1998 WORD CUP FLY
FINAL FLY-OFF REPORT
ELDON CHENEY, JUDGE
 
On May 31, I left St. Louis and arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Joe Bob Stuka, Tony Smith and Rod & Dee Bales picked me up at the airport.  We traveled north of Charlotte to visit a Roller man, Clay Hoyle is his name.  Clay is a very interesting fellow.  He lives on an acreage and raises Rollers and English Setters.  These dogs are strictly hunting dogs and not for show.  Clay says these dogs are world champions.  I saw some very good pigeons at Clay’s.  I think he will be a major competitor in the near future.
We then went to Jimmy Lingerfelt’s, another Roller man.  Jimmy has some good birds, but lacks the time to fly the properly.  We left Jimmy’s and stopped at Tony Smith’s to fly his pigeons.  Tony flew some very good pigeons.  He too will be a competition Roller man very soon.  I spent the night with Rod & Dee Bales.  They showed me their exotic birds, large hook bills and English parakeets.
The next morning, Joe Bob was having a tough decision to make.  It was real foggy.  Joe Bob had his birds set to fly at 6:30 a.m. to beat the heat.  The fog continued to persist and finally, Joe Bob could wait no longer.  The birds came out fast and hot.  I saw two outstanding pigeons roll.  Approximately three minutes later, thirteen pigeons landed on the huge electric tower in the horse pasture.  Poor Joe Bob….one hour later, the fog was gone and it didn’t really get hot.  Rod & Dee took me to the airport, on the way we stopped in to see O.J. Hood and J.B. Moffitt.  They both put up their birds for us.  I saw some good birds at these men’s lofts.
Sonny Hester and Mark Powelson picked me up at the Nashville airport.  We went out to dinner and then to Mark’s.  Mark put his pigeons up at 7:20 p.m., there was a pretty good breeze blowing.  Mark and I spent some time deciding which way the birds would fly.  Needless to say, they flew in the opposite direction.  Mark has some deep, high velocity birds.  If they had been making more breaks in unison, the score would have been much higher.
My next stop was Mobile, Alabama.  Rick Mee lives there.  Rick also opted to fly his birds that evening.  He put his birds up just as the sun was going down.  Rick’s theory is that the birds give their maximum performance at this time.  Rick’s birds were high velocity, medium depth and they did it collectively.
Dave Ross and Walter Teal, in Houston, Texas, were the next contestants.  The weather in Houston had made a drastic change a few days before the fly.  Plus someone stole 6 or 7 kit birds from Dave.  Both kits were flat, very little activity.
Ferrell Bussing and Hugh Smith, in Oklahoma City, had the same weather problem as Houston.  Both of these kits had little to no action.  I saw these kits last year and they had done very well.
Albuquerque, New Mexico is a beautiful city tucked in a mountain valley.  Just south of Albuquerque is Los Lunas where Richard Aragon lives.  Richard had high hopes for his pigeons to do well.  Richard’s friend, Reggie Lewis, had driven all the way from California to watch Richard’s birds perform.  Richard’s hopes and dreams crashed when two pigeons landed on the wires.  Richard took this disappointment fairly well.  He will be back next year, minus two pigeons.
Jim Shumway, in Loveland, Colorado, has a beautiful setting with the mountains in his back yard.  Jim has a first class set-up.  His pigeons had good style and velocity, but were not performing in unison.  Jim also had some out-birds. 
I flew from Denver to Phoenix, then on to San Diego, California to Ray Trehern’s.  I was picked up at the airport by Jim Fenton and we spent the night at Ray’s.  Ray has some very colorful typie pigeons.  I saw some beautiful deep-red recessive mottles here.  Ray’s pigeons did not perform to their full potential.
The following day, Jim took me to Tim Decker’s.  Tim has some very fast, high quality pigeons with good depth and excellent style.  There were some out birds that hurt Tim’s score.
Jerry Higgins flew next.  Jerry flew an impressive kit of pigeons.  They were not up to what they had done in the preliminaries, but I saw some very fast, deep birds here.
Dave Goss picked me up at Jerry’s and took me to his house.  Dave and his wife did a great job taking care of me.  Kevin McCray was the next flyer.  Kevin has a beautiful back yard with a first class, clean loft.  He is in charge of training and flying the pigeons in the California Classic.  What a tremendous responsibility!  The weather here was ideal, cool enough for a light jacket.  The sky was overcast with a light wind.  The temperature was about 65º.  This was an outstanding day to fly pigeons.  Dave Goss was my scorekeeper and Leo Lonzo was my cameraman.   He did a great job!  Kevin put his birds up at 8:00 a.m.  This guy was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  Kevin’s birds came out hot, two rolled down, one stayed down.  The pigeons went up and did very little for the next 20 minutes.  I did see some very good individual performances.
The next day was Bob Southall’s turn.  Bob live in an apartment.  He breeds his birds in a garage below his apartment and has his kit box in the parking lot.  This is pure dedication to his hobby.  The weather was cooler and a light rain was falling.  This man put up a very active kit.  They were racking up points very rapidly, then out flyers hurt this fine kit.  There were two and three birds out the last ten minutes of the fly.
Bob took me to the airport and I flew to Oakland, California where I was picked up by Mark Bowers.  Mark is the Area Director for this area.  This man did his very best to see that everything worked.  Dwight Wallace was the first flyer here.  They had prepared a brunch that had to have been catered.  It was incredible.  I was able to meet Chan Grover for the first time here.  What a nice man Chan is.
Dwight’s birds were very frequent with good quality, but not a lot of depth.  Out birds hurt his score.  I saw a very fast red checker that was outstanding.
Chuck Roe has a very unique place for the judge.  He put me and my scorekeeper, Rex Clark, up on the roof.  If OSHA would have come by they would have cited us for not having our safety equipment on.  Chuck’s birds were the most frequent birds I had seen so far.  Many birds, however, were not scoreable due to the lack of depth and quality.  They flew in my face most of the time.  When they would attain some height, the quality would improve greatly.  After this fly, Mark took me on a whirlwind tour of San Francisco.  He took such good care of me that he wore me out.
The next day, Mark took me to Vincent Yancy’s.  Vincent lives in a beautiful setting in Northern California.  He flew his birds at 8:00 a.m., the birds came out and didn’t score any points until the last six minutes before the fly was over.  Vincent had one black white flight that did an excellent job.  Mark took me to the airport so I could fly to Portland, Oregon.
Gary Stephens picked me up and took me over to see Carl and Carol Tackett, two of my old high school class mates and good friends that I hadn’t seen in too many years.  Thank you, Gary.
Gary flew the next morning at 8:00 a.m.  He had an over fly three days prior to this fly and lost six of his very best pigeons.  Isn’t that the way it always is?  I could only score this fine man one five bird break.  They were flying high and fast, right through the roll.  Gary took me to the airport for my flight to British Columbia, Canada.
John Wien’s wife and children picked me up at the airport.  After a pleasant evening with John and his family, we flew John’s birds at 6:00 the next morning.  John is a very serious dedicated Roller man.  John’s daughter, Sylvia, was my scorekeeper and was very excited about doing this important job for me.  John’s birds did not do what he had expected them to do.  I saw some very good birds here, but not any big breaks.
I took the ferry over to Monty Neibel’s.   Monty picked me up and took me sight seeing.  What a gorgeous place he lives in.  Monty then took me to his home and fed me a huge piece of cake and a very large bowl of ice cream.  We then went out and looked over his birds.  I met his neighbor lady who would be my scorekeeper.  That evening, Monty and I went to town.  On the way to town we saw a black bear.  It came within 20 feet of the car.  We went on into town, Monty went shopping for something for breakfast the next day.  After shopping, we went to the Sawmill Restaurant and had a wonderful meal.  I had a large steak with oysters on the side.  The next morning, Monty cooked a great breakfast; fresh eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, coffee and orange juice. I tell you, I couldn’t eat another bite.  After breakfast, Monty put his pigeons up, they were fantastic with some big breaks.  This put Monty in first place, ahead of Rick Mee.  Monty took me back to the ferry, but it was broke down.  I had to charter a plane to take me back to Vancouver so I could make connections for my flight to Missoula, Montana.
Rick Schoening picked me up at the airport in Missoula and drove me to Garry Barres home in Deere Lodge, Montana.  Gary flew his birds the next morning.  Gary’s birds started out real good with some good breaks, then they went flat.  Gary has some really good pigeons, nothing to be ashamed of here.  That afternoon, Gary and his beautiful daughter, Abby, drove me to Idaho Falls, Idaho.  This was about a four-hour drive.  I want to thank Gary and Abby for their commitment to the hobby.
We met Guil Rand and Jay Starley in Idaho Falls.  We all went to the Outback for dinner.  Over good food, we had a great time.  We then headed out
 
