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Quique Somenzini WINS 1998 TOC 8942.602
points
2nd Place Christophe Paysant Leroux
8611.121
3rd Place Sean McMurtry 8340.835
4th Jason Shulman 8329.608
5th Steve Stricker 8320.917
6 th Roland Matt 8057.041
7th Dave VonLinsowe 7364.343
Sunday October 11, 1998 by Albert
Tejera
Another TOC has come and gone and another
beautiful day of weather. The scores and outcome may surprize many
of you but today was a completely separate contest between the 7
top pilots. Jason who usually excells in the unknown did unusually
poor on his first round.This surprised many of us since he had been
very close to Quique all week. Steve also aborted a takeoff today
zeroing the round due to a stripped elevator servo.
Saturday October 10, 1998 by Albert
Tejera
The finalists are in, they are Quique
Somenzini, Jason Shulman, Christoph Paysant Laroux, Dave Von Linsowe
and Sean McMurtry, Steve Stricker and Roland Matt.
Saturday yielded yet another beautiful
flying day. Very mild winds and plenty of sunshine.
The top 14 pilots were on their toes today. The most significant
event of the day was Quique Somenzini missing the first known and
unknown flights this morning. His father. Mario, who is the key
member of his team as his mechanic and caller was ill all last night.
According to Quique, his age, the dry desert heat and excitement
had him quite sick all last night never allowing the whole family
team to get some sleep. By the afternoon Quique and his Dad were
back in action coming back very strong. Basically the lowest score
gets dropped so he is still in there.
Peter Goldsmith aborted a flight today due to some receiver lock
outs he was experiencing.
The free style flights are getting even more daring thanks to the
excitement of the adoring crowds. Jason Shulman had a very unusual
climbing inverted flat spin. WOW! I have it on tape.... Quique Somenzini
has this unusual death dive that turns instantly into an inverted
flat spin. He also amazed the crowds again with three low tail slides
that quickly fell to just a few feet above the ground. (Video to
come out shortly.) Billy Hemple bounced his plane with a hard "slam
and go" while he was trying to touch the tail and go back up
to finish his free style, Wooops!! Sadly Kirk Gray crashed during
his free style while sweeping low while inverted.
I will post the latest flight order tonight after the banquet. Tonight
we will also know which seven will continue on to compete tomorrow.
There will be a lot more video clips coming later on. My Desktop
system back at the office is capable of smoother video captures
so I may leave the majority of the video updates until I get back.
Besides, I have several hours of free-style excitement so that editing
takes a long long time. And ftp uploads at 26.4 kbps takes a lot
longer than uploading via our office cable modem.
Some of you playing the Real Audio Videos may notice that they are
not streaming. This is a problem that I will resolve shortly since
part of that funtion is in the viewer but the rest is in setting
up the web page properly.
Thanks for all the nice comments I have recieved about our coverage.
Please feel free to email me while I am out here and tell me what
you want more of. I have been responding to all emails although
my reply may be somewhat short due to my current work load. (gotta
have some r&r!!)
Airplane specs are now available below....
Friday October 9, 1998 by Albert
Tejera
Today was again a beautiful flying day, sunny with
mild winds, The third unknown and third known pattern sequences
as well as the third free style flights were flown today.
Rick Byrd was able to continue the competition thanks to Bob Santos
who has loaned him the airplane that was to be Mike McConville's
third backup plane. The free style copetition was rockin' and rolling
today as they had been in the last few days. Styles are radically
differnt from ultra risky to ultra conservative.
David Patrick, Roland Matt and Silvestri Sebastini were among the
best choreographed free style routines. Others like Quique are more
daring
Scores have now been posted.Tonight has determined which of the
seven drop out for saturdays flight. More videos will be added as
time permits, I also have a complete set of airplane specs that
will soon be available.
Thursday October 8, 1998 by Albert
Tejera
Today began with the news that Dave Patrick's car
had an attempted break in while parked in a parking lot accross
the street from the hotel last night.. The steering column of his
car was damaged but even worse was that, apparently out of frustration,
the would be thieves threw a large Igloo cooler on top of Dave's
airplane. The damage to the aircraft was minimal but everyones reaction
was that of disgust. His crew made the necessary repairs to the
stab and fuselage and his plane flew fine.
The day had modereate to light winds and the scores will tell you
that the top three or four guys are really fighting it out.
