Thursday…
As I sit in the hotel room, just back from Eagle field I'm still covered in dust and
grime. I have a great view overlooking the Hotel pool. It appears that several
of the competitors have finished their "wrenching" for the evening and have
opted to jump into the water to cool off after a HOT day of racing.
After running the matrix for 5 classes of Series eligible planes, I spent the rest of the
time shooting pictures with Ken McSpadden's camera. That put me right out on the
line and in some cases, on the other side of the line (just for the starts) for some great
races! It was nice to see some returning faces - especially ones that reminded us
that they shouldn't be counted out!
We had only a couple of minor incidents, Bill Malo lost his F1 when the tail let loose
around Pylon 2 and although the plane will fly again, Rick Maida's new Tsunami had a
pretty hard landing which ended his weekend and created a whole lots of thing to
accomplish in the shop over the winter during the off-season.
So, without further ado, here are the results after Round 1. I'll post again after
tomorrow's heats. Oh yeah, the race operation crew is doing such a fabulous job,
that we've decided to run 7 rounds. So 3 heat races tomorrow, 2 on Saturday plus 1
on Sunday and then the finals. Can't wait!!!!!
Friday…
The weather cooperated nicely with us today and gave us a beautiful blue sky and mild temperatures in which to race. We ran 3 heats of racing today and that kept me pretty busy - but I did get to see a few heat races and what I saw was amazingly close. In many of the heats, a cut was the difference between first and last! The starts I saw were some of the closest yet and those guys were pushing the line hard. We did lose a couple today, Chuck Winter's Ashley and Archie Snider's AT-6. But I have to give all the pilots credit for some of the best landings I've seen in a long time - especially in a pretty strong headwind. Joe Reichlin and Scott Manning just greased their Unlimited down after the 3rd heat today.
Well, gotta run - Denny and Barbara Baker and the DB Racing team are serving up their famous Chili-Cheese Dogs and Softball juice. And they've promised me I have a glass with my name on it… Wish you were all here so you could help Denny reach his goal. 82 is his record and he bought for 100. So I'm off to contribute to the effort.
Saturday…
It's 3:45 and all my work is finished for the day. We ran an additional 2 heats today and finished up early so that people could get ready for the banquet (which promises to be very yummy - I saw the desert tray already)!!
Racing was great today. I'm not sure I saw a bad heat. We lost only one today, Archie Snider's NA 50 did a snap on take off and is now in two pieces. It's tough to watch the people you know lose planes - especially when I know how hard and long they worked until very late last night putting it back together after a prop issue shook the plane really hard yesterday.
Before today, I would have said that the Unlimited final would be a race between Archie, Ken Mc Spadden and Daniel Goldberg. But after this afternoon's heats, I would have to retract that statement. Here's why…. Mc Bride's Racing team brought a Tsunami with an engine set up to run GASOLINE. Yep, you heard me right - No Nitro. They went from a fast time of 1:38 to a screaming 1:20:45 in their last heat this afternoon. And the engine guys for Red and The Super Corsair seem to have ceased to struggle with being rich and finally have hit that magic combo. Scott Manning piloted it today for a 1:19 down from a best time of 1:25. McSpadden's best is a 1:20 - so he better look out. I can't wait to see how it all turns out tomorrow.
So tomorrow is one more heat and then the finals - which are shaping up to be pretty close. I'll wrap it up for now so I can get this posted before the evening's festivities….
Sunday…
Well, I'm back at the office and am working to get the final results posted. It was a great day which included a final round of heat racing and the Trophy Races. It was a gorgeous day and the weather was just perfect for racing!
Here is the link to the final results. The 2002 Golden State Unlimited and the 2002 USRA Series Championships are in the books. See you next season.