for Salt Lake City, Utah.  I spent the night at Guil Rand’s.  The next morning, after a nice breakfast with Guil and his wife Connie, we went to fly Guil’s birds.  They came out real hot.  I saw some really decent pigeons here, but they only flew four minutes.  Poor Guil was not happy.
Tom Monson held off flying because the wind was blowing pretty fast.  Tom finally put his birds up when the wind had subsided.  His pigeons showed good depth and velocity before they were blown away.  After about ten minutes they came back, but for the most part, the wind had done these brave-hearted little birds in, they were whipped.
From Salt Lake, I flew to Denver on my way to St. Paul, Minnesota.  I got in at 11:15 pm.  Thank goodness my friend, John Johnson, was there to pick me up.  The next morning John showed me his new loft that he and his Roller buddies just completed.  What a nice job they did.  John took me to breakfast then on to Brian Brueggemeiers.  Brian put his birds up.  They were able to score five breaks for the most part they were flat.  I did see some decent individual performers
Dave Gehrke had come to Brian’s to take me home with him.  It was nice to spend some time with Dave and Rita.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Wally Robinson, his wife and daughter Mindy.  Mindy raises some beautiful yellow pigeons.  Curt Neuendorf and his wife, Ron Moon and Ron Rucher.  They all made a special trip to be at Dave’s while I was there, that rally left me with a good feeling, they are all wonderful people.
The next morning, Dave took me to John Underbergh’s in Eagle Grove, Iowa.  I saw some very good birds here, but the wind and high pressure did not help.   I have seen John’s birds on a better day, they are capable of doing a much better job.  John Hawxby met us at John Underbergh’s to take me on to Des Moines to catch my flight out.  In Des Moines, John took me to see my good friend Jerry Kern.  Jerry is a very serious Roller man and flys excellent birds.
I flew from Des Moines to Chicago and then on to Detroit.  I was hoping there would be someone to pick me up. I’ve heard Detroit is a scary place. As it turned out, it wasn’t so bad at all.  I was met by Randy Owen, Bob Munson and Stan Pearson.  We all spent the night at Randy’s.  The next morning, after a gourmet breakfast prepared by Randy’s wife, we went out to fly Randy’s birds.  The birds came out really hot and fast.  These were some very active birds, but just couldn’t stay the time.  I saw some very good birds here.  Randy was quite disappointed but he will be back next year.  I feel certain that Randy Owen will be a top contender.
We all loaded up and drove to Ohio on to Richard Miller’s.  There was a large gathering of Roller men here.  Ron Kumro from New York; Jerry Sellenger from Canada (by the way, Jerry isn’t such a bad guy after all); Randy Owen from Michigan, Bob Munson and Stan Pearson from Illinois and Charles Enoch and Mr. Anderson from Indiana, and Jim Feasel from Ohio.  There were two more people there, but I’m sorry, I can’t remember their names.  Richard’s wife, Donna, was a wonderful hostess, thank you Donna.  Randy Owen was my scorekeeper.  Richard’s birds came out and were caught by the wind, they did manage to stay in sight and do a good job.  I saw two birds that showed excellent quality.
Richard and Donna took me to the airport in Toledo, Ohio to fly on to Providence Rhode Island.  Here I was met by George Moran; it was pretty late!  The next morning we traveled to Brian Ridley’s.  Brian flew seventeen birds that had good velocity and style, just not frequent enough.
The following day, George Moran flew his birds for me.  George’s birds came out doing extremely well.  The birds were starting to work, then dipped low and two birds landed after 13½ minutes.  I want to thank George and his lovely wife Faith for their friendship and the special attention they gave me George is a retired Navy man who spent his tour on submarines.   George and Faith took me on a guided tour of a Polaris submarine that is dry-docked not far from their home.  They then took me to the airport and on to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania I went.
Bob Baxter picked me up, it was late when we got in.  We were up early the next morning.   Bob let his birds out, they showed some good quality, but then the kit broke up and flew like a young bird kit of Rollers.
Frank Gabreil came down from New York to drive me to John Lawrence’s in McClean, New York.  John and his friends had planned quite a party, with plenty of good food and brew.  Here at John’s, I got to see Ron Kumro and Jerry Selinger again, with them this time was Dominic Sandonetti.  Dominic was our driver to Toronto, Canada.  John’s birds were not on for this day, but e will see more of this fine Roller man in the future.
We were met in Toronto by George Babanis.  He has only been flying Rollers for four years.  He has some very fast, deep rolling pigeons.  His birds came on hot and continued to show excellent depth and quality, but then two birds drifted out and away.  I was unable to score George’s birds for the rest of the
