This season, I’m looking to break the report up into 2 separate posts to assist with getting some information out quicker while giving me time to compile other information such as the report a little later.
Results
Class – FA1
Places: 1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Tom Jacobsen
Fastest Time: 63.16 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 8
Course – 10.5 Laps
Class – F400
Places: 1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Glen Matthews
Fastest Time: 68.68 – Shaun Jacobsen
No. of competitors: 11
Course – 10.5 Laps
Class – Q500
Places: 1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Andrew Arapakis
Fastest Time: 63.16 – Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 6
Course – 10.5 Laps
Being the first race of the season, the championship standings are the same as the place getters. It’s not too late to get in and give it a good go for this season.
On July 5, 2015, the VMPRA held a Q500 and Sports pylon race at Werribee. Despite some pretty ordinary weather leading up to this day, the Sunday turned out to be a clear, mostly sunny day. Some stronger winds picked up in the middle of the day but dropping off again towards the end.
The Werribee Model Aircraft Association members were very welcoming and did a great job of manning pylon #1 and the catering.
There was quite a good group of competitors assembled especially considering some regular Q500 pilots being over in the Czech Republic for the F3D world championships.
There were 9 Q500 pilots and 4 sports pilots. The sports planes were a mix of a Trainer, Stik, EF-1 Pogo and a sports Q500 model.
This was the last event for the 2014-2015 season championship for Q500.
The final standing are:
1st – John Schmidli 2nd – James Hurley
3rd – Jim Orenshaw
John Schmidli won this championship for the 3rd year running with team mate James Hurley slipping into 2nd place and with Jim Orenshaw being in the Czech Republic, he managed to hang onto 3rd Place. Congratulations to all the place gets.
Trophies will be presented at the AGM to be held on August 1, 2015 at the Marong (Bendigo) event. This event will be the 1st of the new season so it’s a big reset and the championship is open for all to participate in.
F3D World Championship – Czech Republic – July 7-11, 2015
There has been a huge build up and preparation for all the competitors for this year’s world championship for the F3D pylon racing class. A good size contingent of pilots, callers and support crews and family members where there for the Australian and New Zealand teams.
It was fascinating watching the live web cams, as we could see a little of what was going on and tanks to all who sent photos, reports and snippets of information back for us to enjoy.
Congratulations to all who participated. Although conditions looked to be tough, well done to the Australian team for their 2nd place.
Team NEW ZEALAND – TBC (unkown at time of publishing)
Individual Places
Chris Callow – 5th Place
Leigh Hocken – 8th Place
Tyler Mees – 12th Place
Bea Murphy – 14th Place
Daniel Arapakis – 3rd Place (Junior Competition) & 22nd – Senior Place
Tom Wetherill – 32nd
Next Event
Our next race event is at the Marong field near Bendigo on August 1-2, 2015. This will be the 1st event for the new 2015/2016 championship season and there will also be our AGM on the Saturday night which is usually held at the caravan park. More details will be posted closer to then.
Event Report – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli
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 perspective and reflects how I have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.
Sounds like a tough day flying over 12 hours with stops for excessive wind to make up rounds from day 1. See below for Tom’s Day 2 report.
Tom’s Report – Day 2
Hi everyone:
After 5 days of practice is very hot conditions – racing started yesterday. The goal is to complete up to 15 Rounds over 3 to 4 days.
The racing started yesterday, but only one round was completed due to heavy rain. Most of the afternoon was spent inside the very impressive pit area marquee sheltering.
We started racing again at 8 am this morning and continued until 8pm tonite. However, the conditions today changed from mild in the morning – to be very windy and cold in the afternoon. There was another break as the storm passed through and then racing continued. As a result, we have seen many extremes in weather – which makes a big challenge for tuning engines and racing.
In addition to the challenges associated with the weather, we are racing far from home and things are sometimes “different” from what we expect. The timing system takes some time to get used to, the cut judges are very diligent and other penalties are handed out to pilots and callers who step outside the designated pilot box or are perceived to launch before the flag drops completely. Lastly, there has been a fairly high rate of carnage due to mid-airs. Stuart Inoue from Japan had already lost two models by Round 4.
So what does it all mean… I have not had enough time to look at all the details, but here are some initial observations:
Italy – Carol Perella was in first place after four rounds.
Venezuela – Good friend Gabriel Tahan was in second place after four rounds.
Czech – The Czech team appear to be the first place (team) at present with some very impressive performances from their interesting looking models.
