Inaugural Clover Creek Invitational
by Jerry Smith
An IMAC and invitational event
The first Clover Creek Invitational was held August 29–31, 2008, at the Clover Creek Aerodrome in Toone, Tennessee. A total of $50,000 in cash and prizes was at stake.
Where in the heck is Toone? Roughly halfway between Nashville and Memphis on US 40, you drive 25 miles south into the Tennessee countryside. Toone has a population of approximately 300, and there are probably more pigs and cattle there than people.
Toone is where John and Tina Schroder found their dream retirement place: a 270-acre sod farm that they named Clover Creek Aerodrome. Obtaining that property was a big turning point in their lives.
John’s passion for International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC) aerobatics led him to this place, and his goal is to someday have an event that is comparable to the now-defunct Tournament of Champions (TOC). John’s father, Walt, and Bill Bennett co-founded the prestigious TOC. The field at the Clover Creek Aerodrome is a perfect venue for an IMAC event, with the pilots facing north when flying. An air-conditioned shelter with bathrooms and storage for aircraft is located on the south side of the field. To the north is a row of trees that is slightly more than 1,000 feet long, which provides a good reference for pilots. Both ends of the field are wide open; full-scale aircraft do land there. The field and facility were in excellent shape for the event, thanks to John’s friends from Florida and others who spent four months in preparation.
Judges: Pilots who are competing in an IMAC event might wonder what credentials and how much experience the judges have. Are they biased? Are their skills up to the task? After watching them gawk skyward for three days, I have a lot of respect for those chosen seven. Wayne Matthews, chief judge, did a magnificent job with the mountain of paperwork that is required for scoring; his job is no easy task. Wayne even helped write the patterns flown in the Known, Unknown, and Freestyle sequences in all classes, and he was part of the event staff. This guy was everywhere. The judges—Marian Berninger, Roy Barrow, Rick Byrd, Mark Jorgenson, Andy Kane, Bill Lairsey, and Mark McClellan—were from different parts of the country, and they went to the contest to do their best. Some of them are IMAC pilots themselves.
Flying: During the three days of the competition, winds were light on the ground but not at altitude, and it was hot and humid at times. Otherwise the flying weather was perfect. There were enough prizes for everyone, thanks to the generous sponsors.
Photos by the author.
Jason Noll flew an exciting Freestyle routine with music and his Aeroworks Extra 260 with smoke. He is hard-core when it comes to aerobatics, and he won the Invitational Class, taking the big bucks.
Sixteen-year-old Gernot Bruckmann goes over the maneuvers with his dad. Mom watches from the side. Gernot placed third in the Invitational Class.
John Schroder, the generous host. He's the man with a dream who made it happen.
Ric Musselman flew this DA-100-powered Mike Hurley Extra 300 to seventh place in Advanced Class. The Extra was featured in MA a few years ago and was scratch-built.
Quique Somenzini flies his Yak-54 during a Freestyle round. You can depend on him to be on top or close to it. Bad luck or a case of misjudgment caused him to finish fifth place in the Invitational Class.
The judges with early-morning fog behind them. L–R: Rick Byrd, Bill Lairsey, Roy Barrow, Wayne Matthews, Marian Berninger, Mark Jorgenson, Mark McClellan, Andy Kane. CD Joe Cutright is in front.
The flightline at the Clover Creek Aerodrome in the early morning, after a curtain of fog that delayed the flying for more than a half-hour lifted.
Chris Maier is an up-and-coming pilot who did a great job flying Freestyle with his Extreme Flight 35% Yak-54 powered by a 3W-106.
Gernot Bruckmann does a screaming inverted flyby with smoke on during his Freestyle. His Yak-55 performed flawlessly throughout the maneuvers during the event.
The shelter on the flightline was a great place to hang out in hot weather, with all the necessary comforts. It was also a cool place to park models at night.
Jason Shulman performs some engine maintenance. The mufflers he used were a bit noisy, which downgraded his score.
Seth Arnold flew his 101-inch Quique’s Aircraft Company Yak-54 powered by a DA-85. Seth placed second in Advanced Class in the finals.
Fourteen-year-old Cody McLean did a great job flying his big Extra 330. He uses a DA-150 and JR/Spektrum guidance. Cody won a big third place in the Intermediate Class.
