July 21, 2019: CL Combat

By Phil Cartier

Fast Combat has been growing slowly at the Nats the last few years. This year saw 10 fliers competing. Most of the action has moved to F2D, mainly from the chance at getting on a US World Cup team and the ease of buying and shipping top-performing models at a fairly reasonable cost.

The Fast Combat rules are simple, and virtually all of the discrepancies and complexity have been written out. Basically, it is fly fast, cut the string (kill), and win. That happens pretty often. If the pilots and planes are evenly matched, there might be two or three cuts, followed by a kill or a midair collision. It’s rare that the judges need any discussion or have to consult the rulebook, as in F2D.

The match for first and second places was a classic match between Mike Evans and Jeff Rein. Mike got a clean start. Jeff had to flip some. They got separated and the judge signaled Combat. They did roughly two Figure Eights. On the backside of the second one, Mike got lined up, turned behind Jeff, and got a clean kill.

In the third and fourth match, Ed Bryzs and Neil Simpson squared up. It was a bit of an up and down match. After the launch, Ed got a cut. Neil tried to get behind him, but his plane slowed upwind and the shutoff tripped, bringing him down. Ed’s plane quit early with a short tank. They both got up again with Ed winning by the cut.

During the final bracket of the first match, Neil Simpson fought to keep his plane under control while Ron Colombo tried to untangle the lines. Neil ended up going down too. They both got back up, with Neil winning on airtime.

(Back) Dave Edwards, CD; (middle row) Ron Colombo, 7th; Chuck Rudner, 5th; Brian Stas, 6th; Mike Evans, 1st; Jeff Rein, 2nd; Ed Bryzs, 3rd; Neil Simpson, 4th; (front) Roy Glenn, judge.

Mike Evans takes first from Jeff Rein.

Neil Simpson and Ed Bryzs battle for third.

Ron Colombo versus Neil Simpson in the final bracket.

2019 Fast Combat Final Elimination Pyramid.