Event Report – Bendigo, July 2024

 On the 20th and 21st of July, the VMPRA held a pylon racing event the Bendigo Model Aircraft Club. Despite the threatening weather forecasts, we were fortunate that rain didn’t impact the weekend at all. Although, Saturday was both cold and very windy.

We decided to kick things off with the Quickie 500 class. Due to the harsh conditions, we managed to fly only four rounds throughout the whole weekend. The severe weather forced us to restrict flying to just one class on Saturday and postpone the others to Sunday.

Sunday started with a challenge of its own. We aimed for an early start at 9 o’clock, but the field was engulfed in fog that didn’t clear until 11. This delay significantly reduced our flying time. However, once the fog lifted, the conditions turned favourable, with minimal wind and a nice cloud cover, making it ideal for flying without the low Winter sun in our eyes.

We commenced with five rounds of F3T in these perfect conditions, followed by four F3D rounds in the afternoon. The event concluded around 3 o’clock with the presentation of awards and then we headed home.

A special thanks to Wendy Dean for managing the computer for Quickie and F3T and acting as the starter for F3D. Her help was invaluable and it was gratifying to have sufficient helps to man all the pylons throughout the weekend. Quickie class was particularly challenging in terms of getting enough helpers, but in the end, we managed well.

Looking ahead, our next race is scheduled for August 17th and 18th in Kahuna. We’re excited and look forward to seeing everyone there!


Results

These are the placing for this race weekend plus the fastest time. For all the results, see the “Result” button below.

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Tom Allen

Fastest Time (Red Box): 63.23 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 6

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Brian Steele
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.74 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 7

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Tom Wetherill
2nd Tom Allen
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time (Red Box): 97.02.07 Tom Wetheril
No. of competitors: 7

Season Championship

FA1

The top two places remain the same with Tom Wetherill moving u into third place displacing Anthony Thurgood down into 4th.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Tom Wetherill

F3T

No change in the top three positions for this class also……..again. Only a point between Andrew and Brian though.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

The top two places remain the same with Eddie Rich moving u into third place displacing Tony Eichstadt down into 4th.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Eddie Rich

Next Race Event – Cohuna 17th – 18tt August.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – Tom Wetherill and John Schmidli

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my/our knowledge at the time of publishing. It is written from my/our perspective and reflects how I/we have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

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