I was approaching this event with some trepidation due to the weather forecast which turned out to be justified to some degree. With the start of Spring only around the corner, wet condition had been experienced leading up to this event down at Barry Murphy’s purpose built pylon racing field at Munro.
Turning up on the Friday as many did, there was a lot of standing water lying around the site making water proof shoes or gum boots essential. Some practice flying was possible during dry spells on the Friday.
Saturday morning came and conditions were very grey and windy with predictions of the wind increasing during the morning. Regardless, we went about setting up the pylon racing equipment so we could get racing started.
The first class to be racing was F400 with an unusually small number on competitor for this typically very popular class. Only 2 rounds were flown before the wind became just too strong causing excessive turbulence from the surrounding trees. Jim Orenshaw became a victim to the conditions with his plane being forced into the ground going around pylon 3.
Everybody hung around the field for the rest of the day waiting to see if conditions would improve but no further racing took place. A fare bit of time was spent standing around fires chatting and supervising the dinner being cooked. I noticed that Jim managed to hang around the spit roast all afternoon taking the odd taste test!
That night we had another excellently cooked spit-roast meal prepared by Andrew Arapakis and afterwards, we had a beautiful desert prepared by Nerida Matthews. Thanks to Andrew and Nerida for a great dinner.
Sunday morning greeted up with perfect condition with blue skies and still conditions the event was on in earnest.
F400 was up again flying only another 2 rounds.
Q500 was up next with a view to flying 5 rounds. We had 7 competitors with the notable inclusion of a past pylon racing identity, Tom Prossor. Austin Omman was making his 2nd pylon racing appearance and father and son team Gary and Alan Whitbounre were racing also. I’m pleased to say racing was good and clean and Jim and I avoided any coming together by calling for each other.
The 5 rounds on Q500 were completed fairly promptly as we left the fuel out on the racing line and we didn’t need to walking back to the pits between races.
Next up was the premier class, FA1 with 5 rounds to be completed also. There was some pretty exciting racing, particularly between Barry Murphy and Leigh Hocken. Brian Steele tried burying his model, adding to Jim’s hole in the field from the previous day. It was also good to see Frank Cassella back flying at this event.
Once racing was finish, the course was packed up and the delicate task of making sure the various caravans could be extracted and placed on solid grounds was undertaken. Certificates were then presented and we all headed off home.
Although it was a challenging weekend, I think the racing on Sunday made it all worthwhile. Thanks again to Barry Murphy for providing this superb locations, Nerida and Glenn Matthews for running the event so well and Toni Axon for starting all weekend.
There was new fastest times in for FA1 & F400 at Munro. Well done Leigh and Frank.
FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38
F400 – Frank Cassella – 67.25
Q500 – Jim Orenshaw – 95.97
Next Event
This Sunday (September 13) there is a Sports/Q500 race at LDMFA. This is not a championship event but should be fun and another good chance for newbies to be introduced to pylon racing.
Our next full weekend event is the VIC State Championships at Hamilton to be held on October 24-25, 2015.
Event Report – John Schmidli
Photos – Lydia and Andrew Arapakis and 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.
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.
The last VMPRA event for this calendar year was held at Munro (near Bairnsdale) at Barry Murphy’s superb, purpose built, pylon racing field. We usually get a good turn-out for events at this venue but as usual only the weather can put a dampener on it. Well, this was literally the problem. Showers on Saturday & Sunday stopping racing briefly until rain settled in on the Sunday afternoon bring the event to another early ending. It has been a bit of an ongoing theme this year.
Despite this there was some good racing to be had. Saturday morning was started with 4 rounds of F400 followed by 4 rounds of Q500 and then 4 rounds of FA1. Sunday started with 3 more rounds of FA1 and then we only managed 1 round of Q500 before the rain settled in.
It was great to see James York from South Australia and Ranjit Phelan from NSW at Munro. Although Ranjit does this fairly regularly, it’s great that these guys travelled such long distances to go pylon racing. Such is the passion we have for this facet of the hobby.
Results
F400
With little over a second between Andrew Davies & Tom Wetherill, it was a close result from 1st to 2nd places.
Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Glenn Matthews
Fastest Time: 66.91 – Tom Wetherill
No. of competitors – 8
Course – 10.5 Lap
Q500
Daniel was back in fine form with a convincing win in Q500. It was unfortunate that Matt Young broke his plane on the 1st race of the week end and spent the good part of the Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning rebuilding his plane only to have the rounds cut short by the weather so he didn’t fly again for the event. It was good to see Matt back racing and now he’s got a license and a car, we hope to see him more often. James York, also had a plane wrecked in the 1st round but luckily flew his backup plane for the rest of the week end.
Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Mike Kellet
3rd Tom Wetherill
Fastest Time: 92.67 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors – 10
Course – 10.5 Lap
FA1
Daniel Arapakis and his very proud father, Andrew
It was good to see Ranjit back down in VIC and he was in fine form taking first place. The story of the week end for our premier class was Daniel Arapakis’s first ever race in FA1. He didn’t just get up there and fly around way off the course. He was attaching right from the start, not only giving Gary Davidson and Jim Orenshaw a good run for their money but beat them with a time of 67.47. Unfortunately this enthusiastic approach to his racing saw a mid-air between him and Gary later in the event. There was also a mid-air between Vern Gibson and Tom Wetherill.
Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Andrew Davies
Fastest Time: 58.93 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors – 11
Course – 10.5 Lap
Barry Murphy increased his lead from 9 to 13 points with Brian Steele and Glenn Matthews remaining in 2nd & 3rd place respectively.
F400
Gary Davidson remained in 3rd place while Andrew Davies moved ahead of Glenn Matthews into 1st position.
Q500
There was no change in positions with myself (John Schmidli) in 1st, Daniel Arapakis in 2nd and Jim Orenshaw in 3rd place, but Daniel has eaten substantially into my lead.
There is no other VMPRA events for the rest of the year with the first one being at Camperdown on 1st and 2nd of February (2014).
In the meantime, there is the MAAA Nationals on at Albury/ Wodonga on December 28-30, 2013. Don’t forget to fill in an entry form if you going to fly at the Nats.
Check out the Event Calender for these events and all the new event entries for next year. Make sure you put them in your diary so you don’t miss any of the action.
I won’t be at the Nats so if anybody would like to do a report and/or photos for the Nationals, I’ll put then on this site. So wishing you all a great Christmas and here’s to some more fun racing next year.
John Schmidli (Report & Photos)
The written content in this post is accurate to the best of my 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.
Back on the weekend of March 23-24, the VMPRA held an event down at Bazza’s Paddock. For those who are unfamiliar with this venue, the field is near Munro between Bairnesdale and Stratford in Gippsland (Victoria, Australia). This field is a private, purpose-built pylon racing course developed by Barry Murphy. It is always a brilliant place to hold an event.
After the recent hot weather, it was nice to have milder conditions. Each day started off still, but the wind picked up during the mornings. Unfortunately on the Sunday, it was decided that FA1 wouldn’t fly as the wind had become too strong to continue racing. As a result, only 5 rounds of FA1 were flown for the weekend.
There was a lot more carnage than at recent events, with planes lost by Rick Townsend, Andrew Davies, Matt Young and James Hurley. James and Matt found themselves out of planes by lunch time on Saturday. Bad luck for both of them but especially for Matt, who had traveled down by train from Bendigo with his planes, gear and camping equipment which was a really big effort! It was also good to have him flying Q500 as well as FA1.
Beau & Barry Murphy with their "Hall of Fame" awards
During our lunch break on the Saturday, we had a visit from some VMAA & MAAA committee members. They presented the VMAA ‘Hall of Fame’ to Beau and Barry Murphy for their 2nd place at the F3D world championships back in 2011. It was great that the presentation could be made during this event and congratulations to Beau and Barry. Well done and we’ll be looking forward to hearing how you go at the world champs in Holland later this year.
FA1
1st Place Barry Murphy
2nd Place Tom Wetherill
3rd Place Glenn Matthews
F400
1st Place Tom Wetherill
2nd Place Gary Davidson
3rd Place Glenn Matthews
Q500
1st Place John Schmidli
2nd Place Daniel Arapakis
3rd Place Ian Rickard
Championship
The championship is now getting close to the end with only 2 FA1, F400 and 3 Q500 events left for this season.