Quique Somenzini amazed the crowd during his freestyle, as usual,
with low hovering manuevers that defy gravity. I will post some
video later on tonight.
Mike McConville had an unusually high spirited flight that amazed
the crowds with a speed of excecution and maneuvers that would break
most airplanes apart.
Rick Byrd, however, lost his airplane during the free style. It
looks like he pulled out of a diving manuever too late and the G's
overwhelmed the lift. We caught it on video so keep checking back
and we will soon post it on this site.
Warren Thomas experienced some lock out problems with his airplane
and prudently aborted his flight saving the plane.
Everyone else was just awesome in their own special way. The scores
that I have posted include only the first two known, first two unknown
and the first freestyle only.
As a side note Jason Shulman has the most drop dead gorgeous airbrush
artwork on his aircraft done by a German artist by the name of Andreas
Geitz.. I will add some photos here later.
Keep checking back tommorow for more continueing coverage of the
TOC.
Wednesday October 7, 1998 by Albert
Tejera
Todays flying consisted of one known, one unknown
and one free style competition for each of the pilots. Final scores
were not announced today.This year there are now 21 contestants
and the format has changed radically. The first three days are qualifying
rounds to select the top 14 pilots that will compete on Saturday.
Then Sunday only the top 7 pilots will fight it out for the big
cash prizes. This year cash prizes total a record $184,000 to be
divided amongst the top pilots.
Today Peter Goldsmith did his free style with only
once cylinder working. Rick Byrd crashed his plane during practice
earlier this week and is working with a borrowed airplane. Don't
forget to bookmark this page for daily updates. Check back tomorrow
for more up to date coverage.
1998 TOC SCORES
in no particular order
scores last updated on Friday October 9, 1998 @ 10:30
PM
|
Place
|
Score
|
Contestant
|
Notes
|
| 5 |
|
Steve Stricker
|
*TME Smoke*, 44%Extra300S,55lbs,3W160,
'96 Champion
|
| 4 |
|
Jason Shulman
|
44% G202,31lbs,3W120,*TME Smoke*
|
| 1 |
|
Quique Somenzini
|
'97 Champ, 37%Extra300L,34lbs,3W140,
*TME Smoke*
|
| 8 final |
|
Mike McConville
|
40% CAP232,38lbs,3W140
|
| 12 final |
|
Kirk Gray
|
41% G202,36lbs,3W120,*TME Smoke*
|
| 19 final |
13480.626 |
Warren Thomas
|
38%Extra300L,? lbs,3W120, *TME
Smoke*
|
| 21 final |
11945.821 |
Rick Byrd
|
42% G202,35lbs,3W140,*TME Smoke*
flying a loaned aircraft
|
| 15 final |
14540.366 |
Wolfgang Matt
|
38%Extra300S,40lbs,3W120, *TME
Smoke*
|
| 6 |
|
Roland Matt
|
44% G202,32lbs,3W120,*TME Smoke*
|
| 9 final |
|
Frazer Briggs
|
42% Ex260,38lbs,3W140 |
| 14 final |
|
Peter Goldsmith
|
46% CAP232,37lbs,3W140*TME Smoke*
|
| 16 final |
14097.16 |
Gerald Neel
|
40% Staudacher S300D,40lbs,3W140, *TME
Smoke*
|
| 11 final |
|
Sebastiano Silvestri
|
37% T3 Katana, 41lbs,3W140, *TME
Smoke*
|
| 10 final |
|
Bill Hemple
|
40% EDGE 540,30lbs,3W140,
|
| 20 final |
12500.533 |
Gunther Ulsamer
|
38%Extra300L,38lbs,3W140, |
| 7 |
|
Dave vonLinsowe
|
44% G202,39lbs,3W120, |
| 13 final |
|
Chris Lakin
|
46% G200,38lbs,3W140,
|
| 3 |
|
Sean McMurtry
|
37%Extra300L,37lbs,3W140,
|
| 2 |
|
Christophe Paysant Leroux
|
37% CAP232,32lbs,TEAM
7.0 single |
| 17 final |
14039.129 |
Ivan Kristensen
|
42% G202,38lbs,3W120,
*TME Smoke* |
| 18 final |
13732.627 |
Dave Patrick
|
37% CAP232,38lbs,3W120 |
| |
|
|
|
Please forgive me if there are any typos. Too many
numbers too little time...
Don't
forget to Check out our
Simple
Smoke Pump II
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