Back on the weekend of June 10 & 11 was the King’s birthday weekend. The VMPRA hosted the Australian Miniature Pylon Racing Association (AMPRA) Championships down at the Munro Field Model Aircraft Club in Gippsland.

One of the great things about hosting the AMPRA Champs in Victoria is having interstate competitors come and race with us. We had all the way from Queensland, Andrew Wall, Tony Singleton, Steve & Jo Taylor and Mick Dallmann and from South Australia and Trevor Pierce from South Australia. It was great to see them again and get to race against them.

Conditions

The weather was really quite good although on Saturday it was a little windy and this coupled with the very bright sun, low in the sky, conditions made flying in the afternoon difficult. But we had a perfect full day of flying on Sunday and flew quite late into the afternoon. By the time we packed up, presented trophies and headed off on our way, it was getting dark. Getting home later than normal was negated by Monday being a holiday for most of us.

On Saturday night, we had a fantastic dinner at the field put on and prepared by Andrew Arapakis with the help of Tony Eichstadt. As usual, we had a wonderful evening of socializing with everybody.

Racings

There was some great flying to be seen. One of great interest and a highlight was seeing Trevor Pierce flying his Electrified F3T model and seeing it fly in comparison to the conventional internal combustion-engined versions. It certainly looks very comparable and this may be quite an exciting way to go in the future for people who want to race electric. Certainly, this is an easier plane to see in the air compared to the F3E models and has the performance.

We had a really good number of flyers in F3T with 14 competitors, and in Q500 also had 13 competitors, which was outstanding.

Debut Race

Talking about Q500, it was fantastic to see a new competitor, John Junge, who was flying Q500 for the first time and placed himself very well, coming in 6th place out of 13, which was an excellent effort and he was flying the course better than most of us would on our first time. So congratulations to John.

We had many helpers and had no problems fielding the appropriate numbers of pylon judges. Also, it was very helpful having Wendy and Mick running the timing system, plus Mick Dallmann was roped into being CD. It was really appreciated.

Thanks to Andrew for the Saturday night meal and Gary Whitbourn for breakfast and lunch catering. Of course, we can’t forget Barry Murphy for hosting us at his wonderful pylon racing field. There is a good amount of pictures in the gallery. Check them out.

We look forward to the next event, which will be at Bendigo on July 22-23.

Don’t forget; we are looking for people to write reports and take photos of all these events for the website, which would be very helpful. See you in Bendigo.

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Results

Class – FA1

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 63.51 Andrew Wall.
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Andrew Wall
2nd Tony Singleton
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time (Red Box): 62.58 Andrew Wall.
No. of competitors: 13

Class – Q500

Places:
1st David Chippindal
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Mike Kellet

Fastest Time (Red Box): 93.15 David Chippindal.
No. of competitors: 13

Season Championship

FA1

Brian Steele remains in top position, with Barry Murphy moving up to 2nd spot, displacing Tom Wetherill down into 3rd place.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Tom Wetherill

F3T

Brian Steele has jumped up into 1st place, making him top spot in both FA1& F3T. Andrew Davies and Glenn Matthews have been pushed down a place each into 2nd & 3rd places, respectively.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Glenn Matthews

Q500

John Schmidli remains in top place, with Jim Orenshaw moving up a spot into 2nd, leaving Tom Wetherill in 3rd place.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Tom Wetherill

Next Race – Bendigo

We’ll be back a Bendigo for the first time in a while (July 22 & 23), racing all three classes.

Report  – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli, Anthony Thurgood & Andrew Arapakis (sorry if I’ve missed someone).

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.

Quick Reference

Unfortunately, we haven’t received a report for this event. I can tell you we all had an enjoyable race weekend back at Rick’s Field in Newbridge. Thanks for having us Rick.

Please check below the results and championship standings. Various people also took some photos, which can be found at the Event Gallery link below. Sorry, I have forgotten who you are, but I appreciate your contributions.

Regarding event reports, I’m looking for volunteers to write reports for future race events. It doesn’t have to be an essay. It can just be a few paragraphs. Just to give readers a feel for the event. That would be great.