USA – Gino Del Ponte from the USA set a new World Record in Round One and backed it up in Round Two. However, since that time cuts and other factors seem to have come into play. Former World Champion from the USA Randy Bridge scored 2 x 200’s in the first two rounds, but has since been flying very well. The other USA team member, Gary Freeman, was also experiencing some initial problems but appears to have got on top of the issues.
Australia – Chris Callow has been pushing very hard, but does not seem to have the pace advantage that he experienced in 2013. Leigh Hocken, Beau Murphy, Tyler Mees and Daniel Arapakis are doing well – but the Australia team are not dominating like they have in the past. Very hard to come over here to compete with the locals…
New Zealand – I had a good run in Round 1, but got two cuts. In Round 2 (on the first day) the rain came down – so we got a refly today. During the refly the muffler in the pipe broke after about 4 laps – perhaps due to the stress of the high temperatures from the practice time. I was able to manage to limp around and get a score – better than a 200! My Round 3 flight was immediately after Round 2, so fortunately I had a backup ready to go. However, 1 cut hurt the score. The engine ran perfect – so a prop change was made (thanks AD) for Round 4 to get some more speed. The weather was stable for Round 4 but the wind got very strong in Round 5 so I flew conservatively and posted times. The weather front that came through caught many people out – but I changed the compression and posted two more scores.
In summary, a very challenging WC so far. We are only half way through the competition and a decision will be made tomorrow morning on how many rounds will be flown. There are many issues that the organisers have to deal with – including having enough fuel on hand to complete the competition. I was able to sell back the excess fuel that I had J.
It is a lot of hard work, changeling – but is very rewarding when things work out. We finished the day with a very enjoyable dinner at a local Italian restaurant near our hotel.
Tom
08/07/2015 – Day 1
Only 1.5 rounds ran due to rain.
Australian Team Photos
Daniel & Andrew Arapakis
NZ News – 07/07/2015 – Tom Wetherill
Today was the official opening ceremony – that included a very impressive air/aerobatic show courtesy of full size a Red Bull air race plane – just for us. It was a local Czech hero and after the show, he landed and chatted with people. When he left – he took off – and then flew banked at 90 degrees at a very low level between the control tower and a hangar with the smoke system going!!!
The weather has again been very hot and well into the 30’s and today each team had allocated timed sessions on the course. This gave the opportunity for both the teams and the course workers to get their systems sorted. The timing system is different to what we are used to – it was not fully automated. There is a countdown clock, then the flagman waves you off and the timers start from the flagman. The complex system that was trialled previously in 2009 that included cut lights has been abandoned.
The Australian team was first up (as it is run in alphabetical order). However, on the first flight of the day, current World Champion Chris Callow crashed, which was a big surprise to everyone. The rest of the Australian team did quite well but times were not posted.
We did not get to run until later in the afternoon and 2 of 3 models ran well. One did not like the heat and stopped after a few laps. However, this proved to be a common problem and others including current Junior World Champion Emil Broberg, some of the Dutch team, Japanese team, USA team, etc also had DNF’s during practice.
Tomorrow is the first day of competition, and there will be a big change in the weather as rain is forecast and cold weather should arrive on Thursday. Many challenges and hard work ahead.
Wow, what a great event. On the Queen’s birthday long weekend, VMPRA hosted the 2015 AMPRA Championships and F5D Australian team trials. This event was held in Munro at Barry Murphy’s superb purpose build pylon racing field.
Arriving at the field a few days early, it was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into getting the field prepared including flags, banners and even a winner’s podium that was fitting of any high class event. Ian Rickard took his annual leave holidays to prepare the grounds for pilots, campers and spectators. Preparations of the field were spectacular!
Thursday night saw competitors starting to arrive with most participants from the four different states arriving during the Friday. After some fairly dubious weather earlier in the week, the weather Gods turned up on Friday and really turned it on for perfect conditions over the weekend in Gippsland one of Victoria’s famous regions for veggie growers and cattle. Friday consisted of setting up of aircraft and campsites and plenty of test flying. Most pilots camped for the long weekend enjoying a real country felt environment. After some pre sunset electric flying, we were treated to a fantastic dinner put together by Toni Axon and also contributions by Lydia Arapakis and her legendary meatballs and fed the 30 campers and visitors. Dessert consisted of plenty of cold beers and mash mellows around the camp fire.
