Event Report

VMPRA held its traditional mid-winter event at the Bendigo Radio Control Aircraft Club (BRCAC) in Marong on the weekend of 1 – 2 August 2015.  A number of competitors travelled on the Friday and checked out Rick Townsend’s new pylon field, which is located near-by in Newbridge.  They enjoyed fine but cold weather and all gave a “thumbs up” on the field as a future venue for competitions.

On Saturday morning everyone gathered at the BRCAC field, including the regular contingent of dedicated racers from South Australia.  The field was in excellent condition as the club had mowed it the week prior.  However, the weather was very cold and test flying could not start until the rain had cleared.

Racing finally got underway in the late morning.  F400 has proven to be a very popular class – there were 11 entries and five rounds were flown (10 ½ laps).  Shaun Jacobsen set the pace with a fast time of 68.68 and he finished in first place with a score of 280.5.  Brian Steele finished second with a score of 284.9and Glenn Matthews was third with a score of 292.6.

Q500 Sport was the next class to be run and there were six entries.  It was decided to run 6 rounds and to postpone FA1 until the following day, with the hope for better weather.  John Schmidli and Jim Orenshaw had a number of close races.  Andrew Arapakis was also showing good form by reducing his times significantly.  James York and John Yianni from SA were chasing hard and Matt Young’s hopes came to an end when his engine parted way with the fuselage in flight.

Saturday evening involved getting a hot dinner at the local hotel, followed by the VMPRA Annual General Meeting.

Sunday morning dawned very cold -4 degrees – but clear, so a further two rounds of Q500 Sport was flown.  John and Jim had a very specular mid-air in Round 7, and they both pulled out their back-up models so they could continue to do battle.  After eight rounds, John was in first place with a score of 621.9and Jim was second with a score of 627 and fast time of 95.97.  Andrew Arapakis finished in third with a score of 645.5 and a personal best time of 105.64.

There were eight entries in FA1 and racing got underway later in the morning.  Conditions were still very cold and the wind had picked up – making conditions challenging for both competitors (toget their engines running) and for the course workers (to stay warm).  Six rounds were flown before it was decided to call it a day.  Daniel Arapakis flew very consistently and finished in first place with a score of 322.5.  Tom Wetherill finished second with a score of 467.1 – getting an extra couple of 200’s due to a broken pipe.  Tom Jacobsen was third with a score of 474.0 and Ranjit Phelan posted the fastest time for the event with a 63.16.  Glenn and Brian both found the same airspace in Round 5, resulting in another spectacular mid-air.

Certificates were handed out to the place getters at the end of the day and the BRCAC club and its members were thanked for their hospitality, for helping out working the course and for the hot food that was served up throughout the weekend.  VMPRA also expressed its thanks to the SA group for travelling and supporting the event.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Next Event

The next event is back at what is quickly becoming the home of pylon racing in Victoria, Barry Murphy’s field at Munro on August 29-30, 2015. And the great news is that Andrew Arapakis has offered to put on his superb spit roast dinner. So, make sure your planes and gear is sorted for what promises to be a good week end.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Web Editing  – 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.

VMPRA returned to the Bendigo Radio Control Aircraft Club (BRCAC) for the annual pylon event that was held at the club’s field in Marong, Victoria on the weekend of 5 – 6 July 2014.  This is a very popular event on the VMPRA calendar for many reasons. The club and field are great, the accommodation is very close to the field and the local hotel serves up excellent food, which is very important for getting some extra insulation on the cold winter nights.

While weather can be a factor at this time or year, competitors enjoyed very good overall conditions during practice on Friday and over racing during the weekend. The racing program included Q500 Sport, VIC F400 and FA1, with the objective of flying as many rounds in each class as possible. Per usual VMPRA practice, racing was held over 10 ½ laps to reduce the requirements for the number of course workers.

Friday practice was a somewhat leisurely affair as the weather was good, except for a brief rain shower, and there was plenty of opportunity to get in flights. The field was in excellent condition – and special thanks go out to Rick Townsend spending nine hours with his lawn mower.
Regular competitors came from Victoria and New South Wales as well as a large contingent of racers arrived from South Australia.  The host Bendigo club was also well represented with a good number of entries.

Racing got underway on Saturday morning with four founds of VIC F400. There was an impressive 17 entries in this class and it immediately became clear that if Shaun Jacobsen could tame his new DKT powered AR-6, that he would be putting in some good times. Brian Steele had also pried open his wallet and purchased a new Nelson.