Clover Creek Invitational Results
Invitational Class
- Jason Noll — 2,491.5
- Mark Leseburg Jr. — 2,490.1
- Gernot Bruckmann — 2,424.3
- Andrew Jesky — 2,388.2
- Quique Somenzini — 2,379.0
- Kurt Koelling — 2,337.6
- Dave Moser — 2,337.1
Unlimited Class
- Will Berninger — 4,461.1
- Ryan Gonsoulin — 4,279.2
- Brian Hannah — 4,206.7
- Wayne Geffon — 4,204.3
- Lyndel Roe — 4,069.5
- Eric Powell — 4,036.8
- Ty Lyman — 3,986.5
- Stephen Hamilton — 3,968.4
- Jimmy Ritch — 3,736.6
- Larry Arseneau — 3,559.0
Advanced Class
- Brian Luckett — 4,445.1
- Seth Arnold — 4,426.3
- Jonas Pharr — 4,295.1
- Craig Baker — 4,247.8
- Bradley Petty — 4,194.5
- Bernie Boland — 4,176.1
- Jeremy Holt — 4,073.1
- Pete Castine — 3,927.1
- Ron Storer — 3,831.8
- Louis Matustik — 3,612.5
Intermediate Class
- David Stewart — 4,339.2
- Brendan Jones — 4,336.5
- Cody McLean — 4,303.8
- Alex Porter — 4,257.4
- Dan Bierly — 3,987.5
- Mark Dennis — 3,898.4
- Curtis Cozier — 3,894.2
- Tony Gorgone — 3,883.5
- Kevin Dixon — 3,792.6
- Jim Langford — 3,552.0
Sportsman Class
- Pride Grimm — 4,477.6
- Josh Bunn — 4,248.0
- Chuck Hochhalter — 4,198.9
- Ken Huntsinger — 3,840.6
- David Bradford — 3,792.4
- Tommy Golson — 3,764.8
- Ric Musselman — 3,725.7
- Johnny Westbrook — 3,315.0
- Andres Snow II — 3,138.0
- Gil Major — 3,048.5
The Unknown pattern was delivered the night before flying began with the Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced, Unlimited, and Invitational classes. The schedule for IMAC classes on the first day was to fly Known sequences one and two as well as an Unknown. Then the Invitational Class, which consisted of some of the best IMAC pilots in the U.S. with renowned credentials, flew one Known sequence, one Unknown, and one four-minute Freestyle routine. Then it was back to the IMAC classes, which flew another Known sequence.
This was a very ambitious schedule, and a dual flightline was used to complete it. There were two airplanes in the air at all times, and sometimes three or four during the landing cycle.
The two-minute rule was in effect throughout the contest. That meant that after being signaled by the line boss, the pilot had two minutes to start the model's engine and get it into the air. At that time, the pilot had one minute to enter the pattern and notify the judges that he was ready. The contestant's airplane had to be off the ground before the preceding model landed, which was also signaled by the line boss. The penalty for rule infractions was a zero score for the round.
This system worked well, and I saw no violations. It was this kind of schedule (along with the weather) that made the contest so successful.
Day Two and Day Three of flying were much the same, except that Mother Nature decided to throw down a curtain of fog the second morning, delaying flying for an hour and 10 minutes. However, the lost time was made up, and all the scheduled rounds were completed.
Mishaps Happen
Hundreds of flights were made during the three days of the event, and with that amount of flying, the odds are that something in the way of an accident will occur. But there was more than one mishap; there were three.
Advanced-class pilot Seth Arnold's model lost a left wing panel during a violent snap. Flying the aircraft under these conditions required an extreme amount of skill. Seizing the moment, he immediately put the airplane in knife-edge using full rudder and aileron. After one trip around the field to get it lined up with the runway, Seth began to let it down. When we thought he had it made, the right landing gear dug into the grass and the airplane was no longer one piece.
Jason Shulman thrilled spectators during his Freestyle routine when he performed a low knife-edge pass with his airplane. It was so low that the left stabilizer hit the ground and was immediately broken off. That caused the aircraft's left wingtip to briefly hit the ground, but the model continued to fly and Jason was able to make a safe landing with one elevator. Applause from the crowd was glorious.
Quique Somenzini is a great pilot—one of the world's best—but even the best can falter when flying on the edge of disaster. During his Freestyle sequence on the last day of the contest, Quique flew his Pitts M12 Python. While doing a low maneuver, he misjudged a small rise in the ground and flew into it, inverted. There was no applause—just plain astonishment. We couldn't believe it. Being a perfectionist, Quique felt bad. The accident infringed on his pride, and he was unable to finish the routine.
Banquet
The Saturday-night dinner was held in John's "party barn," as he calls it. The meal consisted of some great barbecue pork, chicken, and ribs, along with beans, slaw, a roll, and a big ole beer to top it off.
There was no featured entertainment, but with all your friends around, who cares? It was a great time to eat and talk about airplanes.
Later, CD Joe Cutright introduced the judges, event staff, and hosts John and Tina Schroder. Then John took the microphone and read the scores of the 12 pilots who would compete in the Invitational Class finals. John read the highest scores first, and the cut was made at seven.
Jason Noll, Mark Leseburg, Gernot Bruckmann, Andrew Jesky, Quique Somenzini, Kurt Koelling, and Dave Moser would battle it out the next day.
They all had the potential to win; they are the best of the best.
Door prizes were handed out via a random drawing, and, thanks to the generous sponsors, all of the pilots received a prize.
This inaugural contest was the beginning of more to come, according to its dedicated host. We can expect many more IMAC events, and another Clover Creek Invitational is expected in two years.
IMAC is a great organization that teaches youth about the spirit of competition, which is one of its core purposes. Watching this event unfold gave me a good sense of what the AMA SIG is about and what a great organization IMAC is.
Young pilots learned to respect competition and found a way to move up through the ranks, improving their flying skills along the journey. They look to the older, skillful pilots as mentors so they can be like them. It was a pleasure to cover this event and learn more about IMAC.
When the event was through, I saw nothing but relief on the face of Joe Cutright, who had never run an event. Scorekeeper Sharon Waites did a remarkable job of crunching the numbers, and Kent Porter posted them in a timely manner after each round. Talk about stress! I can't write enough good things about chief judge Wayne Matthews and his work with IMAC.
I need to recognize the sponsors, which were extremely generous, and John and Tina Schroder for allowing this competition to happen at Clover Creek. They worked hard to make it happen.
I'll be back at the Clover Creek Aerodrome in 2010!
Jerry Smith [email protected]
Sources
- Clover Creek Aerodrome — www.clovercreekaerodrome.com
- IMAC — www.mini-iac.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
