Stuka Stunt Main Forum · 15 of 15 known posts recovered
1. Paul Walker
2. David Fitzgerald
3. Bill Werwage
4. Brett Buck
5. Bob Hunt
Tomorrow will be a fresh contest among these five. Today's standings won't count.
Any chance of someone posting the order of the 6th - 20th?
Congratulations, Brett, on joining World Champions and team members in this elite group!
SK
Serge Krauss
Let's see, all I have to do is beat guys with a combination of 19 National Championships, 5 W/C's, and innumerable team placings. No problem, me and my malfunctioning neurons and 7-year old airplane will take care of that right away.
Hunt and I were really twisting in the wind waiting for scores today. Paul thought it was really funny. It wasn't as bad as yesterday - I flew my definitive flight at about 8:45 and had to wait all day, until about 5:00, waiting for the sword fo Damocles to fall. At least today, it was over pretty quickly!
Brett
Greg L. Bahrman
They placed further down. Andrii and Yuri Yatsenko were pretty well up the list (after some highly distracting non-airplane related issues). Kaz and Masuru Hiki (who is MUCH improved since the last time he came to the NATs) were in there, too. Hunt was really sweating out Andrii's score, since it was the last realistic chance to knock him out. I also noted that some of the airplanes that really worked well when it was windy, didn't work so well today. Whether that was just bad needles, or some setup issue, I couldn't tell.
I would also add that FAI Stunt and AMA stunt are significantly different breeds of cat, a fact of which I am even more keenly aware after having seen both at the highest levels back-to-back. FAI is more a matter of never making a noticable bobble on the three maneuvers where it matters, and it's almost irrelevant what you do on the others. AMA stunt means doing *all* the maneuvers well, and if you miss a bottom on your square 8, you can make up for it with a good takeoff or landing. That's how you wind up with a 4-time world champ (Han) who can't or doesn't do round loops very well. I think that's one reason the crowd at the W/C was getting so frustrated with the seemingly random scoring. It wasn't random. It just looked that way if you evaluated the pattern as a whole and ignored the K-factor.
So, no sneaky conspiracies against the "furriners" - just a different game which we have more practice at.
Brett
PS. The international fliers really made their presence known in qualifying. Several people who you would expect to be reliable qualifiers, even in this very deep field, didn't make it because they were beaten by the international guys. Heck, I was worried for most of the day. A few examples - Dan Banjock didn't make it, at least in part because guys who wouldn't normally have been there, Andrii and Bene Rodriguez, beat him. No complaints as far as I know, it was just a tough contest. And with only 5 people per circle and 30 competitors, the *seeding* was very critical. I thought my circle with Billy, Andrii, Alexander Shreck, RO, John Hill, me, and several others, was rough. But clearly it wasn't the toughest.
I agree. I think that is a very important point. By the way, way to go on the Top 5!
The City Smasher
Congradulations!!! It's been awhile coming and you certainly deserve it.
"I don't know about this tuned pipe business. I practiced on that thing until my lips turned blue, and I still can't play a stinkin note."
"Homer J. Simpson"
Milton Graham\Proparc
I would expect that just as likely would be "California Man struck and killed by meteorite" is probably more likely. But I'll give it the old college try.
Brett
That would certainly get you more publicity than the Walker Cup, at least under the "Tragic but Funny" section in the newspapers.
Meteor or not, good luck tomorrow.
Steve
You realize that you will now be forced to build a new ship to maintain your new prestige as one of the giants of stunt, right?
Yes, I did tell Brett that he was in need of a new plane now that the Prime Infinity has one uped his....AND if he builds one without a foam wing someone needs to ensure that the spars are glued properly together! Rest in peace "Special Edition"! Myself I am going the other way. My Jett .61 will be sold and a PA .40 ultralight obtained. Derek has some plans for me to build from also. However, don't expect to see me at a contest anywhere but very locally for at least two years. I need to recouperate after the wicked winds of circle four blew my plane right out of the sky in the hourglass with the Jett .61 blazing away in a two stroke.... The plane had gone through worse wind on Wendsday O.K., but that was on circle two.
Jim Pollock, a victim of circle four capricious winds.
Some short folks, most notably from Canada are telling me to get a new plane and chuck the profiles. I would be happy to take your plane off your hands after this contest. Maybe your magic touch might rub off on me. Keep at it. You are in atmospheric company, or should I say stratospheric or outer space.
Have fun and good luck.
Bob Smiley
Bob