fly.  George is a very serious Roller man.  He has a wonderful wife, Pauleen, who took very good care of me.  Along with her visiting brother and sister-in-law, and Chris & Penny Muller.  They were visiting from Montreal..  Chris, Pauleen’s brother, helped me post the scores to Steve Clayton on his lap top computer.  Four extremely nice people here in Canada.
I left Toronto by way of Paris and Amsterdam, on my way to the British East Midlands airport.  I was met by Paul Lee.  Paul went out of his way to show me around a bit and also taking me around to all the flyers.  Paul and his friend, Phil Calver, saw to my every need and made me feel at home.  Thanks to both of them.
Kevin Wilkinson was the first flyer ion England.  He had a very active kit with some high quality pigeons.  Alan Milne flew that afternoon.  Alan has some very fast and deep pigeons that perform in unison.  Alan also provided a wonderful late brunch.
Peter Harper was the next flyer.  Peter flew a very active kit with excellent velocity and total kit performance.  After Peter flew we all went to the pub, within walking distance and had a pleasant evening talking pigeons.  Paul and I spent the night with George Kitson.  I saw some very good kits of pigeons here, one thing that really stands out about these English kits is every one of them flew the figure-8 pattern.
From George Kitson’s, Paul Lee delivered me to George Mason’s.  George flew an old bird kit and also a young bird kit.  It was really hard to tell which was which.  They both did an outstanding job of rollering.  I was very impressed with George Mason and his birds.
I want to thank all of the flyers in England for their warm hospitality and friendship.  I will never forget any of you.  George Mason gave me a special gift.  It is a cane carrying case from Belgium with a brass plaque on it thanking me for judging the 1998 World Cup.  I will treasure this always.  Thank you George Mason.
George took me to the airport for my flight to Denmark.  My flight was late getting into Amsterdam from England, therefore, I missed my flight from Amsterdam to Denmark.  I had to take the next flight to get there.  So far the airline had lost my luggage and put me in to Denmark late.  Eric Laidler had been there and gone by the time my plane came in.  I have met some very nice people here at the airport.  One used her phone card to call Eric’s house,, twice.  We finally talked to his daughter.  The lady translated my message.  We found out that Eric had just gotten home, but would b back to get me.  While I was waiting for him, another lady came over to me to tell me she had room in her car if needed a ride.  Unfortunately, she was going in the opposite direction.  The Danes are very caring people.  Eric finally arrived and it took an hour and a half to get back to his home.  Needless to say, poor Eric was tired, as this was his second try to and from the airport to get me.
The next morning, Eric took me to visit his friend Jan.  Here I met Henning Pederson.  The next day Eric and I traveled to Henning’s home, as he was the first flyer in Denmark.  Henning flew a very good active kit.  He’s doing very well, but the wind carried them away about half the time.  Henning and his wife prepared a wonderful meal for us.  Thanks to both of you.
Eric was the next flyer.  Eric lives on the coast of the North Sea.  It was really cold and the wind was blowing 30-4o m.p.h.  Eric’s birds didn’t do much rolling,, but managed to fly far over an hour.  Denmark is a great place to visit.  I would love to go back.
From Denmark, I flew back to Amsterdam.  This time I was picked up by René Ottema and a friend his.  They took me to Heine Byker’s.  There were eight of Heine’s fellow Roller men here to watch the judging.  They were not disappointed as Heine’s birds came out and did an excellent job.  Many good breaks with style and velocity.
The next day was a free day for me, so Heines took me sight seeing.  He took me over to his uncle’s, who owns the oldest house in Holland.   We also visited a couple of old windmills and went looking through one of the oldest villages in Holland.  Heine also took me to visit Jan Hatzmann, a very famous pigeon artist and an excellent Roller man.  Jan gave me two of his pictures.  I think that was a wonderful gesture on his part.  Thank you Mr. Hatzmann.
That evening, Hein and I went to Jan Barendrect’s home where I spent the night.  Jan’s wife, Judith, prepared a very good dinner for Heine and I.  Heine then had to leave.  Heine and his wife took very good care of me and I want to thank them both.  Jan and Judith made me feel at home and we spent a very pleasant evening together.
The next morning, Jan took me to the airport and I left for Toronto, Canada en route to Phoenix, Arizona. I was late getting out of Toronto headed for Dallas, therefore I missed the flight from Dallas to Phoenix which left me to spend the night in Dallas, which the airline paid for.
 
