IMAC Round 2 - Waharoa - April 8th

By Alan (Bellbands) Belworthy

Well the morning of round 2 started off with low cloud and rain. Mike Briggs was supposed to pick us up so we could use his motor home as HQ and scoring facility. He rang me 1st thing to say that he'd eaten something bad the day before and thought the toilet in the motor home wouldn't last the day. Thanks to his generosity, we borrowed the bus and headed off to Waharoa.

As we arrived at Waharoa, a couple of pilots were just landing and covering their models to protect them from the approaching rain shower. After a team meeting it was decided to wait an hour and see what the weather would do. Well whadaya know, it turned out fine for pretty much for the rest of the day. We kicked off the flying with Basic and Sportsman up first. Dave Wilkins was on fire in Basic and with his new Comp-ARF 2.6M Extra cleaning up most of the rounds and taking a well deserved win in his class. I can see him moving up to Sportsman very soon. Graeme Guzzler Giles took command in Sportsman to win the day with 4 clean rounds. We decided on the day to include "Aunty" Grant Finlay and Adam "Lurch" Butler in Intermediate for the day. As expected these boys beat us mortals who regulary fly Intermediate.

Overall, once the weather had cleared we had a great days flying. Laurie Chrystal provided some entertainment on the day when his Global Freestyle 3D had what seemed like a battery failure and took off into the asparagus paddock. Unfortunately even with the help of some other competitors, he couldn't find his model. Trust he now has his model back.

It is very encouraging to see some new models in different hands with the likes of Barry Johnson flying JB's old Sukhoi, but rumour has it that he is now in possession of the ex 1Can Hundy-Hundy Comp-Arf Extra. Go Barry.

Look forward to seeing you all next time at Waharoa.