2003 Nothwest Regionals

This site was last updated on February 15, 2008.

The 2003 Northwest Regionals

Jeffrey Rein

5 rounds of diesel plus finals were flown on Friday. 8 contestants. Laid back fun and slow flying combat, average speed about 58 MPH. Veteran Robert Smith took first. Our rising, eleven year old, star Cayce Rule took second. Junior and always competitive Melissa Huber took third. John Thompson, a newcomer to diesel, took fourth. Tony Huber, who is the H of the H&R shutoff took fifth. Dave Baxter, Mike Rule, and Craig Bartlett also flew.

Double elimination 80 MPH with shutoff's was flown Saturday. First place went to Mel Lyne, who was on his game all day. Mike Rule took second, but was the only one who racked up a win against Mel earlier in the contest. Tony Huber flew six rounds to take third. Fourth went to Burt Brokaw from Idaho, soon to move to Arizona. Robert Smith took fifth. Also were Gary Harris, Mark Hansen, David Pellerin, Melissa Huber, Jeff Rein, Cayce Rule and Dave Baxter. Most planes were .32-.40 powered, except the Rule gang used Rossi .20s. They were very effective, and consistently were running 79.5 MPH.

Sunday was double elimination 1/2A on 42' lines. Only five contestants, but took a long time as some of the fliers went off to NW sport race at 11:00. After loosing my first match and boosting my perfect record for the year to zero and eight, I changed my tactics a little and came back with four kills to take first. Young Cayce Rule, whose flying style reminds me of Greg Hill, took second. Robert Smith flew five rounds to take third. Mel Lyne took fourth, and Mike Rule took fifth.

Highlights: Ron Enos and his lovely wife flew in from Honolulu to help time and count cuts, and have fun. What a pleasure it was to have them there. They brought fresh pineapple, and boy was it a treat. Ron also mentioned that he might like to host a contest in Honolulu in about a year or so. Maybe three days, double 1/2A, SL, and fast. Sounds good to me. The weather was between 68 and 85 degrees, with no rain! My match with Mel was a barn burner. And I accomplished one of my goals, which was to win a 1/2A competition using a shutoff in every match. Thanks to everyone that helped to put on this AAA controline championship for over 30 years now. See you next year.