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Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Rick Townsend
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Anthony Thurgood

Fastest Time (Red Box): 62.58 Rick Townsend (Not all Pylons Observed).
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 65.13 Glenn Davidson (Not all pylons were observed).
No. of competitors: 9

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Tom Wetherill
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time (Red Box): 90.15 Tom Wetherill (Not all pylons were observed).
No. of competitors: 10

Season Championship

FA1

Brian Steele and Tom Wetherill have moved up a spot each, with Brian in the top position and Tom in 2nd place. Barry Murphy dropped from 1st down to 3rd position.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Tom Wetherill
3rd – Barry Murphy

F3T

Andrew Davies and Glenn Matthews remain in 1st and 2nd position, respectively. Brian Steele has moved up from 4th position to 3rd, push Jim Orenshaw out of the top 3.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Brian Steele

Q500

John Schmidli and Tom Wetherill remain in 1st and 2nd positions respectively. Jim Orenshaw has moved up into 3rd place

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Tom Wetherill
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Next Race – Newbridge

Western Port Model Aircraft Club – Q500 and Sports only May 21, 2023

Report  – N/A
Additional content – 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/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 Reference

Unfortunately, we haven’t received a report for this event. I can tell you that all who attended enjoyed being back at Warrnambool. Please check below the results and championship standings. Various people also took some photos, which can be found at the Event Gallery link below. Sorry, I have forgotten who you are, but I appreciate your contributions.

Regarding event reports, I’m looking for volunteers to write reports for future race events. It doesn’t have to be an essay. It can just be a few paragraphs. Just to give readers a feel for the event. That would be great.

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Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Glenn Matthews
3rd Tom Wetherill

Fastest Time (Red Box): 60.19 Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 6

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.69 Andrew Davies
No. of competitors: 8

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 98.51 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 9

Season Championship

FA1

Both Barry Murphy and Brian Steele stayed in 1st and 2nd positions, respectively. Tom Wetherill moved up to 3rd place from 4th.

1st – Barry Murphy
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Tom Wetherill

F3T

Andrew Davies has remained in 1st position. Glenn Matthews has moved up to 2nd place from 4th, pushing Jim Orenshaw down into the 3rd spot.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

John Schmidli remained in 1st position. Tom Wetherill moved up to 2nd place from 4th while pushing Tom Allan down to 3rd place.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Tom Wetherill
3rd – Tom Allan

Next Race – Newbridge

Ricky’s field. April 15 – 16.
Class: FA1, F3T & Q500.

Report  – N/A
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – Andrew Arapakis and Others (Sorry).

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 Reference

Unfortunately, we haven’t received a report for this event. I can tell you that all who attended enjoyed being back at Munro. Please check below the results and championship standings. Various people also took some photos, which can be found at the Event Gallery link below. Sorry, I have forgotten who you are, but I appreciate your contributions.

Regarding event reports, I’m looking for volunteers to write reports for future race events. It doesn’t have to be an essay. It can just be a few paragraphs. Just to give readers a feel for the event. That would be great.

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Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Brian Steel

Fastest Time (Red Box): 59.69 Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Glenn Matthews
3rd Brian Steel

Fastest Time (Red Box): 68.18 Andrew Davies
No. of competitors: 11

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd David Chippindall
3rd Gary Davidson

Fastest Time (Red Box): 96.61 Mike Kellet
No. of competitors: 11

Season Championship

FA1

Barry Murphy has lept up to the top position from 4th and Brian Steele doing the same from 5th position to 2nd spot. Daniel Arapakis has been displaced down into 3rd position.

1st – Barry Murphy
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Daniel Arapakis

F3T

The only change in this top 3 is Andrew Davies and Jim Orenshaw swapping spots with Andrew being in top stop.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – Barry Murphy

Q500

John Schmidli was jumped up to the top position pushing Tom Allan and Jim Orenshaw down a position into 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

1st – John Schmidli
2nd – Tom Allan
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Next Race

N/A.

Report  – N/A
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – Andrew Arapakis and Others (Sorry).

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 Reference

VMPRA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS -MUNRO FIELD 3-4 DECEMBER 2022

This was a well-attended event although some regular flyers were unable to attend due to work commitments.

