The list of events for the 2006 Regionals is almost the same as in past years, but there are some changes in the schedule for the Memorial Day Weekend contest in Eugene, Ore. (See Where the Action Is for all contest details).
One event has been dropped from the traditional offerings. Because of declining participation and duplication with other events, Northwest Goodyear has been eliminated for 2006.
However, the contest still offers a full two and a half day schedule of racing. On Friday, it's AMA Goodyear and Northwest Flying Clown Race. Saturday features Mouse I, Mouse II, .15 Rat and Quickie Rat. On Sunday, it's Northwest Sport Race and Northwest Super Sport Race.
Somewhere in there will be a demonstration race in the resurgent B Team Race event. The BTR demo will be organized by Les Akre and will occur when we can fit it into the circle schedule, most likely on Saturday after Quickie. Contact Les Akre for BTR details.
One other schedule quirk that racers will want to be aware of is that the racing will be on one circle on Friday and Saturday and will move to a different circle on Sunday. Details will be provided at the contest.
A final note: Pit area at this venue is somewhat limited, so we'll be asking for some cooperation in working out logistics of staging airplanes for upcoming races. It has worked out fine in the past but does require some different procedures than you may be used to.
Those of you who follow the discussion in the Delphi Racing Forum will have noticed that there is somewhat of a foulup in the AMA rules regarding Mouse I.
Somehow, in the inner workings at AMA headquarters, a rule change that was made to Class II Mouse was applied also to Mouse I. This change appeared mysteriously in the pdf version of the AMA CL racing rules that are posted on the AMA web site.
The change was never considered by the AMA CL Racing Board. It was clearly understood that the change was being made to Mouse II only, not Mouse I.
The phantom change would require Mouse I to be run with contest-supplied 10% nitro fuel, and would outlaw spring starters. As all Mouse I racers know, the reed valve engines required in Mouse I pretty much need the spring starters to reliably run in the correct direction, and they are not happy on low-nitro fuel. This is a circumstance that racing people are well aware of but apparently somebody at HQ who doesn't know the events got confused and mixed the two together.
What this long story is leading to is that I believe that the situation will eventually be corrected -- NCLRA President Bill Lee is working on trying to get HQ to correct the rulebook. Therefore, it is my intent to conduct Mouse I at the Regionals under the traditional, longtime and (as we CL Racing Board members understand it) unchanged rules. Thus, there will be no fuel restriction and starters are OK.
I welcome feedback on this, as well as on other matters regarding racing at the Regionals.
The Regionals is moving to a fabulous control-line flying site, that longtime Regionals attendees will remember fondly. We'd like to see racing participation jump a bit in 2006, as the rest of the contest has been growing around us. Come to Eugene and join in the fun!
--jt
This page was upated April 13, 2006