By the end of Round 4 he had posted an impressive time of 64.76 seconds, just short of a 64.6 that was posted by Glenn Matthews with his Nelson powered Supercat. Daniel Arapakis and Ranjit Phelan were also fast with times 65 second times.

Next up was Q500 Sport, and this class attracted 13 entries. John Schmidli and Barry Townsend were debuting impressive new Banshee models. Daniel Arapakis “unretired” himself from Q500, as he was saving his FA1 models for the next Team Trial. Three rounds were flown and James Hurley posted the fastest time with a 101.03.  Behind him there were many close races.  John and Barry were still coming to grips with their new models.

After a brief break, four rounds of FA1 were flown.  This class attracted nine entries, including Rick Townsend’s new Veyron and Glenn Matthews new VooDoo.  After four rounds, Rick was about 2 seconds ahead of Tom Wetherill, with Bryan Steele in third.  Ranjit Phelan had posted the fastest time with a 60.69.

On Saturday evening, most of the competitors met at the Marong Family Hotel for dinner. This was followed by the VMPRA Annual General Meeting, which was held at the caravan park.

Plans for an early start on Sunday morning were thwarted by fog, which did not clear until mid-morning.  As a result, the target was re-set at completing seven rounds for each class.

First up was Q500 Sport and times were improving significantly. In the end, James Hurley was in first place with a score of 612.6, Daniel Arapakis was second with a score of 703.4 and John Schmidli was third with a score of 726.6.  Tom Wetherill had a score of 606.7, but opted to let the class regulars take the placings.  Daniel Arapakis had the fastest time with a 93.95.

The next task was to complete the remaining three rounds of VIC F400 and the pace also improved from the Saturday.  In the end, Ranjit Phelan was in first place with a score of 392.3 and the fast time of 62.92…not far behind the pace of the faster FA1’s.  Shaun Jacobsen was second with a score of 401.8 and Brian Steele was third with a score of 416.1.

The final class to be flown was FA1 and three additional rounds were completed.  Conditions had changed from the prior day and a few 200’s were showing upon the scoreboard.  Late in the afternoon the position of the sun became problematic, so starter Mick Kellett would wait for cloud cover to appear before starting the final few heats.

After the seven rounds were completed, Brian Steele was in first place with a score of 391.0, Tom Wetherill was second with a score of 524.6 and Glenn Matthews was third with a score of 526.5.  Ranjit Phelan posted the fastest time with a 60.11. Rick Townsend detonated an engine in spectacular fashion.

At the end of the day the awards were handed out to the place getters.  VMPRA and the competitors expressed their thanks to the Bendigo club for hosting VMPRA and supplying hot food and drinks, to Rick Townsend for preparing the field, to the people who had worked the course in the cold conditions and to the group from South Australia that had travelled to compete.  Tom Jacobson is the ring leader for the SA group and their presence and camaraderie really enhanced the event.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

FA1

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

Fastest Time: 60.11 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap

F400

Places:
1st Ranjit Phelan
2nd Shaun Jacobsen
3rd Brian Steele

Fastest Time: 62.92 – Ranjit Phelan
No. of competitors: 14
Course – 10.5 Lap

Q500

Places:
1st James Hurley
2nd Daniel Arapakis
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time: 93.95 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 13
Course – 10.5 Lap

Check out the full results>>>

2014-2015 Season Championship

This was the first event for the new season championship for 2014-2015 and this is how the positions sit.

FA1

1 – Brian Steele
2 – Tom Wetherill
3 – Glenn Matthews

F400

1 – Ranjit Phelan
2 – Shaun Jacobsen
3 – Brian Steele

Q500

1 – Tom Wetherill
2 – James Hurley
3 – Daniel Arapakis

It’s early days for the championship and everybody has a chance to be in the mix for the championship. All you have to do is go racing.

Full Championship Results>>>

Next Events

The next event is the Victorian State Championships being held on August 2-3, at the fantastic pylon racing field of Barry Murphy’s. Not only is this the State Champs, but it is also another of the F3D 2015 World Championship team trials, so there will be some hotly contested racing in F3D. We will also be flying the 10 lap course and obviously, F3D will take priority due to the importance of this result to selecting the next Australian team. As this is a private field, If you would like to attend this event and don’t know the location, please contact a member of committee for directions. See you all there.

Check Event Calender >>>

Event Report: Tom Wetherill
Additional Post items & photos: John Schmidli