August 5, 2021: RC Helicopter

Closing report by Mike Unger

Well, the final rounds of the 2021 Heli Nats went off without a hitch on Wednesday morning.  Sportsman started off the day with the first flight at 8:04 a.m., followed by Advanced, Masters, and F3C. The weather was perfect, with temps cold enough in the morning for me to break out my hoodie for a couple of hours. Final flights were completed about 11:30 and we started the awards ceremony at noon.

Final standings

Sportsman (dropping lowest round)

Chris Goodin                      5937.50

Cliff Lewis                            5909.17

Charles Crespo                  5307.84

Michael Lewandowski   5279.09

Richard Sowers                 4808.87

Nathan Essex                     4726.56

Geena Tucker                    4474.62

Derek Townsend              3893.86

Advanced (dropping lowest round)

Daniel Tureac                     6000.00

Peter Bisbal                        5442.88

As you can see, there was quite a tight battle for the top spot in Sportsman. Cliff Lewis and Chris Goodin were very close at the end, and is was fun to watch the battle unfold.  It was also exciting to see how much they all improved from the first round to the seventh. All of them made dramatic improvements. 

Daniel Tureac came prepared in the Advanced Class, winning every round.

In the Masters Class, Gordie Meade had a commanding lead throughout the event, despite having to switch to a backup heli provided by Tim Diperi. It seems he had a temporary lapse in good judgement during a 180° autorotation that resulted in a tailboom strike on his primary bird.

Jim Hall kept him honest with a solid performance to finish 2nd. Angel Rojas and Michael Parker also had a good fight for 3rd and 4th, with each of them going back and forth, round by round.  Angel came out on top but it was a great effort by Michael to keep the pressure on.

Masters (dropping lowest score)

Gordie Meade                   5985.94

Jim Hall                                 5602.29

Angel Rojas                         5412.83

Michael Parker                  5351.77

Finally for F3C, Nick Maxwell continued his dominance of the F3C Nats with another convincing win. Cliff Hiatt finished a solid 2nd after taking a few years off from the Nats. Regulars Yasunobu Muraki and Mike Goza had a good battle for 3rd and 4th.

F3C

Nick Maxwell                     3000.00

Clifford Hiatt                       2550.02

Yasunobu Muraki             2468.22

Michael Goza                     2397.21

Timothy DiPeri                  2045.58

Chris Diamonte                 1971.94

Robert Montee                 1797.80

In Sport Scale, after tallying all of the results, Mike Zaborowski would finish 1st. F3C Pilot Tim DiPeri ended up 2nd .  Evan Sayres ended up 3rd with his magnificent Comanche. Mark Smith put together some nice flights to win 518 Scale.

So there you have it. After 162 flights, we decided the winners in each class and awarded trophies for the top finishers.

I would like to thank everyone for their cooperation in making the event run smoothly. All of the people who judged when I needed them to, who got up early for 8 a.m. flights, but most of all I want to thank Craig Bradley and Dianne Muraki for all of their help with scoring and keeping things straight. Without everyone’s help, this fantastic event we do every year just doesn’t happen. 

Until next year, keep beating the air into submission and pushing the envelope ... see you in 2022.

Mike Unger with NIck Maxwell, F3C 1st place.

Cliff Hiatt, F3C  2nd place.

Nob Muraki,  F3C 3rd place.

Gordie Meade, Masters  1st place.

Jim Hall, Masters  2nd place.

Angel Rojas, Masters 3rd place.

Daniel Tureac, Advanced 1st place.

Pete Bisbal, Advanced 2nd place.

Chris Goodin, Sportsman 1st place.

Cliff Lewis, Sportsman 2nd place.

Charles Crespo, Sportsman 3rd place.

Tim DiPeri, Sport Scale 2nd place.

Mike Zaborowski, Sport Scale 1st place.

Mark Smith, 518 Scale 1st place.