The AMPRA Championships are a once a year national event that is held in different states where pylon racers from typically VIC, QLD, SA and NSW come together to compete. This year it was decided that this would be the F5D World Championships team selection. F5D is a pylon racing class that uses electric powered motor flying a very similar speeds to F3D. As it was a selection event, this class would take priority to ensure 8 rounds are flown.
After some early test flying and setting up the course and timing system, first up was 2 rounds of F5D. Early pace and consistency was set by Alex Davie, Barry Murphy and Bruce DeChastel.
Next up was F400 of which 3 rounds where run. With 14 entrants, it took a while to get through each round. Shaun Jacobsen set the bench mark with a (62.45) in the first round and consistency flew with great times all weekend and also recorded the fastest times on both days. With prefect conditions for flying with a 5km/h westerly and 18 degrees, saw more rounds of F5D and lunch to follow.
Lunch consisted of hamburgers and pasta carbonara also organized again by Toni Axon. Straight after lunch, there was another couple of rounds of F5D with all pilots on the money. Beau Murphy pulled out a ripper and flew the fastest time (57.53) of the event.
Next up was Q500. Lots of cuts for the 1st round but Caleb Chipendale putting in a nice fast clean time. with his PB of (98.08) and the fastest time of the round– truly a great effort as this was only his second pylon race event! The 2nd Round Jim Orenshaw recorded the fastest time for the weekend of 90.81 and he put in a nice fast time for the 3rd round. The sun was now setting so racing was stopped for the day. Surprise entrant Austin Omann (Curley) in his very first event was flying very tight circuits and positioned really well for the start of the weekend.
At 5:30, the AMPRA AGM and general meeting was held under the cover of a huge marquee, supplied along with tables and chairs by Marcus Guss which was a perfect set up for the weekend festivities. Once the official items for the night were completed, Andrew Arapakis put on one of his now legendary Greek style spit roast chicken and Lamb, Greek salad and butter and garlic potatoes. Dessert was one of Gary Davidson’s favorites being “World Famous Sticky Date Pudding” and cream which was impeccably made by Nerida Matthews. It was a terrific evening with all participants staying out at the field for the meeting followed by great food, great camaraderie spirit and certainly one for the history books.
Sunday Morning, dawned with beautiful clear conditions yet again. Racing started a little earlier as there was no resetting of the course required. First up again was round 7 of the F5D selection races. This time Daniel Arapakis was also racing giving him an opportunity to be selected as a junior representative. In this round, Beau really hit his stride, with another sub 60. Unfortunately for Allan Swift, he managed to hit the #3 pylon during this race which ended his racing for the day prematurely. The ever reliable Barry Murphy yet again on his game with our friends from QLD Tony and Bruce flying great with only a few seconds apart between them.
Next up was the final round (round 8). Beau again recorded a fast time of 57.56, only 3/100s off the fastest time he recorded the day before and pipped Baz finishing in top spot and only 5 seconds separating the next three places. Dannmann also flew his PB ripper in round 8 with a (60.15).
Next we went straight into FA1 racing with a view completing all 8 rounds that day.
To start off, the 1st round saw half the field record DNS’s including Daniel Arapakis who uncharacteristically recorded 2 DNS’s for rounds 1 &2. After 4 rounds had been completed, lunch was called. The ever reliable Glenn Matthew started the event really well and great to see Frenchy having a go!
Before lunch was ready, we had a trophy presentation for the F5D event as the QLD competitors needed to leave that afternoon to catch flights back. Well done guys and big efforts recognized by all…..
The places where:
1st place: Beau Murphy, Caller – Barry Murphy
2nd place: Barry Murphy, Caller – Beau Murphy
3rd place: Tony Singleton, Caller – Bruce de Chastel
Place getters received a very nice glass trophy and both pilots and callers received AMPRA mugs with the appropriate and place and position. The podium really made a great feeing of an official presentation and memorable pictures for the album.
After lunch FA1 was up again. Round 6 saw Beau Murphy, record a fastest time for this class for the weekend of 58.82sec. This rounds also saw an unfortunate post race collision betweenGary Davidsonand Brian Steele. Andrew Davies struck some bad luck as well destroying a new piston and withdrawing from the event. Tom Jacobsen flew his best time of the event with a (62.33) but found the ground in the last round tearing a cannon in Bazza’s bowling green. So the last race of the day saw Beau and Dannmann. Both pilots flew their WC models neck and neck which was truly a spectacle to watch as neither pilot gave an inch. Both Dad’s obviously nervous but very proud to watch their sons on top of their game and Beau’s unquestionable character mentoring Dan with final World F3D Championships preparations. Both pilots pushing hard resulted in cuts and show time thankfully was over, never the less both pilots and callers had a ripper time and high fives all round with both planes safe on the ground.
