Camperdown is an agricultural centre located on the world’s third largest volcanic plain and is surrounded by large salt and fresh water lakes. For the slope sourers among us, volcanic peaks such as Mount Leura and the ripper spot at the end of the Lakes and Craters Caravan Park also have fantastic views of the lakes in this region.

Setup on the Saturday morning, with hot weather predicted, There was plenty of Gazebos to make the pit area nice and shady.

Located within the Camperdown Race Course, the CMAC President Foster Taylor’s hand shake warmly welcomed all competitors to the traditionally hot weekend and also the first race meet of the 2016.

Friday saw many competitors arriving in the early afternoon to set up shade and test fly their pride and joys. Customary to recent meets, the line up for the weekend would be F400 starting each morning followed by Q500 then the missile class FA1 (F3D).

The Jacobsen family from South Australia, Jarrod, Tom & Shaun holding their AR-6 F400 racers and on the ground, a VooDoo and Dominator F3D models.

Competitors attending the Victorian Miniature Pylon Racing Association (VMPRA)  Trophy, showed up in good numbers from far-a-field with some pilots coming from as far away as South Australia, Sydney and Bairnesdale having travelling many hours to compete. With a staggering line up of world class competitors, there was 12 pilots in F3D, 15 in F400 and 12 in Q500.

Saturday temperatures were forecast to peak in the mid 30’s which is a challenge to all competitors. Beers where put on ice ready for the end of the days racing.

Leigh Hocken with his Super Cat racer which recorded a fastest time for F400 on the weekend of 61.75 seconds

F400 was hotly contested with Leigh Hocken’s first round setting the fastest time recorded in this class for the weekend of 61.75 seconds which is a time that most F3D pilots would be proud of. The battle continued with great racing from the Jacobsens with the final results being the ever consistent Shaun Jacobsen taking out first place by 0.3 seconds with his rocket red AR-6. Leigh Hocken can in 2nd place and Jarrod Jacobsen took 3rd place. This class is always exciting to watch as the out of the box equipment is ever so competitive.

Q500 class take-off. Shaun Jacobsen launches his brother's (Jarrod) Sonic While Mike Kellet waits for his turn to launch Les Spaltman's Banshee model.

With a broad rage of experience, the Q500 contestants enjoyed a ripper event. 8 rounds in the peak of the heat saw a lot of fun had by all. This stock class again produced some very quick times and it was great to see Mick Kellet return to racing and being very competitive. Really only a hand full of seconds between most place getters saw NZ F3D pilot Tom Wetherill taking out 1^st place with consistent mostly sub 100 second times. He was followed by the fancy florescent pink, Addies Hobbies sponsored plane flown by Mick Kellet. 3^rd place was taken out by the every reliable John Schmidli. Well done to all pilots for having a go.

The start of a F400 race with Rajit Phelan launching Tom Jacoben's AR-6. Callers, Mike Kellet and Tom Wetherill watch their team mate's planes as they approach pylon #1 for the first time. In the Background Barry Murphy pilots his racer with son, Beau calling for him.

F3D commenced mid afternoon on both days, 12 pilots spread across 4 heats battle high temperatures and hot racing. Shaun Jacobsen entered the F3D circuit for the first time and made it look easy getting into the grove early in similar style to his F400 flight path. Phelan’s newly designed and built V-Tail also had it maiden race with the world watching on.  For 8 rounds of F3D, the Victorian based Aussie F3D Team pilots battled it out. Some spectators said that the racing witnessed this weekend was the best racing seen in a very very long time. All three pilots ripped into the 10 &1/2 lap course lap after lap. All three Aussie Team pilots are sponsored by JR through Model Flight with the root of their flying days starting out in Gippsland. Friendly camaraderie and competition saw Beau Murphy finishing in 1^st place, Leigh Hocken in 2^nd place and Dannmann Daniel Arapakis finishing 3^rd after a last round cut – all flew their very best and unique styles and was fantastic to witness such a high standard and competitive racing! Perfect engine work with start ups every time combined with ultimate precision flying is no doubt the success to this F3D class.

Les Spaltman, flew his first competition in the F400 class with his GR-7 and with the help of call, Mike Kellet (holding the plane).

The annual VMPRA Season Championship trophy score board for season leaders remains unchanged with Dannmann now on 43 points extending his lead in F3D, Brain Steel 1^st place with an aggregate score of 45 points in F400 and Jim Orenshaw currently running in 1^st place in Q500 with a total points score of 46.    

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

Back L-R - Ranjit Phelan, Barry Murphy, Beau Murphy, Tom Jacobsen, Shaun Jacobsen, Gary Davidson, Tom Wetherill & Andrew Davies. Front L-R Daniel Arapakis, Glenn Matthews, Leigh Hocken, Brian Steele.