For FA1 there was no change with the top 3 still being Tom Wetherill, Beau Murphy & Glenn Matthews respectively. Tom has increase his lead considerably as Beau had an uncharacteristically bad run on Saturday.
F400 saw a swapping of positions between flying partners Tom Wetherill and Jim Orenshaw. Tom has leaped to the top and Jim has moved down to 2nd place. Andrew Davies has now moved up to 3rd place.
There is a tight battle at the top with myself (John Schmidli) moving back to 1st place with James Hurley in 2nd Place although both on equal points. Positions have been decided based on total times. Daniel Arapakis maintains his 3rd position.
We have a couple of events lined up for March. First off is on March 10 at Bacchus Marsh club for a Q500 & EF1 racing day. So it’ll be a good chance to brush off the Q500 models and come along for a day of close racing. Even bring along a friend and introduce them to the excitement of pylon racing.
On March 23-24, we are off to Bazza’s paddock for a weekend of Q500, F400 & FA1 racing. We’ll be following the usual format of Q500 & F400 in the morning or there abouts and FA1 in the afternoons. It seem ages since Camperdown, so it’ll be good to catch up and enjoy some racing again.
The LDMFA ran the 50 lap endurance race during February and there is a report on the LDMFA site if you are interested finding out more.
Lastly, there has been a video posted on the web of the “Basin Q40 Classic” race in the USA that is really well produced and worth a watch.
Victorian pylon racing started in earnest for 2013 on the first weekend of February with a 2 day event at Camperdown, situated in the western districts of Victoria. The Corangamite Model Aircraft Club is located at the Camperdown race course where they utilize the centre field of the course for r/c aeromodelling.
Events at this time of the year can be a rather hot affair. Luckily this year we experienced mild conditions with both days in the low 20s, partly cloudy and only one rain shower that stopped racing for a short time on the Sunday.
Gary Davidson & Toni Axon
This event consisted of our usual 3 classes of Q500, F400 and FA1 (AUST F3D) and we were able to run 9 rounds of each class over the 2 days. It worked out quite well with roughly half the rounds of each class on Saturday and the balance on Sunday.
The racing was a very clean affair with not one plane destroyed in a mid-air or ground impact. It is a testament to the skills of all when there were at times, some very close racing whilst avoiding planes tangling in the air. There were only a few under-cart repairs required due to the rather hard/dry ground. We were all pleased to have Gary Davidson back racing with us after his accident late last year.
F1A
The Murphy’s were again in fine form with Beau in particular who is preparing for the World Champs later this year, coming in 1st place. Barry came 2nd & Tom Wetherill in 3rd place.
F400
Terry O’Connor came 1st, Tom Wetherill 2nd and myself (John Schmidli) in 3rd place although a long way off the pace.
Q500
This was a bit of an upset (well at least for James Hurley and myself)! Daniel Arapakis in only his 3rd Q500 race (and before that a couple of races with a trainer), gained 1st place with some very quick times. James clawed his way back and finished less than 3 seconds away from Daniel in 2nd place. I (John Schmidli) came 3rd place.
Daniel Arapakis & Beau Murphy
Congratulations to Daniel. If you look at his past average times, you can see a large improvement each time. Nearly all his times were under 100 seconds and his best was 93.96 seconds. His acceptance speech was very amusing, referring to all who have helped him to date as uncles (ie Uncle Beau – his caller, Uncle Barry etc).
At the age of 12, Daniel’s path into pylon racing is a great example of how you can take up the sport beginning with simply having a go on some sports pylon races with a trainer (or similar) then getting into it a bit more seriously with the Q500 class. The Q500 class is a very affordable way to start racing and can be every bit as exciting as the faster classes. He has a great amount of support from his father but has also made friends with many of our experienced members who are very happy to give advice and guide him in the right direction.
Championship
At last count we only have three more races for F1A and F400 and five for Q500 in this 2012-2013 season.
FA1 – There has been no change with the top 3 although Beau Murphy in 2nd place is closing the gap on Tom Wetherill at the top. Glenn Matthews is still in 3rd.
F400 – Jim Orenshaw maintains the top position but now in 2nd is Tom Wetherill and 3rd is myself (John Schmidli).
Q500 sees the top 2 still being James Hurley and me (John Schmidli) respectively but Daniel Arapakis has moved up to 3rd place.