Daniel Arapakis and Austin Omann
Next up was Q500 and racing continued till dark. James Hurley and John Schmidli recording a string of sub 100’s placing them in top positions. It was also becoming evident that a young first time racer, Daniel Arapakis’s best mate and protégé, Austin Omann has been practicing behind the scenes at Munro going really fast even though he had recorded a cut in most rounds. Dark horse Jimmy cut himself out of the event after the first 6 rounds scores were posted. Consistency of Ian Rickard also positioned well after 6 rounds and flying really well. Great to see all pilots having a go and Matt Young also back flying.
After another great night and now into the left over’s saw plenty of laughs and beer around the camp fire and a reasonably quiet night, the morning kicked off starting with F400 (round 4). It was in the 1st heat that John Schmidli and Jim Oreshaw had a mid-air (link to Youtube clip) putting them both out of the competition for the rest of the day. The rest of the F400 races went without incident and there was some very good and fast flying. Shaun recorded the fastest time for the class in the 7th round and ended up securing 1st place. Great to watch the Jabobsen crew from the side line as all three guys had a great weekend flying!
As the F400 race drew to a close, the wind had really picked up which had been expected. Q500 had only 2 rounds to be completed but Glenn Matthews, the contest director, declared it too windy so Q500 was to only be the 6 round already flown.
Great call as the weekend ending with a BBQ lunch. The field equipment was then packed up and then trophies presented at the contest podium (see results below) which drew what can only be classed as an absolutely awesome weekend’s flying to an close.
In closure, the weekend was one for the history books with contributions by all pilots, spectators, visitors and helpers being truly outstanding. Special mention to the Munro ground crew and the interstate visitors who made great efforts to travel significant distances to participate in this year’s event!
Back in January this year, the VMPRA was involve at Sandown Race Way as part of the Sandown F1 R/C Air Race. As part of this, we had a Great Planes Viper Q500 racer kindly donated by Dawn Trading (http://www.dawntrading.com.au) along with a Thunder Tiger engine (TT 46 PRO), also kindly donated by R/C Headquarters – Werribee (http://www.rcheadquarters.com.au/). This aircraft was used by the VMPRA for flying demonstrations at that event.
The VMPRA committee decided that this donated aircraft should be awarded to someone that would benefit from the use of such a model in the pursuit of getting started in pylon racing.
It was with great pleasure that the VMPRA awarded the prize of the Great Planes Viper and Thunder Tiger TT466PRO to first time Q500 competitor, Austin Omann. Austin has been going flying and practicing pylon racing under the encouragement and guidance of Daniel and Andrew Arapakis and was flying using their aircraft. By awarding this aircraft to Austin, we feel that it will assist him in his Pylon Racing ambitions. Congratulation Austin and we look forward to seeing you at future events.
Season Championship
For 2 out of the 3 classes, the championship has finished for the 2014/2015 season.
FA1
Final Positions:
1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Barry Murphy
A big congratulations must go out to Daniel for clenching this championship at the age of 14 and only 3 years after coming long to his first pylon race armed with a Boomerang Trainer. This not only has happened as a result of a huge effort and commitment from Daniel but also by his caller and dad, Andrew and coaches and mentors, Barry and Beau Murphy.
Congratulations also goes out to Glenn Matthews for coming in 2nd place and also last year’s champion, Barry Murphy sneaking into 3rd place in the last event for the season.
F400
Final Positions:
1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Brian Steele
A big congratulations goes out to Andrew Davies for gaining the winning position at the last event for the season displacing last year’s winner, Glenn Matthews who has come in 2nd place and then Brian Steele has come in 3rd place.
Q500
This class has still got one more event to go before places will be confirmed. Current placings are:
1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – James Hurley
In actual fact, the winner can’t change as John Schmidli is 25 points ahead with a maximum of only 10 points available to the winner of the next race.
Between 6-11 July, 2015, there is the FAI F3D world championship being held in the Czech Republic. We wish all the Australian team and defending world champ, Chris Callow, all the best. In particular, our fellow VMPRA members, Beau Murphy and Caller Barry Murphy, Leigh Hocken and caller Vern Gibson and Junior representative, Daniel Arapakis and caller Andrew Arapakis. We wish you all the best.
