REPORT ON 2002 FAI FREE FLIGHT WORLD CUP
by Ian Kaynes Chairman, CIAM FF Subcommittee November 2002
In 2002 there were more competitions in the Free Flight World Cup than last year. In F1E there were more competitions (12) than in any previous year and also the total entries (402) was also a record in the class. In F1A F1B F1C there is an established dependency of total World Cup participation on large entry events adjacent to a World Championships. 2002 was a European Championships year and had a greater number of entries in competitions in these classes than any previous European Championship year.
The F1A winner was Jari Valo of Finland, his victory clinched with a win at Castilla La Mancha in September following his win at Poitou the previous month. Jari may be better known to some modellers for his considerable control line experience, having competed in many World and European Championships in speed and combat. Second place was taken by Stefan Rumpp, many times winner of the World Cup, third by Damjan Zulic of Slovenia and fourth by Phil Mitchell (Australia). These three each had two wins and a second place, with the final order decided by bonus points.
F1B was won by Ivan Kolic, the 2000 World Cup winner, with three wins and the third of these, like F1A, was in Spain in September. Andrei Khrebtov (Russia) and Igor Vivchar (Ukraine) took second and third place respectively with the same number of points from two wins and a second place. The order was decided by comparing their fourth event, with the narrow margin of Andrei’s third beating Igor’s fourth place
The F1C victor was Gerhard Aringer (Austria) with three wins ahead of last year’s winner John Cuthbert. John also had three wins, but Gerhard was the clear winner on bonus points as a result of his win at the Puszta Cup, the largest competition of the year. Third place was taken by Eugene Verbitsky with two wins and a second place.
Last year Daniel Petcu (Romania) won the F1E World Cup after placing in 10 out of 11 events. This year he went one better and placed in 11 out of 12 events. He was closely followed by his compatriot Marian Popescu and third place was taken by Edith Mang of Austria.
ORGANISATION
The organisation of the World Cup ran smoothly a with fewer late results from a few competition organisers compared to previous years. Many results were received by email, aiding speedy publication of the latest standings on the FAI web site and completion of the first issue of this report during October. However, during November the Aero Club of Israel informed me that they had missed two names from the results of their event which had been held during August. These changes have now been incorporated in the final results on the FAI web site and in this report.
2002 STATISTICS
Number of competitors per country, only those scoring points in 2 or more events:
| F1A | F1B | F1C | F1E | ALL |
| UKR 14 | UKR 16 | GBR 5 | ROM 13 | UKR 33 |
| FIN 11 | USA 11 | GER 4 | CZE 7 | GER 22 |
| GER 9 | FIN 7 | UKR 3 | SVK 6 | FIN 20 |
| NED 7 | GER 7 | USA 3 | POL 4 | USA 18 |
| FRA 6 | RUS 7 | AUS 2 | AUT 3 | GBR 16 |
| RUS 6 | GBR 6 | AUT 2 | GER 2 | RUS 14 |
| GBR 5 | NED 5 | EST 2 | ITA 1 | ROM 13 |
| HUN 5 | SWE 4 | FIN 2 | SUI 1 | NED 12 |
| YUG 5 | AUS 3 | POL 2 | AUT 10 | |
| SWE 4 | YUG 3 | FRA 1 | CZE 10 | |
| USA 4 | AUT 2 | HUN 1 | SVK 9 | |
| AUT 3 | LAT 2 | ITA 1 | FRA 8 | |
| NZL 3 | LTU 2 | LTU 1 | SWE 8 | |
| SLO 3 | CAN 1 | RUS 1 | YUG 8 | |
| SVK 3 | CZE 1 | AUS 7 | ||
| AUS 2 | DEN 1 | HUN 6 | ||
| CAN 2 | ESP 1 | POL 6 | ||
| CZE 2 | FRA 1 | NZL 4 | ||
| DEN 2 | ISR 1 | SLO 4 | ||
| ISR 1 | ITA 1 | CAN 3 | ||
| SUI 1 | NZL 1 | DEN 3 | ||
| SLO 1 | ITA 3 | |||
| SUI 1 | LTU 3 | |||
| SUI 3 | ||||
| EST 2 | ||||
| ISR 2 | ||||
| LAT 2 | ||||
| ESP 1 |
| F1A | F1B | F1C | F1E | |
| Number of competitions | 32 | 32 | 30 | 12 |
| Total number of entries | 1289 | 759 | 274 | 402 |
| Number of competitors scoring points: | ||||
| in 1 event | 180 | 102 | 61 | 30 |
| in 2 events | 49 | 44 | 17 | 11 |
| in 3 events | 23 | 20 | 6 | 6 |
| in 4 events | 14 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| in 5 events | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| in 6 events | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| in 7 events | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| in 8 events | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| in 9 events | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| in 10 events | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| in 11 events | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total number of competitors scoring World Cup points | 278 | 187 | 91 | 67 |
Total number of participants in all four classes: 2722
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