2011 NAMBA {not FE} Nationals

[properchopper]

I'm going to be in Ontario all week. What time do the races usually end?

Depends how many heats/rounds/ & how fast back to back heats get off. Usually people around 'till near dark. FE is over, only the 2 classes Sat & Sun.

[properchopper]

Today was another good day. Lots of P-Mono action; 4 rounds of 2 FE heats each. Gasserwater has lots of currents, eddies & holes & creates some surprising invisible obstacles Some good vid action here by Questtek Joe. Four rounds / two heats of P-Mono. Brian ripped it up with his Delta Force 33. Hard to race when almost every boat was white & after the start you end up having a hard time telling which boat you're piloting in the first turn until the pack untangles on the back straight. I torpedoed in a hole, came up & got back on the course and nearly nailed Brian; had to do a penalty lap & was looking good until halfway into lap seven when the chute deployed. Turns out when I stuffed, the water lines hit the prop & I lost cooling so a motor wire unsoldered after 6 1/2 laps from the heat. Fixed it and luckily all systems were go again for the next heat.

All in all a great day. David Newland won the class, Brian took second, and local SoCal FE Naveed took third with his Arowana. [ Go Socal FE ]

FE did a great job of keeping up the pace, and it was gratifying to be as welcome as we were by the IC crowd. David and I will do a full write-up of the entire FE experience for the next issue of NAMBA propwash. Enjoy the vid :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YmQ4QdD6ow&feature=youtube_qdata

[D. Newland]

Drove home last night! Made it to my door at midnight, and actually feeling pretty good this morning.

It was great for Russ Stark and the rest of the NAMBA Nat's board to allow FE to run a few exhibition classes at their 40th Anniversary event. And, Tony gets a big "two thumbs up" for his contributions to making it happen. There were no less than 5 FE boats on the water that were his builds. It's a bit of an anomoly as to why FE isn't bigger in the greater L.A. area, especially with a world-class facility like Legg Lake. Tony is really going above and beyond to change that with help from the Insane Crew. It's working and FE has a presence there again. Thanks, Tony!

I felt like we had excellent conditions for FE racing this past weekend. Mid 70's/Low 80's during the day and Legg Lake has fantastic tree lining to shelter the water surface from any wind, which there wasn't much of anyway. Once the retrieve boat operators learned that drving slower was faster (no wake speed) before our FE heats, it got even better.

LSH:

Roger Payne. For any of you guys that follow gas, you need to remember this name and follow him. He.....doesn't.....lose. I first met him back in April at a District 19 race and he won nearly everything he entered, including LSH. Fast forward 2 months. Same story. He won GX-1 Mono, with a field of around 35 drivers, then picked off me, Ted McKay, Buass and the rest of the LSH contingent. The guy also won GX-1 Cat on Sunday. Again, in a field of probably 40 drivers. He's the most unassuming guy I've seen run.

Ted ran a very consistent 4 rounds, and it shows in his results. Brian and I had a little DNF trouble that kept us out of the top running, but what we did do was show everyone in attendance how to run a few laps. Unfortunately, it was short lived because his boat pulled away from mine, and we just didn't get slotted in the same flights for either FE class. Bummer, too, but there will be other opportunities. Mark Ferreira had a cooling jacket go bad in heat 1, but he recovered and by the 4th round, he was jammin'. 1:41.

1) Roger Payne 1325
2) Ted McKay 1127
3) David Newland 1125
4) Brian Buass 850 1:34 smokin' fast heat time...


P Mono

Roger Hooks, Jr (gas/nitro guy) braved P Mono with a Delta 25 (maybe a clone), and actually finished the first 3 heats respectfully! Oddly enough, he dumped it in round 4, which was the most calm water and only 3 boats. Naveed had 4 respectable finishes and got on the podium! Tyler Garrard was fast, but his boat seemed to keep finding the holes on the course.

Brian and I weren't slotted together in any of these heats, and couldn't even get the CD to change things in the 4th round as there were only 3 boats running in my heat. We were only 100 pts apart and 3/10th of a second apart for fast time after 3 rounds. We needed to be racing together! I had 1 boat DNF just after the start, so I had a clear course, but with a little bit of guilt about the scheduling, I pushed hard as if Brian were on the water w/me. At lap 4 1/2, my boat hit something and bogged down. In my head, that's where Brian passed me (because I got the start and held him off until then...I have a great imagination. Oh-at lap 2 he gave me a little "DAVE!" as I shut the door on him a little bit going into turn 2-No call). I got the finish and when my boat was pulled out of the water, a pine cone core was impaled on the rudder.

David Newland 1600 1:42.97
Brian Buass 1500 1:43.28
Naveed Nassir 1050
Roger Hooks, Jr 794


Brian is still there, running a few gas classes this week. Most of the gas guys showed up Wednesday (6/15) and won't leave until 6/27. Unreal.

We had a great time and fit into the gas/nitro schedule seemlessly. We launched at the :30, did a full mill start, and even did the cool down lap before heading into the pits. Mark Grimm CD'd the FE heats as he's familiar with most of us, and I don't recall any carnage at all. In fact, I don't think there was even a jump start. A few cut buoys and a lane infraction call, but that's about it. Oh, and the soccer match, but all in all, FE done good!