Also we wish our Team New Zealand represents, Tom Wetherill and his caller Jim Orenshaw, all the best too.
To all supporters and family travelling over for the event, have a great trip and a good time at the world champs.
Next Event
As mentioned in the Season Championship section, we have a Q500 and Sports pylon race on at the Werribee Club Field on July 5, 2015. Hope to see many there and anybody keen to try pylon racing, you are welcome to come along with a sport or trainer plane.
After that, there is a full 3 class pylon race at the Marong field near Bendigo on August 1-2, 2015. This will be the 1st event for the new 2015/2016 championship season and there will also be our AGM on the Saturday night which is usually held at the caravan park. More details will be posted closer to then.
Event Report – John Schmidli and Andrew Arapakis
Photos – John Schmidli and Andrew Arapakis
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 perspective and reflects how I have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.
While you are waiting for the AMPRA Event Report which is still being worked on. Here’s a news paper article from the Bairnsdale Advertiser reporting on the AMPRA and F5D team selection event.
There has also been a Sports Pylon and Q500 event scheduled for September 13, 2015 at the Lilydale Field (LDMFA). This will be a great opportunity for those who would like to try pylon racing, are new to it or for experienced pilots just wanting to have fun. See Event Calendar >>>
Flying at Cohuna located near the Vic boarder close to Echuca and our famous Murray River yet again proved a fantastic event. All who participated had a ripper weekend enjoying great camaraderie, great hospitality by the host club, great racing and perfect weather.
Friday saw several modelers preparing and fine-tuning in perfect conditions and we all found it very hard to believe the weather forecast for the weekend was 20 & 21 degrees with light winds. Well the weather Gods rolled up and proved that Willy Weather was spot on the money!
Almost zero degrees at sunrise saw a few dusty pilots and callers after several beers and Shiraz at the local pub. Racing commenced around 10:00am with 4 rounds of F400 and John Schmidli’s maiden flight racing his new El Bandito in his infamous striking green artwork. Probably the most significant point noting here is that this new model was actually drawn up by John and I’m sure a very proud moment upon take off and also only a few seconds off the fastest times of the weekend.
Racing was tight and the usual dynamic duo of Brian Steele and Andrew Davies also commonly recognized as Laurel and Hardy, flying hard all morning producing great times. As usual the ever reliable Glenn and Gary flew great with Glenn posting the quickest time of the day with 68.86 seconds. Again John’s third flight was on the money and only a few seconds behind. Great to see George Angelov returning back to racing who will be picking up the pace over the coming events. Jimmy donated engine parts to Steeley who reportedly put a liner back in with a hammer and test flying till dark– on ya Brian!
Q500 was next with a variety of pilot experience. Again numbers were down as the regulars struggled to attend due to work commitments. Jimmy was in fine form posting the quickest time of the day of 97.60 seconds closely followed by John. Andrew posted his PB of 104.49 seconds and showed a few signs of some improvement after a grilling from Dannmann “pull it in Dad pull it in– where the hell are you going”.
Great to see Alan Swift at the event giving F5D a go, a few minor technical improvements will see Alan in the mix at AMPRA.
The club hosted a great BBQ lunch as always and a few pilots took the opportunity throughout the afternoon basking in the sun on the take off mats whilst waiting for take offs’ and landing by real size aircraft at the nearby aerodrome. Great to see James Hurley and his wonderful family visiting for a few hours as spectators enjoyed the great weather and flying!
F3D followed the lunch break with T-shirt’s on and light winds. With 6 pilots in the mix, the Minute Masters powered by the ever reliable Murphy combo of prop’s, set-up and tuning saw Daniel recording his PB and fastest time of the day of 58.96 seconds and Baz in second place. Dan has packed his favourite 3 models away for the WC but raced his number 4. Looks like the Murphy fuz and the Big Bruce wing are a great match! Lots of fun and friendly rivalry also reported on the line with Andrew D, Steeley and Baz all in fine form!
The day ended with a few cold beers followed by a great meal in the local pub.
Day 2, the sunrise was spectacular on the field and a great pic posted by John as the fresh scent of Kransky’s, rashes of bacon, eggs and toast drifted through a few lucky pit areas.
F400 kicked off the racing day in perfect weather conditions with Andrew Davies in the lead posting very consistent sub 70’s times. Glenn yet again flew the best time of the day of 66.85 seconds also recording the fastest time of the weekend. Unfortunately Gary lost his new model GR7 due to technical issues.