Next Event
Our next 3-class event is back at Bazza’s paddock in Munro on March 23-24.
Before that, there is a Q500/EF-1 and Sports event at Baccus Marsh on March 10.
Although not an official VMPRA event, we are all welcome to participate in a 50 Lap Endurance race at Lilydale (LDMFA) on Feb 17. Classes will be Q500 and Sports.
Anybody interested in taking up pylon racing is encouraged to come to the Bacchus Marsh or Lilydale events. Introduce yourself and give it a go!
The team selection has now been finalized. After some confusion as to the team line-up, Chris Callow elected to participate as the returning world champion which made room for Tyler Mees to take up the final position on the team.
Mees & Murphys
The team is made up of Beau Murphy, Ranjit Phelan & Tyler Mees. There is now a chance that Matt Young will be going as a junior team member pending raising funds and all the boxes being ticked with AMPRA & MAAA. Not sure where this is at but there is a Facebook page setup dedicated to raising funds for Matt to attend the World Champs. HELP MATT GET TO THE 2013 F3D PYLON WORLD CHAMPS
The final results for selection events are below:
Name
AMPRA
QLD champs
Cohuna trial
VIC champs
Final result
Chris Callow
56.85
56.72
56.78
Leigh Hocken
60.28
62.44 drop
59.92
60.1
Ranjit Phelan
61.54 drop
59.64
57.65
58.64
Frank Cassella
63.41
62.58
63.44 drop
62.99
Barry Murphy
63.47
140.51
Tyler Mees
65.28 drop
60.42
59.51
59.96
Beau Murphy
80.9 drop
60.32
57.81
59.06
Rick Townsend
63.5
63.2
63.35
Next event
Bazza's padock - After the F3D action, out comes so more fast toys
The next event is upon us. Down at Bazza’s padock at Munro on November 24-25. All 3 classes are being run. Q500 & F400 in the mornings and FA1 in the afternoons. So make sure all you gear is ready and you’ve got accommodation sorted. Lets have a great last weekend of racing before the Christmas/Summer break.
Events for Feb 213
So far there is only the Feb event confirmed for next year which is Camperdown on Feb 2-3, 2013 which is quite early in the year. Keep checking the calender as events will be added as they become confirmed.
50 Lap Endurance
Not a VMPRA event but worth considering is a 50 lap endurance race to be held at the Lilydale Club (LDMFA) which is being run on Feb 17, 2012. This event is open to all solo qualified pilots.
There is going to be both a Q500 c& sports class which pretty much allows for everything else. We had a great time last year, so all you budding pylon pilots, Q500 flyers or even experts, come along and have a great day of flying.
It’s time to start preparing for our next event which is down at Munro at Bazza’a Padock on the week end of August 11-12, 2012. If you haven’t raced down there before, it’s a fantastic field and purpose built for pylon racing. I encourage you to come down to compete, especially if you are flying Q500. So sort out where you’re staying, Stratford is the closest accommodation with a Motel and Caravan Park. If you don’t know where the field it, as it is a private field, contact a member of the committee for details.
Bendigo 2012 place getter's
Our last event at Bendigo went really well and the weather was kind to us this time. There are more photo from the event now on the gallery page courtesy of Bill Matthews from the BRCAC club.
Calender Update
If you check our calender you’ll notice that the classes and schedule hav been updated for the Cohuna event in September. The priority is F3D as this is one of the selection evens for the next World Championships in 2013. This important event could see some competitor coming from interstate. Once F3D has run 9 rounds, then F400 will run 9 rounds. There will not be any Q500 run this week end.
Everybody hung around the field for the rest of the day waiting to see if conditions would improve but no further racing took place. A fare bit of time was spent standing around fires chatting and supervising the dinner being cooked. I noticed that Jim managed to hang around the spit roast all afternoon taking the odd taste test!
F400 was up again flying only another 2 rounds.
The 5 rounds on Q500 were completed fairly promptly as we left the fuel out on the racing line and we didn’t need to walking back to the pits between races.
Once racing was finish, the course was packed up and the delicate task of making sure the various caravans could be extracted and placed on solid grounds was undertaken. Certificates were then presented and we all headed off home.
