Our next full 3 class event is at Bendigo (Marong) on July 30-31, 2016. On the Saturday night (July 30, 2016) we plan to run our Annual General Meeting.
If you haven’t received an email, Subject “VMPRA notice of AGM”, Please contact me via the secretary email address.
Despite gale force winds throughout the week in Victoria, our QLD friends from A1 Composites arrived safely at Munro. Yet again the field was immaculately prepared and ready for racing.
A dozen campers and pilots arrived on Friday for testing and preparations for the event which would be the last one for the F3D and F400 Annual Season Championship fly-off. With another field upgrade of a roaring pot belly heater, this proved to be a ripper particularly during the very popular evening festivities of the famous Saturday night dinner.
James Hurley and his F400 model recording a PB on the weekend
Saturday’s forecast was perfect with 24 degrees and light Westerly winds. Formular 400 kicked off with a field of 11 pilots with a variety of models flown. There was carnage between Brian Steele and Jimmy Orenshaw with a spectacular mid-air collision which obliterated both models. James Hurley focusing on one class this weekend which saw his personal best of 71.64 seconds being recorded in round 5 with a big smile returning to the pits pipping his team mate John Schmidli for 4th place. Great to see Andrew Davies back into the groove with sub 70 times on the Sunday finishing in a solid 3rd position for the weekend. Murphy owned Miss Dara’s designed by the world famous Dane Kane, took out 1st and 2nd places powered by a Nelson flown by Beau and Barry respectively. Fastest time was recorded by Beau with a 64.88 seconds. Well done to all pilots for the weekend.
Recent additions to the pylon fraternity, Father and son team, Gavin and Cameron Sexton
The entry pylon class – Quickie 500, took to the sky’s with 12 pilots from ages 12 to 80 years old. Veteran Tom Prosser again flew his immaculately scratch built model and was very impressive all weekend and an absolute pleasure to chat with regarding a life time of great stories and competitions. Saturday saw 3 rounds completed and young Cameron Sexton debut in this class with an Angelov model. His best time for this weekend was 124.96 seconds. Well done Cam!
As the event rolled on, the 1st & 2nd podium positions battle went on between Tom Allen and plane builder, Steve Taylor who was visiting Munro for the very first time and flying his flagship Q500 model, the Banshee with a uniquely yellow colour scheme. Some would say the stripes resembled a pineapple. Well done guys. Steve nudging 1st place, Tom Allen in 2nd and the very reliable John Schmidli in 3rd place. Weather did turn fierce with 30+ knot winds for the last 3 rounds and well done to all quickie pilots!
Beau Murphy and Daniel Arapakis and their Minute Master F3D pylon racers.
F3D event was piloted by 7 entrants. Saturday saw Beau Murphy in the 50’s and Dannmann closely behind him. Baz Murphy was tackled by dead-air while tail-gating Glenn Matthews which caused the destruction of his Minute Master after plowing into terra firma in round 1. Unfortunately only 3 rounds were completed on Saturday and flying on Sunday afternoon was cancelled due to strong winds. The best time was recorded by Beau with a 59.36 seconds. With AMPRA just around the corner, the Victorian pilots are in great shape for the first round of the 2017 world championship team trials.
Check out the event photo gallery>>>
Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Daniel Arapakis
3rd Brian Steele
Fastest Time: 59.36 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 7
Class – F400
Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Andrew Davies
Fastest Time: 64.88 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 11
Class – Q500
Places:
1st Steve Taylor
2nd Tom Allen
3rd John Schmidli
Fastest Time: 95.62 – Tom Allen
No. of competitors: 12
This was the last event for the 2015-2016 Season Championship for FA1 & F400.
Q500 has one more event to run which is on July 3 at Werribee. Trophies for 1st place for each class will be presented at the AGM at the Bendigo event.
The following is how the season championship wrapped up for FA1 & F400 and how Q500 currently stands.
1st – Daniel Arapakis – Winner
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Glenn Matthews
Congratulations to Daniel for an extremely strong year of racing.
1st – Brian Steele –
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Shaun Jacobsen
Congratulations to Brian for what was also a very strong year of racing.
1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Andrew Arapakis
For Q500, again there was no change for the top 3 positions but John Schmidli is back in with a mathamatical chance to knock Jim off the top at the last event in Werribee.
Check Out Season Championship >>>
There was no new fastest times recorded at this event. A huge congratulation goes out to Leigh Hocken for taking out the fastest times for the year in both FA1 & F400.
FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38
F400 – Leigh Hocken – 61.75
Q500 – Daniel Arapakis – 89.59
AMPRA is being held on the Queen’s Birthday weekend (June 11-13, 2016) up at Coolum “Sunshine Model Flyers” in QLD. This is the 1st of the 2017 WC Team Trials. Good luck to all the VMPRA members attending this event.
For the VMPRA, the next event is a Sports/Q500 1 day event being held at Werribee on July 3. A great opportunity to have some fun racing. Bring a Q500 or Sports model along.
Check Out Complete Calendar >>>
Event Report – Anonymous
Additional information: John Schmidli
Photos – Lydia Arapakis & 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/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. 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.
Quick ReferenceEvent Result |
Warrnambool located on the south-western Coast of Victoria and at the western end of the Great Ocean road, is world famous for it’s spectacular oceanic coastal views. Home club to the Hocken family, Koroit is a humble club amongst farm land with great facilities and very well maintained grounds.
As usual Friday arrivals consisted of pilots and teams travelling from afar and were greeted with perfect Autumn conditions of mid 20’s and light winds.
The usual campers of Axons, Steeley’s, Murphy, Arapakis’ settling in for the afternoon and evening grazing with spits roasting and beers flowing. Well into the evening, festivities continued with perfect star filled night skies. In the morning, we woke up to misty rain and cold winds.
The field of competitors for Formula 400
Flying didn’t start until late morning due to the wet weather conditions. The usual race format of F400, Q500 followed by F3D was to be flown.
A field of 11 F400 pilots challenged the sky’s with Shaun Jacobsen in fine form with opening rounds in the 60’s putting loads of pressure on the rest of the field. Great to see the South Aussies at the event with 4 pilots flying in this class. Brian (Iron-man) Steele finished with the most cuts for the weekend which is certainly uncharacteristic and Leigh Hocken recording the fastest time of 64.95 seconds. Nevertheless Ranjit Phelan and Baz Murphy finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively after 1st place getter, Shaun Jacobsen. Well done to all pilots.
- Long time pylon racing friends, Jim Orenshaw and Gary Davidson (LtoR) with Gary's El Bandito F400 model.
Q500 always slated for a few laughs and a bit of sledging on the start line saw some brilliant flying and sub 100 seconds times by the three top place getters. A mix of experience and newer pilots to the racing scene challenged each other with each pilot flying at their best.
Jimmy (Tiger) Orenshaw taking out 1st place again, now in a really good position for the season championship just nudged in front of Tom Allen who came 2nd with Jarrod Jacobsen finishing 3rd dueling Dannmann’s Dad (Andrew Arapakis)for the weekend.
Local lad and winner of F3D class - Leigh Hocken and his VooDoo pylon racer.
F3D with a 10 pilot entry was great to watch. The first up race was with good mates Shaun Jacobsen and Dannmann. Shaun opening up with a personal best, WELL DONE Shauny! Dannmann having looked forward to this weekend, unfortunately hit #2 pilot on his 3rd race with uncharacteristic model issues which saw him finish well down for the weekend. Leigh flew a brilliant race with his average for the event of 60 seconds and Shaun finishing 2nd in his second ever F3D race. He flew very consistently and was closely followed by a veteran of pylon, Baz Murphy, having got all his times in.
With only one event to go at Munro before the great race at AMPRA which is being held at Coolum QLD. This will be the first event for the team selection trial for the 2017 F3D World Championships to be held in Sweden. Good luck to all pilots!
Check out the event photo gallery>>>
Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Shaun Jacobsen
3rd Barry Murphy
Fastest Time: 58.97 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 10
Class – F400
Places:
1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Ranjit Phelan
3rd Barry Murphy
Fastest Time: 64.95 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 11
Class – Q500
Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd Tom Allen
3rd Jarrod Jacobsen
Fastest Time: 95.87 – Mike Kellet
No. of competitors: 6
The following is how the season championship stands currently.
1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Leigh Hocken
No change for the top two positions, but Leigh Hocken has moved up to 3rd position, displacing Glenn Matthews.
1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Shaun Jacobsen
No change for the top two positions, but Shaun Jacobsen has moved up to 3rd position, displacing Jim Orenshaw.
1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Andrew Arapakis
For Q500, again there was no change for the top 3 positions.
Check Out Season Championship >>>
There was no new fastest time recorded at the Warnambool event
FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38
F400 – Leigh Hocken – 61.75
Q500 – Daniel Arapakis – 89.59
Event Report – Anonymous
Additional information: John Schmidli
Photos – Andrew Arapakis & Tom Allen
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. 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.
Quick ReferenceEvent Result |