The F400 event ended with great racing all weekend as final results for the top 3 were only 2.5 seconds apart after 8 rounds. Subsequently Glenn holds a strong position in 1st place for the season championships with only one event remaining in the VMPRA calendar.
Q500 was up next with Jimmy and John posting great times in round 5. Round 6 saw Jimmy posting 95.51 seconds being the fastest time of the weekend then moving into a win. John cruised into second place with Andrew posting his PB in round 8 and holding onto a solid 3rd place.
After lunch saw F3D flying in great sunny conditions. Cohuna members and modelers alike clearly were enjoying the afternoon racing and all judges doing a fine job the whole weekend.
Unfortunately in round 5 and first heat of the afternoon both Glenn and Brian had a thumping mid air after flying around #1 destroying both models leaving only 4 pilots for the last 3 rounds. Baz propped up and pulled it in around one and recorded great times firming up second place for the weekend as Andrew stepped up the pace in his Dannmann Veyron. Daniel posted the best time of the day with 59.89 seconds on his last flight of the day and resulting in his first win in F3D.
The day concluded with presentation time and lots of fun had by all. Baz also had great words at the wrap up, with great wishes and fine words of encouragement for Dannmann as the journey, practice and preparations are all now paying off. Well done Baz as your 1st Class commitment to F3D and your contributions have produced 1st Class results! Dannmann responded with a heart felt smile thanking Uncle Baz for all his hard work done in the background to produce success. The VMPRA season champs are almost over for the year and now Daniel extends his F3D lead by 4 points with one more race to go at his favourite field!
Well done to all pilots, callers, members, helpers and to the famous Cohuna club who made the effort to attend, as the weekend was definitely one to remember!
Event Report Writer – Anonymous
ED – Thanks to Anonymous for a great event report. I’m always looking for additional help with reports, photos other items for addition to the website
FA1 So we are down to only 1 event left for FA1 for the 2014-2015 seasons championship which is to be a big event all round at Munro. No change in the order with the top 3 positions but Daniel has firmed up his position at the top with the only threat to him being Glenn only 4 points behind.
1 – Daniel Arapakis
2 – Glenn Matthews
3 – Andrew Davies
F400 – Results Again, no change at the top 3 positions but all of them have a mathematical chance of wining the F400 season championship with only the Munro AMPRA event to go.
1 – Glenn Matthews 2 – Andrew Davies
3 – Brian Steele
For Q500, there are still 2 more events to go being AMPRA at Munro and then a 1 day event at Werribee in July. John Schmidli is now 17 points ahead but both Tom Wetherill and Jim Orenshaw are still in the hunt. James Hurley has now dropped from 3rd to 4th position after missed a couple of events.
1 – John Schmidli 2 – Tom Wetherill
3 – Jim Orenshaw
It’s not long to go and it’s a big one with the next event being the AMPRA Champs and also an F5D World Championship selection event. It will also be the last time we’ll see some if not all of the F3D World Championship team before they head off to the Czech Republic for the F3D World Champs. So this will be the event to be at with what should be a good gathering of local and interstate flyers at the best field on our calendar. Andrew Arapakis will also be putting on one of his renowned feeds on the Saturday night at the field but numbers will be limited. An email will be going around to get numbers for this so stay tuned.
Event Report – Anonymous.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli
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 perspective and reflects how I have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.
It’s been a bit of a break but we are off to racing again in less than a weeks time. Back to one of our favorites, Cohuna.
This will be run to our usual format – F400, Q500 and FA1 will be run. We should get 8 rounds of each in and have a great weekends racing!
Also coming up is the AMPRA Championship to be held in Munro on the Queens birthday weekend (June 6th, 7th and 8th – if required) .
Not only is this our national championship for our usual classes of F400, Q500 & FA1, but is will be a team selection event for the next F5D world championships in 2016. For more information on this event, go to this link on the AMPRA website.
The annual VMPRA race was held at the Warrnambool Club’s field on the weekend of 28 – 29 March 2015. The event has been on the VMPRA calendar for well over a decade and the club has been very supportive of pylon racing.
Warrnambool is located on the Southern Ocean, and historically this has meant cool and windy conditions…and fast times. This year a storm front passed through the area on the Thursday prior to the event giving the area and the flying field a good watering. The weather then improved throughout the weekend.
