his
excellent flat bat design for SSC
and Open B
excellent flat bat design for SSC
and Open B
Ron Horton and his Wasp for
Open B, powered by Irvine .25
Open B, powered by Irvine .25
John Hall's first contest. Lanier
Slasher with OS .25FX.
Slasher with OS .25FX.
Bo Joiner with his Open B Wasp
Ron Horton in a rare photo
without a hat. Can you tell from
Ron how sunburned we got?
without a hat. Can you tell from
Ron how sunburned we got?
This is the business end of Don
Pruitt's airplanes. Well thought
out, simple and functional
Pruitt's airplanes. Well thought
out, simple and functional
David Sharpe of Clearwater
Take a lot at the incredible
organization of Drew Jet's pit
area. We give him about 10
yards room on both sides to stay
out of his way
organization of Drew Jet's pit
area. We give him about 10
yards room on both sides to stay
out of his way
Lou Melancon with Lee Liddle
designed Cobra. A deadly plane
in the right hands, only mildly
successful with Lou on the
sitcks.
designed Cobra. A deadly plane
in the right hands, only mildly
successful with Lou on the
sitcks.
Here is Don Grissom holding one of his
backup planes. It has been through so
many wars and repairs that the wing
droops. Don was telling all who would
listen it is a new anhedral design project.
backup planes. It has been through so
many wars and repairs that the wing
droops. Don was telling all who would
listen it is a new anhedral design project.
View of the field
Spectator area
| Patrick Lanfri has been promoting combat in North Florida for a year and his efforts are paying off. John Hall of Talahassee attended his first combat contest ever flying a Lanier Slasher in Open B. David Sharpe of Clearwater, Florida (near Tampa) had his own design Open B plane and did well with it. Registration opened at 8am and the pilots meeting was held at 9:30. Contest Management decided to run two heats each in SSC and Open B. Since there were 9 fliers entered in each class the heats would have either 4 or 5 pilots up at one time. In SSC the first heat of round one Larry Killingsworth put up a blistering 568 point score, and this was just the start of his excellent day. There were no "newbie" pilots in SSC, all were seasoned competitors and Don Pruitt, Don Grissom, SLAM, and Drewjet were flying strong. That left Patrick, Ron and I trailing the rest of the pack but putting up a valiant effort. The only new designs at this contest were Larry and Waynes "built up" HDPE fuselages seen on the front page of this web site. The Georgia contingent all had strong running engines. Don Pruitt had to adjust down the end point of his transmitter as did Larry Killingsworth to stay under the 17,500 rpm limit. This was surprising considering the mid to high 80s temp and very high humidity. Lou Melancon had to drop down to 5% nitro PowerMaster and still had to adjust down throttle linkage to make the limits. The wind blew from our backs or quartered from back and side all day. No one experienced launch problems and most of the designs were very quick. SSC has really not taken root in Florida but Open B continues to enjoy popularity. New contestants David Sharpe, John Hall, and Bo Joiner each had a different approach to the contest. On Friday during practice John Hall was given a Kentucky Mousse can to put on his OS 25FX and he immediately noticed a significant gain in rpm which led to more pulling power through the turns. John had to change from a four ounce tank to a six ounce to make time, he made the change overnight again thanks to the generosity of Patrick Lanfri. Bo Joiner is a member of the Gateway RC club and he was flying a Ron Horton Wasp. Bo was having fun all day. I look forward to seeing him at more contests in the future David Sharpe has made a name for himself on the RCCA forums with his scale planes. At this contest he had a unique Open B design that featured a high aspect ratio wing and gutter pipe fuse powered by an OS .25 FSR. It was well thought out and performed well. I want to thank Patrick for organizing the contest. Bob you did a great job as CD and line marshall. Carol you made a grueling day both pleasant and classy. Joe thank you for all the hours you put in judging for all of us. You Gateway RC folks are great. |