The Dragon bridge in
Ljubljana. |
THE DRAGON
forms the City of Ljubljana motif – the former Roman settlement of Emona.
Ancient mythology describes Jason – of Argonauts fame – pursuing and
slaying a fierce winged serpent of fiery breath & scales. The last
quarter century has seen a continued pursuit of the Dragon…Gold, Silver
& Bronze replicas for success at Ljubljana! 2004’s edition promised to
be stellar - Teams from Spain, Croatia, Romania, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland,
Russia, Serbia & Montenegro, Switzerland, UK and the hosts, sharpened
their swords!
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EasyJet is fast becoming the Space Modellers’ favourite
airline…”Scuderia Interspace..” – Paul Clark, Andy Slinn and your scribe
touched down at Ljubljana-Brnik airport on Thursday afternoon. Staying over
in the now legendary Hostel
“Celica”
- an expensively converted former House of Correction! …followed by two
nights in a traditional alpine residence at Kamniska Bistrica, promised to
be fun. Now 26 Ljubljana Cups…2004’s comprised a classic array - S8E/P-RC
Rocket Glider Spot Landing, S6B-Streamer Duration, S7-Scale, S4B-Boost
Glider, S9B-Gyrocopter Duration – all World Cup – plus S3B/2-Parachute
Duration and Show Models. It was just a shame the heavens opened on
Saturday’s events - but never any chance of a wash-out… Sunday’s programme
was just super.
S6B-Streamer
Duration World Cup
Simple arithmetic…Toni Mazz + S6B = GOLD!! Throw in Zivan Josipovic,
Radojica & Zoran Katanic (SCG), Vladimir Khokhlov (RUS) and 40+ others and
we had a a start list to rival any World Championship. The sodden conditions
blunted the scoring – soggy airframes & mylar descend a lot quicker! - with
the podium placers taking full advantage of a weather window when the
thermals were rampant during the latter stages. Slovenia’s Luka Svajger
looks like tomorrow, finding Bronze after a consistent series. A classic
World Cup in challenging conditions:
1 Antonio MAZZARACCHIO
ITA
212 212 121 = 545s
2
Zoran KATANIC SCG 196 200
137
= 533s
3 Luka SVAJGER SLO 154
152 186
= 492s
S8E/P-RC Rocket Glider Spot Landing World Cup
A good World Cup field and the flying good from the gun – Polish stars,
Jerzy Kolodziej & Pawel Janisiewicz, flattered to deceive against top Swiss,
Turi Hunziker & Daniel Studiger and a melange of Slovenians and Serbs,
including Blaz Grgic, Alexandar Gerasimovki, Igor Striceli and Ivan Turk.
The objective is to nail a flight time of 360s in each of three rounds –
points docked for being early, or late on arrival – and to spot land on a
target line for 100 points bonus…less for further out in the target box. The
fliers boost off in “flights” of five - spectacular formation boosting –
before riding the thermals and being counted in by a “caller”. The winner of
a particular flight scores 1000 points, with the others commensurately less,
following algorithm crunching. At the climax, the top five flew a tiebreaker
round to decide the medals…results:
1 Borut LENDARO SLO
1000 948 1000 1000 =
3948pts
2 Turi HUNZIKER SUI
885 1000 1000 998 =
3883pts
3 Danni STUDIGER SUI 1000 1000 889
783 = 3672pts
S7-Scale World Cup
A favourite of spectators and with Sunday’s weathergauge promising a feast
of spectacular boosts and special effects. Florica Sercaianu (ROM) –
Europe’s premier lady S7-Scale modeller – looked to have the favourite with
a 1:50 Ariane 3. Great Britain’s Paul Clark – WAC-Bumper,
Stuart Lodge – V-5-V Vertikal 1, and newcomer, Andy Slinn –
Nike-Smoke, looked to ruffle some feathers. Paul Clark’s massive WAC
Bumper crashed spectacularly, letting in Andrej Vrbec (SLO) for a bronze
Dragon with a competent two-stage qualification flight. World Cup debutant,
Andy Slinn nailed a good 4th with a faultless shot. But Florica Sercaianu’s
Ariane entertained with “full bells & whistles” and Loggi’s
Vertikal…well, once more did what it said on the tin! Velika
Britannija scored Team Gold in this elite World Cup classic – just
brilliant…Another Day; another Dragon!
1 Florica SERCAIANU ROM Ariane 3
700+85 = 785pts
2 Stuart LODGE GBR V-5-V Vertikal 1
547+85 = 632pts
3 Andrej VRBEC SLO Dragon III
519+110 = 629pts
S4B-Boost
Glider World Cup
This one was trashed by the rainy weather and truncated to two rounds. No
one really impressed apart from the hosts’ Miha Kozjek, Blaz Grgic & Rok
Zunic:
1 Miha KOZJEK
SLO 240 240 --- =
480s
2 Blaz GRGIC SLO 219
204 --- = 423s
3 Rok ZUNIC
SLO
195 174 --- = 369s
S9B-Gyrocopter Duration World Cup
Debut category at the 26th Ljubljana Cup, this one was
fascinating…and looked to be a Serbian benefit. Russians, Elena Kurkova,
Vladimir Khokhlov & Sascha Zdanovich looked to spoil the party in a contest
of wildly fluctuating scores. Results so:
1 Zoran KATANIC SCG
240 240 240 = 720s
2 Radojica KATANIC SCG 138 420
240 = 618s
3 Sascha ZDANOVICH RUS 164 182
157 = 503s
S3B/2-Parachute Duration
Boosted on 2.5Ns motors, parachute duration was super. Ljubljana is where
this most classical Space Modelling category is flown to its zenith. Similar
personalities contested this one as S6B-Streamer Duration – Luka Svajger &
Rok Zunic and the Catalonian duo of Ester Roura Misse & Nuria Crusellas
Martinez showing their prowess. A good Open International – no World Cup
points for this one:
1 Luka SVAJGER
SLO 253 420
420 = 1093s
2 Rok ZUNIC
SLO
194
420 420 = 1034s
3 Nuria CRUSELLAS MARTINEZ ESP 420 191 420
= 1031s
Then there came
Show Models – the dreaded OddRocs.. – to round off Sunday,
with weird & wonderful models of Mobile Phones, Coffins, Lighthouses,
rocket-boosted Teddy Bears and the like, amusing the assembled crowd. Romano
Suti, Kristian Crnoja & Stuart Lodge filled the podium slots.
Ljubljana…sans
pareil!
They’re banning foxhunting – but still bad news for the Dragon…some 20
Dragons were successfully hunted down over the weekend!! Ljubljana attracts
the very best; lays on the best hospitality; delivers the best organisation.
Contest Director, Tone Sijanec and Range Safety Officer, Marian Cuden
deserve the biggest thanks for stoic calm throughout. FAI-CIAM’s calendar is
burgeoning with World Cups, but Slovenia’s finest remains La Doyenne… 76
Trombones make a big parade - 26 Ljubljana Cups make an escapade!! …Hvala,
Astronavstko-raketarski klub Vladimir M. Komarov.
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