JTD_GPRS02

"Jack the Donkey V1"

Jack the Donkey was ready to fight for GPRS '02. I had a good servod driven wedge combo that had a unique thwack wedge attack. I was ready to go and looked at the brackets. That's when i started to get really excited!

Jack the Donkey vs. Mad Martian
My first match was against another robot from Wisconsin. Mad Martian was a piece of PVC pipe with peanut butter cap wheels and a long spike out the front and back. it had power and a good driver. It also had a high ground clearance!
The match started with us coming at each other. I got under him and shoved him to the wall. i got hlf of him over the wall, but couldn't get the other half. I kept backing up and trying to go at him to push him over. He never went. I backed off and he came out at me. the Team Handymen kids were awesome and aggressive. They had a bad robot to go against a wedge, however. I pushed them again and tried to get them over. Once again I failed. I backed off and they drove out. I pushed them near the pushout, but missed slightly and they stayed in. then I backed off to try and come at them again. The akward position was bad for them, howevr, and when they drove out, they drove out of the arena! A knock out for me!

Jack the Donkey vs. Beautiful Creature
The next round saw Jack up against beautiful Creature. Tyler nicely built this. It was a lifter at the end of a long arm. He had a bye to get to that point, so he had no damage, full batteries, and a lot of excitement. this would be a tough match.
The match was a blur. At the beginning I got under him and pushed him around for a while. He then got his arm under me and lifted me on top of him. I had a ledge under me that held me on. he controlled me, but couldn't get me out of the arena. the last third of the match was me pushing him again. The match would go to the judges. I was worried, as I ahd never won a judges decision before, but I won 20-10. this was good as I had dominated the first and last third and he had dominated the middle. I was pleased.

Jack the Donkey vs. Tinbender
This match would prove to be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament. Tinbender was a very low wedge with the same stats as me. It all came down to driving.
Mike Konshack was a great driver of big robots and the smaller ones were good to him, too. He dominated the match, shoving me all over the arena. At one point he turned his back to me and I took advantage. I got to him and started pushing. I was aimed at the pushout and so I gunned it. The going was slow, but he was moving the pushout. after what seemed like an eternity, he fell out. He had kept ctahcing traction and stopping the push, but I got him out. Another KO for Jack!

Jack the Donkey vs. Ether
Not much to say here. Ether was an awesome lifter that had copals for drive. It was speedy! The winner of this match would go on to fight for first place. the loser was gauranteed to get at least third place.
He had no problem getting under me, but I was so much larger than him that he couldn't flip me at his will. He had to work on it. he flipped me multiple times, but couldn't push me out. He won, but I don't know the score. Jack was then 3-1. he would go to the loser's bracket to fight for a chance to fight Ether in the championship.

Jack the Donkey vs. Country Squire
Country squire was a really low wedge built by Pete Covert, the other member of Team Cosmos. This match would prove to be a bit better than my previous fight.
At the beginning, He got under me, but I got stuck on his hook that he used to control opponents. I had more power and shoved him to the wall. I would stop going forward and he would push me a ways out and then I would shove him back. I decided to try and maneuver him to a pushout. that's when things fell apart. He started to control me. He would move me to a pushout, but I would drive over him. Eventually he got me out, though. just like that jack was done.

Jack was done for the day. He had third place. Ether ended up with first, and Country squire took second. I was proud to be in a group with competitors like that. I looked forward to my next chance to fight.

Photo courtesy of Steve Van Dyke