Pilots that arrived on Friday were treated to sandwiches and tea/coffee and sweets – the hospitality was provided by Toni Axon. It was a very civilised way to start the weekend and there was plenty of time for practice flights. Late in the afternoon, Tom Jacobsen and the dedicated group from South Australia arrived. These guys are truly passionate about their pylon racing and they helped bolster the numbers as a number of the VMPRA regulars had family and business commitments.
Saturday dawned overcast and cold, with occasional rain showers. The course was set up and racing got underway by mid-morning. The schedule was to follow the usual VMPRA plan – VIC F400, Q500 Sport and FA1, with the target of completing eight rounds for each class. As usual VMPRA procedure, racing was over 10 ½ laps.
VIC F400 was first up and this class attracted eight entries. Four rounds were flown on Saturday and Shaun Jacobsen set the early pace, ending up with a best time of 64.88 for his DKT powered AR-6. Shaun was chased all the way, wing tip-to-wing-tip, by an inspired Jim Orenshaw. Jim had found a new prop that gave more speed and he finished the day with his best time of 65.51.
Four rounds of Q500 Sport was the next class to see action and this class attracted seven entries. John Schmidli set the early pace in the first round, however, he was not able to maintain consistency. John’s regular team-mate, James Hurley, had other commitments this weekend and Gary Davidson stepped in to help out. James York was debuting an impressive new Banshee and John Yanni also had a new model. David Axon had recruited Barry Murphy (apparently bribed by offers of sandwiches and tea) as a mentor and caller for the weekend – in the absence of Brian Steele. George Angelov was back in action as well with help from Gary. However, their efforts were in vain, as Tom Wetherill bagged some good scores in the 94 second range to finish ahead at the end of the day.
FA1 was the next class to be run and this class also attracted seven entries. Leigh Hocken, a member of the host club, member of the Australian F3D 2015 Team and local hero, set the pace on the first day with a string of 59 second times. His best time coming in Round 5 with a brand new model. At the end of the day, Tom Wetherill was second with best times in the 61 second range and Daniel Arapakis was third with a best time in the 62 second range.
On Sunday, the weather continues to clear and beanies were replaced with sun screen. The first event was to complete the final four rounds of VIC F400. Shaun Jacobsen continued to show the way and finished first overall with a score of 394.4. Another win for SA! Glenn Matthews finished second with a score of 421.2. He was followed 0.5 seconds behind by Jim Orenshaw. Cuts incurred during chasing Shaun caused him to drop back in the results. Times on Sunday were slower than the previous day.
The remaining four rounds of Q500 Sport were flown next. There was plenty of very close racing as well as some bumping and sharing paint in flight – fortunately no loss of models occurred. Although the times were also slightly slower than the prior day, Tom Wetherill finished in first place with a score of 578.9. John Schmidli was second with a score of 610.0 and James York, who had started to dial in his new model, finished third with a score of 668.8.
The last event for the weekend was to complete the final three rounds of FA1. Leigh ran a new model in preparation for the 2015 World Championships and blitzed the field with a best time of 57.44 for 10 ½ laps. He ended the weekend in first place with a score of 354.9. Daniel Arapakis stepped up the pace and posted a personal best of 59.2. He finished second with a score of 369.9. Tom Wetherill was third with a score of 377.6.
Attrition during the weekend was low overall. However, Gary Davidson bore the brunt of any misfortune. He had an impressive engine blow-up, creating a new ventilation system for his MB, as well as losing an F400 model.
In summary, a great weekend of racing and special thanks go out from VMPRA to the host Warrnambool club for use of their facilities, their hospitality and for their members who worked the course and served in the canteen. Thanks also to Glenn and Nerida Matthews for running the timing system, to Toni and David Axon for working as starters, and the VMPRA members who worked the course during the weekend when they were not racing.
Event Report – Tom Wetherill.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli and Tom Wetherill
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 perspective and reflects how I have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.
Importance notice for all Q500/Sports racers. The event scheduled for April 19 has had to be cancelled due to lack on helper number available at the club for that day.
AMPRA
The schedule for the AMPRA weekend on June 6, 7 and 8 to be held at Munro has been announced. Go to the Event Calendar for details.
This weekend we are going racing at Warrnambool so I look forward to seeing everybody there.
L-R: Tom Wetherill, Daniel Arapakis, Barry Murphy & Jim Orenshaw
The John Hughan Trophy event was held at Barry Murphy’s field in Munro, VIC on the weekend of 28 February – 1 March 2015. John was one of the founding members of VMPRA who had a great passion for pylon racing.
