Jeff Struthers took the clock to the max during round 1 with a 9:57, a mere 3 seconds from being over, then he parked it on the 20 point circle for a fantastic 78 points. Jeff did exceptionally well as Jim Shelton was in a thermal lift that was no place near where Jeff was, and when Jim made the decision to land, Jeff simply held on to that little whisper of lift coming from the Palm Trees to get the last man up status. What is equally impressive, is that Jeff followed up with the longest flight during round 4 at 9:30, but he missed the landing points and that was the nail in the coffin….
Tom Erickson was the top points contender for Radian class, with consistent good times and bonus landing points in every round.
Tom’s first round was at 9:37 and 20, so he was the one to watch as even when the flight times dropped in the following rounds, he hit the target every time, getting bonus points each round. That was the kicker that gave him the edge over Jeff’s full clock runs.
Open class only had 2 competitors, Jim Shelton and John Forrester. It was nice to see John at the field, he had been away for a several weeks with reasons that kept him from the field. Jim was consistantly getting long clock runs and landing points in all but 1 round, netting him the highest score of the day. Its evident that he has really started to get into the groove with his Hyper, flying on 2 cells. John managed to get the Lucky Dog 3 of the 4 rounds! I’m thinking we need to get him a “Lucky Dog” shirt, or maybe a collar!
Scores for Radian:
Tom Erickson 205
Jeff Struthers 200
Norm Arndt 192
Bill Graham 182
Ray Fulks 179
Scores for Open:
Jim Shelton 265
John Forrester 66
Next month, more of the finest loitering in sunny San Diego, the 3rd Saturday is Aug, 17. Hope to see you there.