PROPWASH
4
October 2014
traveled as they joined us once again from Japan!
David Meloni had a super consistent weekend and was awarded with the events
High Points Award. In 2014, we introduced a new award for the racer who displayed
the best sportsmanship for the event. This award is called the “Dale Roberts Award
For Sportsmanship” and it was awarded to Karl Loveless of Lehi, Utah.
The two final awards have been the two most coveted of the event. The Eli
Karagich Award for Excellence which is awards a racer who had a performance or
performances over the weekend that were excellent. John Borden of Arlington, Texas
was the 2014 recipient of this award. Army the Armadillo is the traveling District 7
versus District 19 challenge trophy. For the past two years, District 19 took Army
home and had bragging rights. Prior to the Sunday exodus, District 7 had a firm lead in
points for this award. After many District 19 racers headed home, little hope was left
for their district to retain the award.
District 7 won the award fairly easily and has already made sure to change the
beach attire back to a sombrero. Army is glad to be home!
The Rio Grande Racers can’t thank the racers and sponsors enough for their
continued support of our event. The weather late Saturday and Sunday definitely hurt
our raffle sales and we didn’t end up quite where we had hoped. However, we will still
be donating approximately $4,000 to the Autism Society.
Since the inception of this event in 2011, the West Texas Shootout has raised over
$12,000 for the Autism Society of El Paso. We have raised awareness within our local
community as well as the radio control boating community. We have also been able to
introduce many children to the wonderful world of radio control.
Sadly, 2014 will be the final event I take part in as organizer and contest director.
There are water issues at our lake and we aren’t sure when they will be resolved. It’s
difficult to commit to an event when the certainty of water is not clear. I am extremely
proud of what has been accomplished and truly look forward to seeing everyone at the
races!
2014 West Texas Shootout
(Continued from page 3)
the pond taking first place. Breakfast
and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches for lunch
were provided free of charge to racers
by the Rio Grande Racers.
For Saturday nights dinner, racers
gathered at Gabriel’s Mexican
Restaurant for a group dinner and
celebration for Brandon Borden’s
Birthday! Racers enjoyed each other’s
company once again. Many enjoyed
talking about the joy of seeing John
Borden celebrating his victory. Others
were just happy to be inside and not out
dealing with high winds and dust that
decided to join in on the party.
Sunday morning racers arrived to a
huge drop in temperatures and twenty
plus mile per hour winds. Those who
laughed at the fact we were selling
Hoodies at the event were now wishing
they had bought one. There were stories
of sections of I-10 being closed between
El Paso and Phoenix. With that in mind
and the impending weather conditions,
many racers decided to abandon ship
and depart the event early. Those who
braved the elements attempted to
survive heats. Racing wasn’t great and
the retrieve boat operators were super
busy each and every heat. We ended up
calling the event early and had racers
out of the park by 2 pm. It was a shame
that the weather decided not to
cooperate but we appreciate all of those
who joined us once again.
In Open G Mono, David Meloni won
the heat racing portion and Al Waters
was awarded the Shootout Champion-
ship. In Open G Catamaran, Bill Bridge
took first in heat racing and Tim Martin
won the Shootout. Open G Sport Hydro
heat racing was won by Al Waters and
Dale Roberts took the Shootout. In
Open G Rigger, Hiroyuki Okuma took
first place in heat racing and also won
the Shootout. The day was cut short, but
racers still made the best of it. Breakfast
and lunch from Chubby’s Deli was
provided free of charge by the Rio
Grande Racers.
After awarding the class trophies,
we handed out all of the specialty
awards. Hiroyuki Okuma, Katsuhiko
Okamato, Yoshiya Sakamoto and Ryuji
Esaki were all awarded with the farthest
Jerry Wright accepts the Army trophy
from Rob Martinez as makes it’s way
back to District 7
The Eli Karagich Award for Excellence
was presented to John Borden with his son
John, and trophy presenter Amanda Keller