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Leigh Hocken
3rd Daniel Arapakis

Fastest Time: 59.24 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 12
Course – 10.5 Laps

Back L-R - Beau Murphy, Jarrod Jacobsen, Tom Jacobsen, Barry Murphy, Jim Orenshaw, Marcus Guss, Les Spaltman, Andrew Davies & Glenn Matthews. Front L-R - Leigh Hocken, Shaun Jacobsen, John Schmidli, Brian Steele, Gary Davidson & Ranjit Phelan.

Class – F400

Places:
1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Leigh Hocken
3rd Jarrod Jacobsen

Fastest Time: 61.75 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 15
Course – 10.5 Laps

Back L-R - Jarrod Jackobsen, Tom Wetherill, Les Spaltman, Jim Orenshaw, Gary Whitbourne, Mike Kellet Fron L-R - John Yianni, James Hurley, John Schmidli, Andrew Arapakis, Austin Omann, Allan Whitbourne.

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Tom Wetherill
2nd Mike Kellet
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time: 94.74 – Mike Kellet
No. of competitors: 12
Course – 10.5 Laps

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

The following is how the season championship stands currently.

FA1

1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Brian Steele

No change for the top 2, but Barry Murphy has moved up to 3rd position from 4th.

F400

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Like FA1, No change for the top 2, but Shaun Jacobsen has moved up to 3rd position, displacing Jim Orenshaw.

Q500

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Andrew Arapakis

For Q500, there was no change for the top 3 positions.

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Season Fastest Time

There was a new fastest time for F400 with a 61.75 sec achieved by Leigh Hocken, rapping up both FA1 & F400 for now. Mike Kellet achieved a new fastest time of 94.74 in Q500. Well done guys.

FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38

F400 – Leigh Hocken – 61.75

Q500 – Mike Kellet – 94.74

 Next Race

We are back at Bazza’s Paddock in Munro for the next event which is the John Hughan Trophy. This event is on the weekend of March 5-6, 2016.
Hope to see you all there.

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report – Anonymous
Additional information: John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli & 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 VMPRA 2015 season got underway on the weekend of 7 – 8 February at the Corangamite Model Aircraft Club in Camperdown, VIC. The event is a favourite amongst the VMPRA members and the host club members were out in force to help out with working the course and supplying great food and refreshments over the weekend. The flying field, which is located in the centre of a horse racing course, was in good condition due to recent summer rainfall.

There was a good turnout on Friday as pilots wanted to get some practice after the summer break. However, a hot northerly wind was blowing and the temperature at the field pushed past 40 degrees during the afternoon…so most chose to adjourn early, opting for glider flying at the nearby volcanic crater, rest and cool refreshments.

On Saturday morning, the course was set up during the curfew period while the horse training was underway. The northerly wind continued but the temperature was in the low to mid 30’s – slightly cooler than the previous day. The plan for the weekend was to run eight rounds of each class – F400, Q500 and FA1 – with the two worst scores to be dropped. Racing was over 10 ½ laps per usual VMPRA practice as this reduces the number of workers required to run the event.

Racing got underway late morning and three rounds of F400 were flown. This class attracted eight entries and but this was reduced after a mid-air during round two. Brian Steele took an early lead and had posted the best time of 70.77. Times were not spectacular, due to the heat.

Next up was Q500 and this class attracted six entries and three rounds were also flown. There was some close racing and unfortunately the field in this class was also depleted due to another mid-air. After three rounds Tom Wetherill was in the lead with the best time of 96.80. Andrew Arapakis has been improving under the guidance of son Daniel and he posted a personal best time of 108.83.

The main event – FA1 attracted a good turnout with 10 entries. Five rounds were flown to complete racing for the day. The cut judges were kept very busy during the first two rounds and some pilots were still tuning for the conditions. As a result, there were many 200’s on the board. At the end of the afternoon, Leigh Hocken was in the lead and had the best time of 60.78.

During the evening a storm front came through (this is Victoria!) and on Sunday there was a cool breeze from the south. This required that the course be changed and after this was done the remaining five rounds of F400 were flown. At the completion of eight rounds, Brian Steele was in first place with a score of 414.3 and the best time of 64.79. The cooler conditions helped and he was more than 5 seconds quicker than the previous day. Team mate Andrew Davies was second with a score of 430.7 and Gary Davidson was third with a score of 433.5. Andrew and Gary also improved their times by about 5 seconds from the Saturday.

The remaining five rounds of Q500 were flown next and the close racing continued. In the end, Tom Wetherill was in first place with a score of 580.3 and had the fast time of 94.73. James Hurley was second with a score of 620.1 – just edging out arch rival and team mate John Schmidli, who was third with a score of 623.6.