[Darin Jordan]

Good Job, Guys! Sounds like fun and a good showing.

[Doug Smock]

Congrats guys!
Well done Tony and friends!!
Doug

[TheShaughnessy]

heat 20

here is some footage of heat 20, I was still trimming out my boat as this was the first run since i painted and put the hardware back on, running a motor/ prop combo i usually have in my MG. had to do an extra lap but this was the only heat i finished. Also got a horrible start cause i didn't know what i was doing, nor did my pit woman. Thanks to Tony, Stephen, and naveed for helping me get through the day. Cant wait to do it again.

Tony, you need to work on getting LSO on the class list if it isn't already. Should be able to get 5 boats entered right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOgCcxLasGQ

[MarkF]

What a blast it was to race again. I got 2 first and 1 second in the 3 heats that I finished. In the other 5 heats my boat got filled up with water 3 times, once from a leeky water jacket and twice from a cut hose inside the boat. The other time i got behind Rogers rooster and blew the boat over. The last one I submarined and blew the lid off. I look forward to more races comming to the LA area. Thanks to all the guys working to put this event on and for including us electric guys and making us feel welcome. Thanks should also go to Jeff at Insane boats for being the one who also helped get us on the books for this event and for others that will follow.

Mark

[properchopper]

here is some footage of heat 20, I was still trimming out my boat as this was the first run since i painted and put the hardware back on, running a motor/ prop combo i usually have in my MG. had to do an extra lap but this was the only heat i finished. Also got a horrible start cause i didn't know what i was doing, nor did my pit woman. Thanks to Tony, Stephen, and naveed for helping me get through the day. Cant wait to do it again.

Tony, you need to work on getting LSO on the class list if it isn't already. Should be able to get 5 boats entered right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOgCcxLasGQ

Mike,

I'd love to do LSO; the Offshore course is pure fun. I have a boat, Naveed and Stephen have one, Mark and Tyler can configure one of their boats, there's four. Remember though that we will initially be borrowing race time from the IC guys and that should be considered. The way things are shaping up we should be able to get an FE only race date on the schedule in the future; the AZ D19 guys would participate as well. It may be happening in the (somewhat) near future

Glad you are jumping in, and thanks to you and yours for the donuts

It was really heartening to see you and your sweetie, Boyd, Stephen and Naveed get in the heat race mode- Boyd says He's hooked too. Yippie !!

[questtek]

How about the first week in August, you pick the day, for some short course buoy racing on my Lake in Lake Forest? It will keep everyone's skills on razor edge plus give Brad to showcase his new retrivial boat.

Tony, can you work it out to find the best day for everyone while I am gone to Vancouver? Hopefully we can get Boyd, Stephen, Naveed, Mark, Radek, Brad, Jan, Alan..........and anyone else who would like to come.

[properchopper]

How about the first week in August, you pick the day, for some short course buoy racing on my Lake in Lake Forest? It will keep everyone's skills on razor edge plus give Brad to showcase his new retrivial boat.

Tony, can you work it out to find the best day for everyone while I am gone to Vancouver? Hopefully we can get Boyd, Stephen, Naveed, Mark, Radek, Brad, Jan, Alan..........and anyone else who would like to come.

Joe,

As an FYI, July 16/17 is a H20 Gassers Heat Race at Legg and I expect that there'll be some more FE heats although not as yet discussed or confirmed. First weekend in August there will be Straightlines (SAWs) at Legg, so Mid August would likely be the workeable timing.

Based on a confidential talk I had yesterday, it will be a real good thing to get the whole crew together to discuss a VERY IMPORTANT topic. Something quite cool may be coming up for us

[questtek]

Based on a confidential talk I had yesterday, it will be a real good thing to get the whole crew together to discuss a VERY IMPORTANT topic. Something quite cool may be coming up for us [/QUOTE]

Tony, Unfortunately I leave again on Monday Aug 8th back to Vancouver and will be there till mid-Sept. The first week in August is the only time I will be around So Cal for the summer which is why I suggested that week, any day.. I understand if it conflicts so we will do it when convenient.

Hummmmmmmmm, VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC.... You are not pregnant are you?

[TheShaughnessy]

exciting stuff. I'll make sure to have donuts on hand from now on. Danielle has the hang of pitting now, or throwing the boat in the water, now i just need her to tell me how to drive. Looks like i might have to set a boat up for her.

[SweetAccord]

It was nice meeting you Tony! Here are my photo shots from Saturday for all OSE to enjoy:

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=ace3b...3&sff=1&brby=1

That vendor had some good hot dogs by the way!

[properchopper]

Nice meeting you too Great photos - nice camera work. If you need to get a boat together for the next race, LMK. I'll keep you informed when we have a club fun run at Joe's- might be closer for you.

[properchopper]

Based on a confidential talk I had yesterday, it will be a real good thing to get the whole crew together to discuss a VERY IMPORTANT topic. Something quite cool may be coming up for us

Tony, Unfortunately I leave again on Monday Aug 8th back to Vancouver and will be there till mid-Sept. The first week in August is the only time I will be around So Cal for the summer which is why I suggested that week, any day.. I understand if it conflicts so we will do it when convenient.

Hummmmmmmmm, VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC.... You are not pregnant are you?[/QUOTE]

Joe, I'll work on a date. Not preg; just ate too many donuts