Radio Control Combat — 2006/03
Greg Rose [[email protected]]
A rundown of the 2005 RCCA NPS totals
One of the things I like about RC Combat, in addition to the fun you can have by flying in the event, is the Radio Control Combat Association (RCCA) National Points System (NPS). It allows National Champions to be selected in all RC Combat events.
The NPS not only gives us our National Champions, but it also provides a good measurement of what events are being flown, by whom, where, and how the numbers compare to the last five years, when the RCCA first started keeping statistics for the NPS.
Since this is being written close to the end of the year (I believe one more event remained to be reported before the end of 2005), I promise that if anyone I mention manages to swap his or her ranking in a last-minute upset, I will report that in a future column. However, I believe everyone’s ranking is pretty much “in the bag” at this point.
So who are the “Top Guns” of 2005?
Open classes
In the Open classes only two official events were flown during 2005. (The popular Slow Survivable Combat [SSC] event and the new Limited B classes are still provisional at this time and do not count toward the NPS totals for official Open-class events.)
As in the past, Open B remains the most popular official event by far. A total of 97 pilots flew in Open B Combat in 2005. These pilots made more than 1,500 individual flights during the year.
- Kirk Adams — 9,700 qualifying points (average 485 points per qualifying round). A “qualifying” round is the top 20 rounds that pilot has flown during the year. Kirk actually flew 45 rounds of Open B during 2005, but only the top 20 are used to determine NPS rankings.
- Mike Fredricks — projected to take second place barring a phenomenal last-event performance from the current third-place challenger.
- Lee Liddle — third place but capable of spectacular runs and — as a Texan — often benefits from late-season events.
Slow Survivable Combat (SSC)
In SSC pilots made more than 3,000 individual flights during the year. The leader is:
- Lee Liddle — 12,248 points (high average of 612 points for his top 20 qualifying rounds).
Lee has a serious challenge to maintain first place: rival Eric Wenger trails by only 72 total points. These two continue their battle into the closing days of the year. Filling the third position is Kirk Adams, who takes another top-three ranking in SSC.
Scale RC Combat (official AMA event 2610)
This was a slim year for Scale, with only 18 pilots flying in 2610 events during 2005.
- Brian Gilkey — first place with 6,480 qualifying points.
- Kirk Adams — second place, taking his third top-three ranking of the year.
- Tight race for third: Bret Anderson leads, with Don Veres II only 80 points behind.
Brian and Kirk stand out so far in their positions; there is no realistic chance of unseating them for the top two spots, but the fight for third remains close.
Provisional 2548 Scale event
Only 30 pilots flew in the provisional 2548 Scale event during the year. That number is somewhat deceiving: 11 of those 30 are 2610 pilots who “grandfathered” their airplanes and flew in 2548 only at the 2005 Nats in Muncie.
- Lee Liddle — first place with 7,832 points, leading by 3,236 points over second place.
- Brian Gilkey — second place despite having only 12 rounds of 2548 for 2005 (effectively eight zeroes added into his average).
- Dane McGee — poised to take third place.
Although I discussed the issue of the number of Scale fliers in the last column, it is notable that the total number of Scale fliers who competed in 2610 and 2548 in 2005 was less than half the number who did so in 2004.
Closing
Congratulations to all the RC Combat NPS Champions for 2005! It was a well-fought season full of fun. As we head into the 2006 season, remember that many fliers are gunning for your spot, so be sure to check your six!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