Joe Cantaloupe had his birds set to fly at 6:30 a.m. the next morning.  My plane didn’t get in to Phoenix until 8:30 that morning.  We finally got his birds in the air at 9:20 a.m.  I don’t know for sure what the temperature was, all I know is it gets hot in Phoenix in the summer.  Joe’s birds did an outstanding job considering all the problems we had.  I was impressed with the way his birds could handle the heat.
I met Al Luna here.  I have head of Al for a long time, but this was the first time I had met him.  Al took me out to his favorite restaurant for some BBQ.  We then met Joe at Al’s.  Al flew his birds for us.  I saw some very good birds here.  Al is one of the premier flying Rollermen in this country.
From Phoenix, I flew to Denver, Colorado.  I went on to Fort Collins for my 40th high school class reunion.  When I told everyone there what I had been doing for the last six weeks, they thought I was making it all up until I showed them the video I had made along the way.
I want to say that this has been the highlight of my Roller career.  I am thankful to all of the people who voted for me so I could be the 1998 Final World Cup judge.
My personal thanks goes out to Rod & Dee Bales, Sonny & T.J. Hester, Rick Mee, Dave Ross, Ray Fleming, Ferrell & June Bussing, Don Garcia and his wife, Roy Trehern, Jim Fenton and his wife, Dave & Sharon Goss, Mark Bowers, John & Charlotte Wiens, Monty Nieble, Garry Batres and his wife and daughters, Guil and Connie Rand, John Johnson, Dave & Rita Gehrke, John Hawxby, Randy Owen and his wife, Richard & Donna Miller, George & Faith Moran, Bob Baxter, Frank Gabreil, Dominc Sansonetti and Jerry Selinger, Ron Kumaro and his wife, George & Pauline Babaris, George Kitson and his wife, Paul Lee, Heine & Teatsbe Bijker, Al Luna, Randy Lewis and the NW Roller Jockeys.  All of these people did their very best to see that I was well cared for.  Thank you all very much.
I want to give a special thank you to the World Cup General Coordinator, Steve Clayton.  He did a fine job all the way through and I am very proud to know him.  My friend, Joe Marlett, has also done an outstanding job as the World Cup Treasurer.  Both of these fine Rollermen deserve a round of applause.  The final scores follow.
Yours in the Sport
Eldon Cheney
1998 Final World Cup Judge 