The weather conditions were not conducive to fast times. It was reasonably hot with a nice south-easterly on Saturday. Racing each day kicked off with F3T with a total of 9 entries. Some close racing from the top four place getters with Glenn Mathews taking it out from Jim Orenshaw and Andrew Davies. There was a mixture of aircraft designs, mainly Scad Aero designs with mainly Nelson LS engines with a Dubb Jett and DKT making up the minority.

In Q500 there were 8 entries.

Well…the racing became tight!!

The racing between Tom Allen and Jim Orenshaw was magic. No mid-airs…pure luck!

Good to see newcomers Tony Eichstadt and Anthony Thurgood full of enthusiasm. This is just what we need. We welcomed back Eddie Rich from a long break. The top 4 place getters were John Schmidli, Tom Allen, Jim Orenshaw and Tony Eichstadt.

In F3D there were 5 entries.

Well…the racing just got tighter!!

Dan Arapakis cruised through with exceptional flying with the fastest time of 61.88 on the long course (corrected time is sub 60 seconds).

Andrew Davies, Barry Murphy and Glenn Matthews were in some races which left nothing to spare. In round 5,6,7, & 8 the flying between Davies & Murphy was fantastic, neither gave an inch to the other. It was Davies gaining on Murphy or Murphy gaining on Davies! In this type of race, it is essential to hold your line. The drag race to the finish was spectacular!

Dan Arapakis came out on top followed by Andrew Davies and Barry Murphy 0.7 seconds behind in third place. Just the best racing for a long time.

The Aircraft were mainly Vectors and a couple of Faster Masters. All engines were MBs with one home built by Barry.

On Saturday night we all attended the VMPRA AGM and a magnificent roast prepared by Glenn and Nerida Matthews and Andrew Arapakis.

We all seemed worn out at the end of a very enjoyable weekend. It is worth noting that there was no loss of aircraft over the weekend which is a rarity!

Looking forward to the next race.

Baz Murphy

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Results

Class – FA1

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 61.26 Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 67.88 Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 9

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Tom Allen
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Class – Q500

Fastest Time (Red Box): 96.77 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 8

Season Championship

This was the third race for the 2022/2023 season championship.

FA1

Daniel Arapakis has jumped up from 3rd place into the top spot pushing Tom Wetherill and Rick Townsend down one place each.

1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Tom Wetherill
3rd – Rick Townsend

F3T

Jim Orenshaw has maintained his top spot, with Andrew Davies moving up one place, displacing Barry Murphy into the 3rd spot.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Barry Murphy

Q500

Tom Allen has maintained his top position, Jim Orenshaw has moved up one place and John Schmidli is now in 3rd place.

1st – Tom Allen
2nd – Jim Orenshaw
3rd – John Schmidli

Next Race

Our next race and the first for the 2023 calendar year, is again at Munro on February 18 – 19, 2023.

Report  – Barry Murphy
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – Andrew Arapakis, Tom Allen, Sarah Doyle, Nerida Matthews and John Schmidli

A big thank you to all who contributed to this event report.

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 Reference

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Results

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Rick Townsend

Fastest Time (Red Box): 60.88 Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 4

Class – F3T

Wasn’t run due to weather conditions.

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 97.73 Tom Wetherill
No. of competitors: 11

Season Championship

This was the second race for the 2022/2023 season championship.

FA1

Tom Wetherill has popped up into the top spot followed by Rick Townsend and Daniel Arapakis, displaying Leigh Hocken and Gary Davidson out of the top 3 positions.

1st – Tom Wetherill
2nd – Rick Townsend
3rd – Daniel Arapakis

F3T

There was no change for 3FT as the class was not able to race on the weekend due to weather and time left.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Andrew Davies

Q500

The 2 Toms swapped positions and Jim Orenshaw displaced Mike Kellet for 3rd place.

1st – Tom Allen
2nd – Tom Wetherill
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Next Race

The next race meet will be on November 5 – 6 in Warrnambool.
I look forward to seeing you are there.

Report  – John Schmidli
Photos – Nil

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 Reference