The last event was the completion of the final rounds of FA1 and Leigh Hocken put in some very impressive and aggressive flying to finish in first place with a score of 367.5. Glenn Matthews was a distant second with a score of 407.7. He was followed closely by Barry Murphy with a score of 412.6. Beau Murphy posted the fastest time of 58.43. Daniel Arapakis was flying very impressively against the veterans, but unfortunately lost a model trying to keep up with Leigh.

A prize giving ceremony was held following completion of racing and VMPRA thanked Foster Taylor and the Corangamite club for hosting the event and for providing great food over the weekend. Special thanks were also given to the club members for helping work the event, as well as to Toni Axon for starting, David Axon for serving as a cut judge (and awarding the most cuts) and to Nerida Matthews for running the computer system and taking care of the administrative side of the event.

Report – Tom Wetherill.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results – FA1

Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Glenn Matthews
3rd Barry Murphy

Fastest Time: 58.43 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 10
Course – 10.5 Laps

Results – F400

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Andrew Davies
3rd Gary Davidson

Fastest Time: 64.79 – Brian Steele
No. of competitors: 8
Course – 10.5 Laps

Results – Q500

Places:
1st Tom Wetherill
2nd James Hurley
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time: 94.73 – Tom Wetherill
No. of competitors: 6
Course – 10.5 Laps

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

As we start the 2nd half of the season championship, the following is how the top 3 positions sit.

FA1

Glenn Matthews bumped Andrew Davies from the top position and Daniel has jumped up from 5th to 3rd position.

1 – Glenn Matthews
2 – Andrew Davies
3 – Daniel Arapakis

F400 – Results

The opposite to FA1, Andrew Davies has bumped Glenn Matthews from the top position down to 2nd place and like Daniel in FA1, Brian Steele has jumped from 5th to 3rd place.

1 – Andrew Davies
2 – Glenn Matthews
3 – Brian Steele

Q500 – Results

No position changes for the top 3 in Q500

1 – John Schmidli
2 – James Hurley
3 – Tom Wetherill

Full Championship Results>>>

 Next Event

Next up is Munro on Feb 28/March 1st for the full 3 class event.

Check Out Complete Calender >>>

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.

Pylon racing in Victoria was off to a start for the first time this year with a return to Camperdown. As with nearly every race since June, weather had an extraordinary effect on the race. It was hot hot hot!

I’m not sure if it was the predicted hot conditions or the fact that this race was a little early in the year than usual, but numbers were a little down but all who attended seemed to have a good time and the weather actual led to extra socialization after racing finished on the Saturday both at the field and back at the Motel.

Proceedings started on the Saturday with 4 rounds of F400, followed by 3 rounds of Q500. After lunch the day was finished off with 4 rounds  of FA1. Sunday started early at 8:30 to try and beat the heat with 3 rounds of FA1, 4 rounds of  Q500 and then 3 rounds of F400. Then we had lunch and headed home early. There was some good clean racing and no models went home in a plastic bag. There was only some broken props and under-carts as the ground was a little hard and uneven.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

FA1

The masters and their apprentice (Beau & Barry Murphy and Daniel Arapakis).

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Daniel Arapakis

Fastest Time: 60.44 – Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap

F400

Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd James Hurley

Fastest Time: 67.26 – Gary Davidson
No. of competitors: 9
Course – 10.5 Lap

Q500

There was only 4 people competing this weekend which was really down on recent numbers. Daniel was quick as usual but was finding difficult to get a clean round. James was in form with mostly  clean rounds.

Places:
1st James Hurley
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time: 91.14 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 4
Course – 10.5 Lap

Check out the full results>>>

2013-2014 Season Championship

We are over half way through the 2013 – 2014 VMPRA Championship Year with only Bacchus Marsh (Q500 only), Munro & Warrnambool left to go.

FA1

Barry Murphy is in a very strong position in first place, Brian Steele remains in 2nd and a change in 3rd place of Gary Davidson displacing Glenn Matthews who is now in 4th position.

F400

Glenn Matthews is now in 1st position after displacing Andrew Davies who is now in 2nd place. Gary Davidson remains in 3rd place.

Q500

No change in Q500 for the places with me (John Schmidli) in 1st, Daniel Arapakis in 2nd and Jim Orenshaw in 3rd.

Full Championship Results

Next Events

For the Q500 pilots, there’s a race at Bacchus Marsh on March 2 which will also include EF-1 & Sports.

The next full FA1, F400 & Q500 2 day event is down at Bazza’s paddock down at Munro on March 22-23, 2014.

Report: John Schmidli
Photos: John Schmidli & Andrew Arapakis