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Bod Busters dominate 1/2-A Combat at the Jim. From left, Ken Burdick, Don McKay, Jeff Rein. Gary Harris photo.
By Ken Burdick
Yes folks, it's true.
Many things happened at the season opener in Portland and not all of it was good for the BBB!!
First and foremost, a big ol thanks to the organizers, volunteers and helpers who spent three long days and more putting on a very diverse contest. We had a blast! That having been said..let's get on with it.
Apparently tired of having the BBB stand
on their tails, the Beavers hired one time Great and legendary combat
flyer Howard Rush to be a Beaver. Well all I can say is that it didn't
work. In a futile attempt to confuse the already confused Kenny-b,
Howard and Kenny flew a match both using orange streamers. Later, on in
the rematch, Kenny-b won, but through a series of complex math that only
Mark Hansen could explain, Howard and Kenny flew once again. This time the
normally rock solid equipment used by the BBB failed in the flight. Once
a fuel line came off, quickly repaired, but then disaster struck.
The engine "just stopped" and we still have found no good reason for the stoppage. The Ringer meanwhile, attempted to argue on behalf of Kenny-b but the judges were firm in their ruling they moved the Ringer on leaving Kenny muttering something about " motors n stuff". The Beav's were flying high until the finals, the new Beaver, Howard Rush, was mowing all others down with the skill that has put him on the F2D team many times, however.he had not yet flown the Lone Wolf! * pssst Huevos. Cue the wolf howl!*
Hoooooooooowl!!!
Bob Smith, the Lone Wolf, put a stop to the contrived Beaverism by using a solid R&B rip-off with a Redko .15 F2D engine and bellcranked the Ringer into submission, winning on a slight amount of airtime. The Lone Wolf has been working hard to use the high performance 80 mph style of equipment and looks like it is paying off. Bob had no shut-off problems using the light weight F2D style package with an H&R shut-off cruising to a neat 1st in 80 mph combat.
Meantime back at the ranch, The Buzz Man, Rein Man, Kenny-b and the Combat Monster all had one of those days and won goose eggs in their prized event. Some say it was the once a year meeting at Stars that caused the poor showing..we say maybe.
Just as a nonprofit makes no profit, the recently revealed
Louie-Louie Speed Team made no speed flights. Since their beginning 20 years
ago, the plan was to build a D speed (cuz they're really cool!) and get
into the 200 mph club. The first Louie-mobile was in fact built and fitted
with an O.S .65 but somehow got sold to Carlos Aloise who used it to go
over 200 mph.
"Tus a bummer mon.."
The two Louies said "no sweat mon, we build e nother on yu see" and 20 years later they did just that.
The two Louies were seen trying to start their McGee .65 first with a 12 volt starter, then later with a 24 volt one. The rubber spinner grip kept shooting up in the air and then it hailed.
As you know, Louie-Louies are used to Jamaican weather and when it hailed then flooded, the two Louies went running for cover, saying whatever it is that Louies say. They were spotted later, however singing with one of the Bod Busters, The Rein Man, and this can only mean trouble for the Regionals. What do you suppose the song was?
I'll have a look on the N.W Message board to see if they are planning anything new.
The BBB sweep speed and half
of combat ... no, wait, that's 1/2A combat. The Rein man and Combat Monster
took top honors 1st and 2nd in Speed by turning closest to the NW Record
in F2D Proto! Separated by 8/100's of a second, the proto duel was on! The
Rein Man, Jeff Rein, used a PC7 with a Red Ukraine F2D combat prop while
the Combat Monster Don McKay used his record setting Profi and a blue Ukraine
F2D combat prop. Both speeds were over 100 mph.
Kenny-b and the Combat monster duked it out in 1/2A combat for four consecutive matches to determine 1st and 2nd place. It made for good spectator viewing but it felt like 10 matches.
The only tip Kenny-b would give on flying the Combat Monster was this. "Bring your lunch" One of the more interesting matches was when The Combat Monsters airplane hit Kenny-b, and it stuck in his wing. Kenny's engine kept running but was controlled by the angle of Don's dead airplane stuck at an angle. They did many inside loops. When they untangled the wreckage, Kenny-b had killed the Combat Monster, but ALSO himself in all the spinning around. The judges were at a loss to say the least. The Combat monster said "let's re-fly it", so we did. We were pretty well tired out by the time it was all over but got our money's worth of flying combat. The rein Man brought home 3rd making a clean sweep of the event.
-- Kenny-b and the Bod Busters
This page was upated April 22, 2009