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WINNERS

Spot Auto

1st – Ben Minor
2nd – Al Riopel
3rd - Ricardo Maldonado

Timed Flight

1st – Ricardo Maldonado
2nd – Kenny Thompson
3rd - Bruce Thompson


Freestyle

1st – Zack Johns
2nd - Ricardo Maldonado
3rd – Kenny Thompson

TREX 450 Pylon Racing

1st – Kenny Thompson
2nd - Jim Senicka
3rd – Bruce Thompson

Best in Show Scale

Richard Morgan

Best in Show Non-Scale

Al Riopel

Just a quick note of thanks to all of the participants in Helis Over Tidewater 2008. This was a couple "firsts". The first helicopter only event for Newport News Park RC Club and my first event as event coordinator. I had a fantastic day. I think our club got some great visibility, as well as a good look at just how big a part of RC that helicopters have become. I need to thank all of the NNPRCC club members that helped, and a huge thanks to Tracie Hawks, who handled all of the web hosting, awards, food, and everything else so I could have fun and fly.

What made it such a success to me was some great flying by some very cool folks. Everyone came out to play and socialize with a bunch of other helicopter obsessed nut cases! We saw some fantastic flying by Zak (in the words of our local freestyle judge "OMG"), Jay (proving a Raptor 90 can 3D with the best of them, but apparently not fly forward at all?), Ricardo (fantastic flying with both his and my 90's!), Kenny (3 helis into the day and still pushing harder!), AJ (who knew you could fly a Gaui 200 as hard as a Joker 90?), Ben (the "spot" under the skids is how you are apparently supposed to spot auto). Our local pilots, including Bruce, Al and I tried our best to look cool despite the bar being raised waaaaay higher than we are used to. (We all now remember what it was like to walk in that first day as a high school freshman!)

In a less frantic, flying mode, we also saw some great scale birds, with Sam and a 450 based Bell 222, and Richard with a beautiful Bell Long Ranger and a Bat Copter!

A special thanks to Kenny, Bruce, and Sam for participating in the first TREX450 pylon race!!! It was by far the favorite event for the spectators. I am going to take my loss to Kenny like a man, and go buy a Beam E4 with a hotter motor than his for next year!!!!

For a few of us sticking around, we waited out a 30mph wind at the leading edge of a storm to get in some night flights in the calm before the rain started. I personally thought my night equipped Raptor 90 is cool, but really freaky when backlit by a major lighting bolt a few miles off :) Bruce and Sam also got in a few flights, and I think Sam wins the "best night lighting" award with his 450.

Sorry if I left folks out, my brain was pretty cooked after 12 hours of flying in the sun.

For those of you mostly local, you got a chance to see what a beautiful flying facility we have at NNPRCC. We have just under 100 members, with 5 or 6 active heli pilots. We are very well accepted in the group, and most every weekend you will see 5-10 fixed wing pilots and 2-3 heli guys flying. We welcome new members and think having some hot pilots like Zak and Jay coming out routinely will really raise the bar on the rest of us and bring up everyone's skill level.

Next year we are looking at a possible 2 day event, and also looking at doing a bulk purchase of Wildcat fuel if we can generate enough interest

For folks who were deeply envious of the awesome HOT2008 T-Shirts, they are available here http://www.cafepress.com/treystone


And finally, please take care of our sponsors! Please try to order parts via our sponsors, and let them know you saw them at HOT2008!

Sponsors include

Thunder Power
Grand RC
A Main Hobbies
V Blades
Heli Proz
Ron's Heli Proz South
Model Avionics
Wildcat fuels
Boca Bearings
Callie Graphics
Quick UK
Debbie's RC World

- Jim Senicka
 

Check out the 10' Trex pylons made by Bruce Thompson. Tex-Rex pylon racing is just one of the planned events at HOT. Bring your video cameras!