Dedicated pilots and friends escaped the highly changeable Melbourne spring weather conditions to participate in the VMPRA event that was held Rick Townsends pylon field in Newbridge on the weekend of 13 – 14 September 2025. Rick acquired this property several years ago and set it up primarily for pylon racing. He put a lot of work into setting it up initially, including having the site land graded, constructing an access road, and setting up a cabin on-site. This setup also provided sufficient space for a pit area for competitors and areas for campers to stay at the field.

Many pilots arrived on Friday to find that the field had been immaculately prepared, with provision for courses set up to allow for the expected changes in wind direction over the weekend. Conditions on Friday were very relaxed, with sunshine and almost no wind. There was plenty of time for test flights, practice and for setting up the pits and for the campers.

There was a full racing schedule for the weekend, with F3T, F3D, Q500, Sport class and E2K being flown on that order on Saturday. On Sunday, the order was changed to Q500, Sport class, E2K, F3D and then F3T. Four rounds of each class were flown each day. As per usual VMPRA practice, racing was conducted over 10 ½ laps to reduce the number of course workers required. The course was changed at midday on Sunday due to a change in wind direction.

Q500 Sport: There were five entries in Q500 Sport, including Jim Orenshaw, Eddie Rich, John Schmidli, Shaun Powers and Barry Townsend. There was some very close racing over the two days. However, Jim Orenshaw prevailed to take the win and the fast time of 103.48. Ever improving – Eddy Rich was second and John Schmidli was third.

Sports: In order to attract new entries to pylon that may not have aircraft that met the rules for the traditional classes, a Sport class was included that attracted entries from Tony Curzon and Barry Townsend. Tony prevailed with consistent and improved results over the weekend. The performance of Barry’s recent model purchase could not be improved by the last-minute addition of a tuned pipe.

E2K: There has been increased interest in the inclusion for a simple entry-level class that is based around 3D printed electric models. John Schmidli and James Hurley entered this class and were hard to separate every round…cuts included! Times were not much slower than those of some of the Q500 Sport competitors. In the end, James prevailed, narrowly edging out John.

F3T: The F3T class attracted six entries with some very good racing and competition. After four rounds on Saturday, Jim Orenshaw was in the lead followed by Tom Wetherill and Brian Steele. However, new parts had arrived for Brian’s Profi which was fitted overnight to replace an aging Nelson. After eight rounds, Brian was in first place with a fast time of 67.79. Tom Wetherill, also Profi powered, was second and Jim Orenshaw was third. Anthony Thurgood, who had arrived late and missed the early rounds put in some impressive performances to finish in fourth place.

F3D: There were five entries in F3D.  As this was a non-championship/non-team trial event, Formula Australia One (FA1) rules apply – which also allow for use of the old style non-muffled pipes. Andrew Davies entered a classic-type Evo in this configuration and other pilots generally entered older models. Rick Townsend and Anthony Thurgood, flying an ex-Leigh Hocken model set the pace on Saturday. Andrew Davies classic model was also performing well.

On Sunday, the change in conditions really helped improve the performance of the F3D models. Unfortunately, this also resulted in the expiry of a number of engines.

Rick finished in first place followed by Anthony and Andrew. Rick posted 56 seconds in Round 7 and after much elation, it was found to be the result of a timing system error. The corrected score of 61.79 was fast time for the event. His engine expired during the next round.

After racing was completed, the equipment was packed up and awards were handed out. Special thanks to Rick for making the field available, to Eddie for serving as CD and to Wendy Dean for looking after the timing system. A great weekend of racing and cooperation by the weather.

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Results

These are the placings for this race weekend, plus the fastest times. For all the results, see the “Result” button below.

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Rick Townsend
2nd Anthony Thurgood
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 61.71 Rick Townsend
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time (Red Box): 67.79 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 6

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd Eddie Rich
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time (Red Box): 103.48 Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 5

Season Championship

FA1

No change in the top 3 positions.

1st – Anthony Thurgood
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Andrew Davies

F3T

No change in the top 3 positions.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Anthony Thurgood
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change at the top position but Eddie has moved up a position displacing Alan into 3rd position.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – Eddie Rich
3rd – Alan Whitbourn

Next Race Events:
– Warrnambool Oct 18 – 19.

Report  – Tom Wetherill.
Photos – John Schmidli & Eddie Rich

Please note: We are looking for someone to write event reports regularly. Also, it would be wonderful to have someone photograph these events. This site has a vast readership and is important and valuable to pylon racing in Victoria, Australia and Worldwide.

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. When time permits, they are chosen from a pool of photos taken by myself and others. If a perspective is not being represented, I am more than happy to publish any written content or photos supplied to me, provided it is fair and reasonable.

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