FSS 2 – Sat 03/31/12, Oviedo

The Gordon Report

The FSS 2 event was certainly not as well attended as events in years past. Some of this was put down to the recent uncertainty of our club field. It was quite exciting to be back on the “old” SCC field though and we all gathered in the NE corner early Saturday for the FSS2 Man on Man event. In spite of the poor showing 12 pilots did show up from Central and South Florida to enjoy some really great conditions and chat with their friends.

We split the entrants into two groups of six and used the format as from last year with the cards on the board in their seeded positions with timers allocated to each pilot based on the seeding. It once again worked very smoothly all day with few if any complaints and more than enough help to cover for Larry who finds it increasingly harder to get out to time for others. It is great to have him back on the field flying though and we will always fill in for him in the timing duties.
Raed ran a great contest with 4 rounds flown before lunch and 3 more after lunch with storm clouds threatening from the SW just as we began packing up around 3:00pm.
Rick Eckel flew his old Perfect and was on top at the start with some good times and landings to match. Jamie Mercado also flew his 4M Xplorer well and is without doubt the most improved pilot from 2011. Today a couple of rounds he was a minute or so short on time and that was enough to keep him out of the money. Paul Mittendorff has also shown great improvement flying the V Tail Vulture from SMM. Paul has been getting this model to do some amazing things and is close to the winners circle.
Ray Alonzo maidened a brand new 4 meter Xplorer and what a beauty she is. Even without practice or stick time on the new bird Ray flew it with his usual skill and style and finished in 3rd place with 7392 points.
The real story of the day was Dillon Graves incredible landing scores. On a 100 point tape with 3 inch graduations (aside from the first round where he came up short,) he hit 3 X 100’s a 98, a 97 and a 96. That is the best landing scores I have seen any pilot accomplish on this tape layout with a safety kine set at 10 feet from the spot. He did miss the LZ proper in the first round scoring just 19 landing points when the wind got him which more or less cost him a chance of possibly winning his first Open contest. Dillon came up a few points short to finish second on 7432 points.
I managed to keep my nose clean all day flying my old 3.5X and with 7 maxes and decent landing scores managed to hit the front at the business end of the contest to finish first with 7527 points. I must thank my timers for their assistance especially Dan Johns and Jim Maclean. Jim flew a great contest with his Icon 2 but had an off field landing which spoilt his chances.
1st place Sportsman was Mike Naylor with 6104, Larry Squire was 2nd Sportsman with 5104 and Tom Galloway 3rd with 4939.
The weather nearly got us as we were packing up and presentations were held over for tomorrow as we all got a little wet putting the tents etc away. Thanks for the help with scoring all day Kim Graves. Thanks also to John for helping pack up in the rain.

Sundays contest is to be held nearby at the Barr St field and the forecast is for a little more wind so it looks like it will be fun

Saturday results Round by Round.
FSS2-2012 Scores Final Standings

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