Wingbeats from … Valmy
09-13-2003
by Doug Burnett
A classic north wind driven blow
home warmed the cockles of pigeon flyers hearts throughout the Combine. Veteran flyers were quick to point out that
a bird’s success in such conditions may be an indication of its versatility at
any speed or that high velocity days will be the only circumstance under
which the bird will show up on the sheet.
Only time will tell…
|
Fort Sutter RPC |
Quartzite Loft (Frank Meder)
broke his maiden for the ’03 YB FSC competition with his 1st place
finish. Joe Neves took care of the rest
of the marbles by earning the 2nd, 3rd and 4th
spots. Meder, who declined to give his
age, in fact was unable to return the Swami’s phone messages prior to press
time. We do know, however, that his FSC
31051 was also 1st Concourse in the “A” race!
Joe Neves capped an outstanding
day of racing by going 1st, 2nd and 4th in the
FSC “B” race. Bob (aka The Master)
Rapozo averted a Neves sweep by winning the bronze medal. Joe’s race champ is ¾ Josephine and ¼
Janssen (Geo Stewart) out of his 20/20 pair that has been responsible for
multiple winners. Joe frequently
mentions that he wants “to be competitive”, but his performance(s) make him much
more than just competitive.
|
Gold Country Invitational RPC |
Larry “Big Train” Holmes said “no
more Mr. Nice Guy” and he proceeded to take 1st place in the 0700
release. Sierra Minis (Kim Sterchi) was
a quick 2nd and Jim Ryan nosed out wife Marel for 3rd
(not a very politically correct or thoughtful gesture on Jim’s part…). Holmes reports that the winner is “an ugly,
skinny Verbruggen hen out of Ken Larson stuff.” Larry was using the pair as pumpers but they snuck in a couple of
their own babies. Larry employs the
light system (candles?) and is proud that he won with a 7 bird entry vs.
multiple loft/property club competitors.
Kim Sterchi’s Sierra Minis won
the “B” event and in the process whipped her old man. Steve Sterchi (Sierra Ranch) was 2nd and 3rd
and Watch That Texan Jon La Freniere was close again for the 4th
award. Kim’s winner is one of the
“Sierra” pigeons, a family blended over 17 years. Steve hasn’t bought birds since ’95, but may have his eye on a
special mystery family to cross in with his group…
|
Orangevale RPC |
You can’t stop Leo Van Staveren;
you can only hope to contain him! Leo
started the day by winning the “A” race with Pat Gunning taking the silver
medal. George “Mr. Dressage” Choi was 3rd
and noneother than Mr. Van Staveren was 4th. Leo was hesitant to divulge too much info
but the winner is a Van Loon/Janssen cross and was flown on the darkening
system. Sneaking a peek inside his
loft, the Swami saw that the BB H was not mated and flew to the perch (3rd
down on R side)…
Leo had a much tougher time in
the 0800 release but he still prevailed. His winner barely bested (less than 1 sec) 3 on the drop from
George Choi. Indeed, the 5th
place bird was only 6 sec behind the leader…
Van Staveren, this time, was quick to point out that the breeders of the
OVC winner were a Van den Bosch (from George Choi) cock mated to a Hofken hen
(Choi family). The latter bird has OVC
200 mi YB and 500 mi OB wins to her credit.
|
Sacramento RPC |
Yes, yet it’s once again “Miller
Time” in the Elverta environs. Larry
pulled off the Swami Sweep by going 1st, 2nd, 3rd
and 4th! Team Miller is
starting to crank as Larry caught 5 on the drop with the winning BB C coming
from top bloodlines. The bird is ¼
Allingham hen, ¼ One Eyed Jack (Wild Thing) and ½ Lumachi Janssen from Leo
Stiers. The birds are together all week
until being separated on Thursday (cannot divulge my sources on that item)…
In the “B” Race Rob Spradling
stayed home long enough to clock the 1st and 2nd place
birds! EC Neves was 3rd and
Larry Miller earned the 4th position. Rob was thrilled to win his first race with birds that he had
bred and to win his first ever YB competition! Rob, the protégé of Larry Miller, used a Rooie Appie sire
(Charlie Jacinth) and a hen that is ½ Jan Aarden (Larry Miller) and ½
Janssen. The winner arrived a half hour
before Spradling’s second bird and was flown to the perch.
|
Hangtown RPC |
The Combine-champs from ’03 Valmy
are both from the esteemed El Dorado County contingent. Jack (1700+ ypm) Wilburn flew off with the
“A” Race championship over the Don and Ed Loft. That Bozarth-Cancilla entry also exceeded 1700 ypm and bested
Danny Gwinnup in 3rd and Margaret Gwinnup in 4th place
(Margaret still makes better ceramics than any of the above). Wilburn’s winner was not mated and had been
4th to his loft in its only previous race. It was bred off of the OB race team and was produced by a
Cancilla sire and a dam bred by Jack from a Gwinnup/RB Welch pair.
Hurricane Hans hit the hills as
members of their 3 loft teams went 1 thru 16 in Hangtown and 1 thru 7
Combine! The winner from Jon Hans (a RC
Hen) was equal 1st at Lovelock and the nestmate has been equal 2nd
Combine this series. The sire is a Red
Fox (not Foxx) Mercyks (sp?) Janssen which is brother to 12 winners and was
almost put in the “FOR SALE LOFT”. The
dam is a grand-daughter of Mike Ganus’ TOPO/MIKE’S PICK. Matt brought in 6 Ganus breeders in ’03 with
mixed results to this point in time.
The Hans’ were pleased to have 79 of 80 entries in the loft by 1:15pm
Sat.
We’re getting to the longer Combine races, special one-loft
and futurity races are just around the corner and the CSRPO Convention in
Modesto is nearing…
Enjoy and Aloha - Doug