Place

Competitor

Score

1

Monty Niebel

401.10

2

Rick Mee

339.30

3

Heine Bijker

297.38

4

Alan Milne

294.84

5

Peter Harper

280.56

6

Kevin Wilkenson

246.48

7

Jerry Higgins

222.75

8

Henning Pederson

165.62

9

Joe Canteloupe

158.34

10

Chuck Roe

153.12

11

Tim Decker

147.60

12

Bob Southall

137.20

13

Dwight Wallace

132.72

14

George Babaris

98.00

15

Garry Barres

89.76

16

Richard Miller

85.80

17

Mark Powelson

81.00

18

Jim Shumway

65.52

19

John Underberg

58.52

20

Tom Monson

54.60

21

John Wiens

48.62

22

Vincent Yancy

44.88

23

Eric Laidler

33.60

24

Brian Ridley

26.88

25

Ray Trehern

25.41

26

John Lawrence

25.41

27

Ferrell Bussing

16.00

28

Hugh Smith

16.00

29

Kevin McCray

15.84

30

Dave Ross

15.00

31

Brian Brueggemeier

12.10

32

Bob Baxter

7.15

33

Walter Teal

5.00

34

Gary Stephens

5.00

35

Joe Bob Stuka

DQ

36

Richard Aragon

DQ

37

Guil Rand

DQ

38

Randy Owen

DQ

39

George Moran

DQ

 

Final World Cup Judge’s Scoring details (in judging order):

 

Competitor

# of birds

Raw Score

Q

D

Total Score

Joe Bob Stuka

19

 

 

 

DQ

Mark Powelson

19

5-5-5-5-5-5-6

1.5

1.5

81

Rick Mee

20

8-9-9-8-5-9-9-8-5-5-5-5-7-9-15-6-8-7-7

1.5

1.3

339.3

Dave Ross

18

5-5-5

1.0

1.0

15

Walter Teal

20

5

 

 

5

Ferrell Bussing

20

5-6-5

 

 

16

Hugh Smith

16

5-7-9-5-6-5-5-6

 

 

16

Richard Aragon

20

 

 

 

DQ

Jim Shumway

20

6-5-5-5-6-5-5

1.3

1.2

65.52

Ray Trehern

17

5-6-5-5

1.1

1.1

25.41

Tim Decker

19

5-6-6-6-5-5-5-5-5-7-5-5-5-5-7

1.5

1.2

147.6

Jerry Higgins

18

5-5-6-6-8-7-5-5-6-6-8-5-5-6-6-5-5

1.4

1.4

222.75

Kevin McCray

16

5-6

1.2

1.2

15.84

Bob Southall

19

6-6-7-6-5-5-8-5-5-5-5-7

1.4

1.4

137.2

Dwight Wallace

19

8-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-6-5-6-7-7-5

1.4

1.2

132.72

Chuck Roe

19