NEChamps05

New England Championships

DICK SHERMAN, NEIL SIMPSON, WILL ROGERS & JEFF VADER

ARE THE TOP FOUR IN FORMULA GX

“LIL SHERM” IS THE SPORTSMAN WINNER

NEIL SIMPSON, KEN HARGREAVES AND RICK CLARK

EARN THE TROPHY SPOTS IN 1/2A

SEPTEMBER 4 & 5, 2005-WORCESTER, MA -This year’s New England Championships attracted twelve

pilots for the sixteenth annual running of this very successful Formula GX happening. The location was Boynton Park in Worcester, Massachusetts. The weather, both days, was perfect with warm temperatures, low humidity and a gentle breeze.

On Sunday we flew Formula GX. Neil Simpson and Lloyd Seymour got off to the best starts each posting three cut wins. Round two started with Neil and Lloyd in a battle royal that had non-stop action, each pilot ending up with a cut apiece. Meanwhile, Will Rogers, Dick Sherman and Ken Hargreaves all earned good round two wins and were just off the pace set by Neil and Lloyd. Round three started with a very good match between Neil Simpson and Will Rogers that ended in a one cut apiece draw. Next Ken and Lloyd had a war that ended, in the last minute, in a mid air. Next, Dick Sherman got past Jim Carpenter with an airtime win. This was followed by a match between Joe Fustolo and Jeff Vader. Each guy had two cuts but a missed airtime gave Jeff the win. Going into the final round it was Neil (1850pts), Lloyd (1740pts), Jeff (1650pts) with Will and Dick both with 1550 points. The final three flights of the contest would prove meaningful. In the first of these Dick Sherman got past “Lil Sherm” with a three cut win. In the next match Will and Lloyd had a very exciting match with Will coming out on top two cuts to one. In the final match Neil and Jeff battled to a one cut apiece draw. When it all shook out the top four were Dick (2380pts), Neil (2360pts), Will (2275pts) and Jeff (2160pts). “Lil-Sherm”took home the Sportsman “gold” finishing eighth in a twelve man field.

The top four flyers plus the sportsman winner received beautiful awards. Every competitor received a T-shirt to commemorate their participation in this annual GX happening. In addition, every pilot also received a raffle prize which included a Magnum engine, fuel, props, GRW tanks and boxes of wing cores. GRW Model Products, J&J Sales, The Corehouse, Hog Heaven Hobbies and the Connecticut Ringer Model Airplane Club all made serious cash or merchandise contributions. Thank You to all these great sponsors from all of us. It was great to have Norm Liversidge back flying combat. Norm hadn’t given this a try since back in the eighties, when he was quite active in the sport.

On Monday we were back to fly double elimination 1/2A. There were five entrants, all using RTF stuff with either Foras or Cyclons for power. At the end of three full rounds two men had been eliminated while Rick Clark, Ken Hargreaves and Neil Simpson were all tied with one loss apiece. Ken got past Rick to set up a final between Neil and Ken. It was a wild one, Neil got an early cut followed by a line tangle that ended in a mid air, Neil taking home an ugly win in the process.

New England Championships

Formula GX Combat

12 contestants ( 9 from MA) (1 from CT) (2 from NH)

24 matches - 4 mid-airs

(E)Dick Sherman-Andover, MA

2380pts

(E)Neil Simpson-E.Brookfield, MA

2360pts

(E)Will Rogers-E,Hartford, CT

2275pts

(A)Jeff Vader-Franklin, NH

2160pts