IMAC National Championship

Model Airplane News, Jan 1999 by Wolanski, Dan

Top fliers go for the gold !

ONE YEAR AGO, Model Airplane News brought you the first major coverage of the International Miniature Aerobatic Club gMAC) National Championship. fMAC now boasts its highest membership ever, and it seems only fitting that this magazine continue its coverage with the 1998 National Championship, held on August 21 to 23 in the birthplace of IMAC: Toledo, OH.

AT THE FIELD

Friday was set aside by contest director Tom Kroggel as a day for pilots to become accustomed to the field and expected conditions during the event. Wanting to take full advantage of the opportunity, I arrived at the field at 9 a.m. to find a huge, 600x300-foot grass runway with a tree line that parallels the runway approximately 700 feet out. Another tree line at the left end of the field promised to make end-box maneuvers quite interesting. As I put my plane together, other pilots began to arrive with planes of all sizes, from .40 to 40 percent. The day was filled with lots of flying, showing off and socializing. Pilots from around the country who had only heard of one another via newsletters or the Internet finally had a chance to meet and compete.

Saturday, the first day of competition, included two rounds of Known maneuvers. At 9 a.m., the two flightlines roared into action as the first pilot started his engine, taxied his plane out and broke ground into the hot, humid morning air. The weather could not have been more perfect with sunny skies, calm

winds and temperatures expected to hit 90 by mid-afternoon.

As the morning progressed, leaders in each class began to emerge. In Sportsman, Brian Fisher quickly jumped out in front of the pack, followed by Marc Moldowan and Troy Crowe. Brian had worked very hard during the previous months and seemed to be taking the Midwest by storm. In Advanced, 1997 Sportsman national champion Mike Kuper put in a stellar first round followed closely by John Adams and me. Mike and I fly, practice and call for each other, and I was there as the Northwest regional champion. In Unlimited, IMAC president Doug Cronkhite edged out Mike McConville and Mike Cross for the early lead. Doug flew in from San Diego and borrowed Mike McConville's plane for the event. The two also called for each other. Near the end of the first round, Jerry Candito's huge, 37-percent 300L broke a wing during a negative snap and crashed.

The day ended around 4:30 p.m. with no real lead or position changes. Sportsman and Advanced tightened up with only 4.5 raw points out of nearly 6,000 possible points separating second and third places. To put this in perspective, if either of the third-place pilots had scored just a half point more on any single maneuver, they would have switched positions with the pilots who were in second place.

Unlimited did see one position change during the day, with Jerry Candito moving into third place. Jerry borrowed Wayne Mathews' plane, which was a duplicate of his own, for the remainder of the contest and quickly shook off the crash. It was encouraging to see Jerry Because most pilots hadn't been in IMAC that long or had since moved on to other classes, Tom reasoned that no one had ever flown them before. Most of the pilots I talked to were hoping for a more difficult Unknown sequence; little did they know what loomed on the horizon.

A BLUSTERY DAY

The morning began at 8:30 with a brief pilots' meeting to choose by lottery the flight order for the Unknown competition. As 9 a.m. approached, the weather began to change. The wind, which had been peculiarly absent the day before, started to brew very quickly. By the time the starting gun sounded, winds were gusting from the southwest at over 20mph. Everyone watched the first pilot struggle with the wind and the new sequence. Trying to fly straight and level became a chore. Sudden downdrafts and crosswinds came off the surrounding trees, making each moment unpredictably exciting. Anyone who had wished for a harder Unknown quickly retracted his earlier comments. As the rounds began, it was evident that most pilots were just trying to get through the sequence and hoping their current position would not falter.

Sportsman saw a very tight race during the Unknowns, with John Schroder winning the round and Brian Fisher taking second. Marc Moldowan, who came into the round in second place, gave up IS raw points and second place to Troy Crowe. Brian had accumulated enough points from the previous two rounds, however, to maintain his overall first-place position and the Sportsman national championship. In Advanced, I placed first in the Unknowns, but it wasn't enough to beat overall first-place pilot Mike Kuper. John, who came into the round a mere l/ point behind me, gave up a little ground to fourth-place Ed Alt but not enough for a position change. The first five positions in Advanced went unchanged after the Unknowns, with Mike Kuper taking the Advanced national championship.

Unlimited was a real nail biter. Doug Cronkhite led Mike McConville by a mere 8 raw points out of a possible 3,000. Doug flew first and did a great job of combating the wind. After watching Doug fly, Mike decided he needed to pull out the stops, so he switched to his Tournament of Champions plane, a 40-percent CAP 232. Mike knew the larger plane would handle the severe gusts better than the 35-percent plane Doug had just flown. Mike entered the box and flew an absolutely perfect Unknown sequence and took the round by a whopping 143.5 points to win the Unlimited national championship. Doug held on to second place while Jerry Candito edged out Mike Cross for third.