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T.O.C. of Maryland
– 2005
by Art Vail
After several years of unfavorable conditions, the
“weather gods” smiled and gave us ideal
contest weather for this year’s T.O.C.. Friday proved to be a bit wet with a soft
misty rain
throughout most of the day, but it finally stopped and a few pilots managed
to get in a little
practice just before dark. By the
start of the competitive flying on Saturday morning, we
had 30 pilots registered: 8 in Basic;
9 in Sportsman; 7 in Intermediate; 3 in Advanced; and
3 in Unlimited.
As several of the contestants scrambled to get in
some last minute practice before we
officially started, an unfortunate and potentially very serious accident
occurred when one of
the Basic competitors became nervous while taxiing after landing and
mistakenly advanced his
throttle. His plane came to a sudden
stop when the prop struck him, lacerating his upper inner
thigh. Paramedics were summoned as we
kept him as calm as possible and applied pressure to
his bleeding wounds. He was taken to
Shock Trauma in downtown Baltimore for treatment and
thankfully was released later that evening after receiving numerous
sutures. He even returned to
the field on Sunday afternoon to retrieve his gear and vehicle, but not
before we all gave him a
standing ovation.
After a delayed start things got going around 10:45 with the first round of Knowns, followed by a
midday break for freestyle. The freestyle competition is always the
most enjoyable part of our
event for spectators, and this year the flights were outstanding. The crowd favorites were Bob
Sinsky, Jr. (one of our own SWAP Modelers), who flew an exciting smoke-filled
routine with his
huge Ultimate bipe;
Scott Shoemaker, the 15 year old from PA who dazzled everyone with
some
incredible slow and low 3-D flying; Al Santiago, who flew a very smooth
impromptu routine to
music that I picked for him to fly to; and of course, Andy Kane, who always
brings his best, with
a fantastic flight ending with approximately 30 seconds of deadstick acrobatics before landing on
one wheel in front of himself!!
A second round of Knowns
followed, then we held our Saturday evening
banquet. For some
reason several of the pilots chose not to attend. The loss was theirs, however, as our club
treasurer,
Stan Blum and his wife, Michele put out a spread and a half with wings,
meatballs, cheese and
crackers, salad and rolls, turkey and ham, green beans, potatoes, and
dessert! Many great door
prizes were given away before the Unknowns were handed out, but the highlight
of the evening was
when I put the contestant who had been hurt on my cell phone speaker and we
all yelled “hello” and
wished him well.
The Unknown round wa
flown first thing on Sunday, followed by a third round of Knowns. Once
again, we took an early afternoon break for freestyle to the delight of the
spectators and our club
members, then finished up the competitive flying around 4:30,or so. While the final scores were
being tallied, Andy Kane test flew “Doc” Blum’s scratch built WWII French warbird, receiving a
standing ovation for a great flight.
The plane flew beautifully and Doc was obviously ecstatic!
The final results for the
T.O.C. of Maryland – 2005 were as follows:
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Basic
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Name
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Normalized Score
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Kevin Gablemann
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5000.00
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Avelino Pereira
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4674.07
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Tony
Pease
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4607.49
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Cris Finck
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4552.90
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Bill Pitsco
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4467.38
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Jeff
Carte
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4267.33
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Mat Khokar
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4158.38
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Pete
Phillips
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3855.12
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Sportsman
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Name
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Normalized Score
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Ruben Koene
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4925.61
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Joseph
McDaniel
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4919.35
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Troy
Wallace
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4720.14
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John Morisi
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4701.12
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Joe Bobeck
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4694.70
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Mitchell
Kugler
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4599.28
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Richard
Porqueddu
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4459.03
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Sandy Meyersfield
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4439.53
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Scott
Shoemaker
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4438.43
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Intermediate
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Name
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Normalized Score
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Ed
Santiago
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5000.00
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Mike
Brown
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4813.87
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Brad Lorrance
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4721.90
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Mark Vukmanovich
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4401.11
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Igor Spektor
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4215.98
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Barry Finck
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3975.94
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Bob
Sinsky, Jr.
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3389.17
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Advanced
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Name
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Normalized Score
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Rob Teseo
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5000.00
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Pete Castine
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4826.44
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Alan
Walter
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825.35
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Unlimited
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Name
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Normalized Score
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David
Michael
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4990.22
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Andy Kane
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4908.20
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Rich
Fletcher
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3412.24
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The final freestyle scores were as following:
Andy
Kane 3870
Relaxed Open Flying on Friday
Competitive Flying
Saturday
and Sunday
(Pilot
Registration
8:30AM on Saturday)
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Scott
Shoemaker 3120
Al Santiago 3060
Bob
Sinsky, Jr. 2980
Pete
Castine 2730
Brad
Lorrance 2690
Barry
Finck 2420
Many sponsors play a big part in providing support
for this event each year. Our major
sponsors
include:
Lanier R/C*
HobbyTown,
USA
Capt. Dick’s Crabs Galore
Ice
Cream Cottage
Chesapeake
Bank of Maryland
JR / Horizon
Hobbies
Bond
Distributors (Coors Light/Yeungling)
Smart
Fly Electronics
Arthur E. Vail,
D.D.S., P.A.
Great Planes Model Distributors
Sleep Inn - BWI
Dave Brown Products
Baltimore Highlands
Recreation Council
*Lanier R/C has been our longest standing
major sponsor
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Spectators
Welcome! FREE ADMISSION
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Numerous minor sponsors also help us out each
year. This year’s list include:
Arbutus Auto Painting & Bodyworks; Balsa, USA; Byron Originals;
C.B. Tatone; Fox Mfg. Co.; Hallmark Card Boutique; Leon’s
Triple L;
Lil’ Abner’s Liquors; Mars Supermarkets;
Sorrento of Arbutus;
Riedel’s Florist; Pat & Carol Walsh; SIG Manufacturing; Bob Smith
Industries; SKS Video Productions
Lastly, many thanks go out to the numerous SWAP
Modeler members that spent
countless hours helping to once again make this a successful event. I hope you all know
how much your involvement is appreciated!
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