JetRally13

Maine Jet Rally 2013

NEIL SIMPSON, BRIAN STAS

AND PAUL KUBEK

ARE TOP THREE

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013 - SANFORD, ME - The Maine Jet Rally was a four day extravaganza that featured radio control airplanes, of all types, with an emphasis on RC jets. There was also RC helicopters, off-road RC car racing, control line flying, night-flying and last, but not least demos featuring real air show pilots. The New England Combat Association was privileged to receive an invitation to run a control line combat contest as part of Saturday’s schedule. Participation in this event, which attracted thousands of people, exposed what we do to a wide cross section of people, who already have an interest in aviation. In addition to all this, we were blessed with pleasant temperatures and a moderate breeze, a perfect day for combat.

Following the first round Brian Stas and PaulKubek were in the lead each posting two cut 725 point wins. Rick Clark and Neil Simpson were close with 620 point one cut wins. In round two Brian got past Paul two cuts to one while Neil was getting past Rick with the same margin of victory. In round three Brian and Neil faced off in a match that went buzzer to buzzer. Brian made a well-executed move early to take about half of Neil’s streamer. Neil fought back and finally got an opening, however the alignment of the airplanes wasn’t perfect and the yank from the lines removed Brian’s entire streamer. Neil then ran like a rabbit, with Brian in very close and skilled pursuit, somehow preserving the tie in the process. Round three also saw Paul remain in the hunt with an airtime win over Rick. Going into the final round, Brian had 1960 points, Neil had 1855 points and Paul was sitting at 1645 points. It would come down to the final two matches. In the first of these Neil put pressure on the leaders with a two cut win over Paul in a match where both pilots flew very well. In the final Brian faced off against Rick, Brian needed a one cut win to tie for the lead and a two cut victory to win the contest. There was good action early with Brian getting a cut and leaving streamer enough to shoot for in order to try and earn the second cut. A little later in the action the opening seemed to be there, Brian went for it but a zig and a zag later a mid-air occurred and the match was over. This gave Neil the win, Brian had more than enough points for second and Paul, who flew well all day, earned his third place finish.

Thank you to Ray and Robin’s Hobby Center and all the great sponsors of this year’s Maine Jet Rally. There support and financial considerations allowed for our participation in this event. Thank you to Ara Dedekian who was the point man, not only for our event, but for the control line activity that spanned all four days of the air show. Thank you to Sandy Schmidt who, along with Ara, co-cd’ed the control line venue. Thank you, as well, to Rick Clark who helped Ara and Sandy with their efforts. To everyone on the organizational side please know that our group is very grateful to have been part of the show.

Maine Jet Rally 2013

Formula GX Combat

7 contestants ( 6 from MA ) ( 1 from ME )

14 matches ( 3 mid-airs )

Neil Simpson-East Brookfield, MA