> Any AMA Cat II records broken at Kent State?
>
You asked...here is the glider report. As far as I know no other
records were broken up to about 6:00 when I left. Perhaps someone
can let us know if anything interesting happend in the evening...
~Jim
Competition close, but times disappoint.
The Showdown at Kent was close once again.
The Fieldhouse was very warm and humid this year, it was 88 degrees
inside. Overall attendance was down due to:
A) Gas prices
B) First nice weather day of 2008 for Ohio
C) Toledo Weak Signals show being held the same weekend
D) All of the above?
Nonetheless in the glider events Rob Romash, Kurt and Ken Krempetz
and myself were all ready to go.
Early tests with my new big glider looked good. Pretty early I was
doing 53 second test flights with room on top. Rob showed up with
his fleet and was in the same range. A failed rudder joint on one of
my flights spelled disaster and caused wing damage upon impact. I
repaired the new one, but never got it back to where I wanted it.
Rob also struggled with his new glider "BEYOGFOP". We both tried to
sort out our fleet from 7:30 until about 10:00. At that point
neither of us were happy with our times and took a break to fly
catapult.
The Krempetz duo of Ken and Kurt (the elder Father and son) had a
good battle going in Unlimited Catapult. They ended .3 seconds off
each other's times! Kurt was on top with a 106.6 to Ken's 106.3 two-
flight total. Rob went chasing them with his unlimited catapult,
finally besting Kurt with a 110.1 to move into first.
I did not bring any unlimited catapults so I went up with my Standard
catapult. Kurt had already put up some nice flights with a 51.0 and a
52.7 for a 103.7. I was flying my five-year-old model that set the
record with a two flight total of 111. Over the years the model had
gained weight (as we all seem to). I put it on a lightening routine
and removed about .3 grams from the weight it was in 2003.
After sorting out some launch problems that were my fault, (I forgot
cat II gliders need a more shallow and baking launch than cat IV) I
got it going well. At 2.8 grams it could barely get to the ceiling,
which is the first thing you need to do. I was pleasantly surprised
with two final `go for broke flights" of 54.5 and 55.1 to move into
first overall with a 109.6
I decided that with those kind of times I may as well fly my 12"
glider in unlimited as well. After a couple blown "greedy" launches
I got it grooved again and fired up a 55.4 and a 56.4. Those
actually upped my own record with the Standard Catapult glider by .8
seconds. It was also just enough to edge Rob for first place, with
my 111.8 to his 110.1, but the edging was not over.
At this point we had less than ten minutes left before glider was
over. I yelled to Rob "we need to get some HLG flights in!" We both
grabbed our gliders and put up one test flight and started hurling
for officials as time was running out. We stopped to check each
other after I had seven of my nine in and Rob had 5 of his nine. We
had to do the math. At that point I was holding a 53.7 and a 51.8
for 105.5. Rob had a 53.1 and a 52.3 for a 105.4!!!
Time was expiring, but we decided to fly until we were out of flights
or we got stopped. Kurt Krempetz had joined the fray as well
launching his Tip Launch Glider with us. It was quite a flurry of
activity!
In his final three Rob put up a clutch 54.0 to take the lead by a
second and a half. I had a 51.4 on my 8th launch, which did not help
my total. It was down to my ninth launch again to try to push Romash
out of First. I had to throw for the ceiling, which is a real
possibility and instant doom in a Cat II building. Rob was harassing
me just as he did in 2007. The launch felt great and looked good
going up…I may have done it! But a large stall, followed by a tail
slide? My previously damaged nose had departed the glider on
launch. The glider did a falling leaf routine to the middle of the
floor in 16.6 seconds. The flight would count as zero thanks to
having a dropped part, but that was not important. In the rematch of
the Clash in Kent it was Rob edging me for a well deserved win in
HLG. Neither of us got close to the FAI record, or our flights form
last year. We decided to blame it on the air instead of our arms or
the gliders. There is always next year…we hope.
Results:
Standard Catapult
1) Jim Buxton 55.1 + 54.5=109.6
2) Kurt Krempetz 52.7+51.0=103.7
3) Don Slusarczyk 48.0+47.9=95.9
4) Ken Krempetz 36.9+35.7=72.6
Unlimited Catapult
1) Jim Buxton 56.4+55.4=111.8
2) Rob Romash 55.4+54.7=110.1
3) Kurt Krempetz 53.9+52.7=106.6
4) Ken Krempetz 54.5+51.8=106.3
Hand Launched Glider
1) Rob Romash 54.0+53.1=107.1
2) Jim Buxton 53.7+51.8=105.5
3) Kurt Krempetz 39.8+39.6=79.4*
4) Ken Krempetz 24.0+6.03**
*flying Tip launch
**first place in the over 70 years old category, nice flying with a
24 second flight!
Received on Mon Apr 07 2008 - 20:08:07 CEST
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:45 CET