The dedicated pylon racing field was in excellent condition as usual. Many competitors arrived on Friday to set up camp and to get some practice. A number of friends of the competitors attended as well and helped out as course workers. This support was greatly appreciated as regulars David and Toni Axon were attending the Avalon Airshow and Nerida Matthews was recovering from the flu.
The program for the weekend was to run eight rounds of F400 VIC, Q500 Sport and Formula Australia One (FA1), with 4 rounds being flown each day. The FA1 rules allow use of both muffled and un-muffled pipes. As per usual VMPRA practice, racing was over 10 ½ laps of the FAI course.
Saturday dawned warm and clear and the temperature and humidity were expected to be high. After some test flying, the course was set up and racing got underway by mid-morning.
F400 VIC was the first event to be run and this class attracted a modest five entries. There was close racing, but times were not very fast due to the calm and muggy weather conditions. At the end of Saturday, Brian Steele was in first place and had posted the fastest time of 69.61 seconds. Brian held a nine second lead over Glenn Matthews, who was followed closely by Andrew Davies.
Q500 Sport was the next class to be run and this event attracted an impressive 10 entries. The entry list included two father-son teams – David and Caleb Chippindall and Gary and Alan Whitbourn. John Schmidli set the early pace with a time of 96.35, but at the end of four rounds he was in second place – 0.6 seconds behind Tom Wetherill. A bit further back, Andrew Arapakis posted a personal best time of 107.86. The Chippendall and Whitbourn families had their hands full running all their planes, but were enjoying the challenge.
In the afternoon FA1 was run and this class attracted nine entries. Some of the regulars were away due to family commitments and saving gear for the World Championships. The conditions were not conducive for fast times as the weather was hot, humid and there was no wind. After four rounds, Barry Murphy was in the lead – approximately four seconds clear of Glenn Matthews. Daniel Arapakis was 0.5 seconds behind in third and had posted the fastest time of 64.82.
The calm weather was interrupted during the night as a major storm front passed through the area – making an interesting time for the camping contingent. The following morning was cool and the gusty winds required that the course be reset before racing could begin.
The racing program was a repeat of the prior day, with F400 up first. Brian Steele continued his form and finished first with a score of 425.1. Glenn Matthews was second with a score of 436.2, closely followed by Andrew Davies with a score of 436.8.
In Q500, Tom Wetherill continued to post consistent times and finished first with a score of 587.7. The Q500’s were getting blown about in the wind and John Schmidli’s effort was compromised by two heats with cuts. He finished second with a score of 600.1. Jim Orenshaw was third with a score of 627.2. The family battles were won by David Chippindall and Alan Whitbourn, respectively.
The wind picked up throughout the day and the FA1’s seemed to run much better in these conditions. There was very exciting and close wing-tip to wing-tip racing. In the end host, Barry Murphy finished in first place with a score of 385.3. He was followed very closely by Daniel Arapakis in second place with a score of 385.9 – all the practice at this field for the upcoming World Championships was paying off. Glenn Matthews was a close third with a score of 387.0.
The times improved significantly over the prior day – with Barry Murphy posting the fast time of 60.89. Notable FA1 performances were also put in by Gary Davidson flying an Evo NXT and Andrew Davies flying the ex-Arapakis Veyron. The Veyron proved to be very competitive in its debut with Andrew at the helm, just edging Daniel for a 2nd faster time.
At the end of the day, the course was packed up and a prize-giving ceremony was held. VMPRA expresses its appreciation to Barry Murphy for making the field available and for hosting the competition. The VMPRA committee apologises for not having trophies available in time for handing out at this event.
As we start the 2nd half of the season championship, the following is how the top 3 positions sit.
FA1
Glenn Matthews remains in 1st place but Daniel Arapakis displaced Andrew Davies in 2nd place. Big mover, Barry Murphy jumped from 10th to 6th position with his win of this event.
1 – Glenn Matthews
2 – Daniel Arapakis
3 – Andrew Davies
F400 – Results
Similar movements in the order as for FA1, Andrew Davies remains in 1st position and Brian Steele displaced Glenn Matthews for 2nd place.
1 – Andrew Davies
2 – Brian Steele
3 – Glenn Matthews
Event Report – Tom Wetherill.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli and Andrew Arapakis
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 perspective and reflects how I have experienced this event. Photos published as feature images are selected purely for their quality, general interest or topicality. They are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others when time permits. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos that are supplied to me provided it is fair and reasonable.
