Tag Archives: pylon racing

Camperdown Feb, 2014 – Event Report

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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 

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.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calender

January 2014 – Update

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Camperdown

The first race for 2014 is coming around rather quickly this year. We are racing at Camperdown on the first weekend of February (Feb 1-2, 2014).

As usual, there are some access restrictions at times, which is important to note so as to ensure a good relationship with the turf club and continued use of this great venue into the future.

  • On Saturday, access to the flying site is allowed from 8:30am on-wards. We can set up prior to 10:00am but there is not to be any flying before then.
  • On Sunday there is no horse activity so access flying is as normal

This is usually a great race to compete in and not so far from Melbourne for those who don’t like to travel too far. Also for those wanting to try flying Q500 for the first time or new to pylon racing, even with 40-46 sport low-wing or trainer (eg, Scanner, Boomerang …etc.) come along and join the fun.

The schedule at this stage will be F400, Q500 & FA1.

The club there are a little down on numbers so if you can bring along any friends or family members to help with the event, that would also be great. See you all there.

John Schmidli

 

Swan Hill 2013 – Event Report

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Event

A panoramic view of the Swan Hill club

It’s the first time that we have raced at Swan Hill in a very long time. We were back to our pre-World Championship numbers with a large number of us camping out at the airfield. There were 7 caravans or camper trailers this time. The club members made us feel very welcome and provided us with food for breakfasts, lunches and Saturday night’s dinner.

The weather was good with the rain stopping mid Friday afternoon and the rest of the time was mostly sunny with light to moderate winds.

Barry Murphy starting his Minute Master with call Andrew Arapakis

The racing for both days started with F400, followed by Q500 and FA1 to finish the day. Time allowed FA1 to complete 6 rounds on the Saturday so only needing 3 more rounds to be completed on Sunday. All classes completed 9 rounds over the weekend.

Thanks to the Swan Hill Club for manning the no.1 pylon timing cage, the VMPRA members who looked after the no. 2 & 3 pylons and as usual, Toni Axon for acting as starter and Nerida Matthews for the tireless job of time keeper/result recorder and keeping us moving along.

Results

FA1

Places:
1st Barry Murphy
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd Vernon Gibson

Fastest Time: 58:55 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors – 11

F400

Places:
1st Gary Davidson
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time: 65.41 – Gary Davidson
No. of competitors – 8

During the F400 racing, there was the unfortunate demise of models belonging to Daniel Arapakis and James Hurley.

Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Mike Kellet

Fastest Time: 94:15 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors – 8

Check out the results in detail

Championship

Leigh Hocken IDs his VooDoo

With only a few events under our belts for the season, the Championship is still up for grabs.

FA1 – Barry Murphy has moved up to the top position from second place while Gary Davidson and Glenn Matthews have moved up to 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

F400 – Daniel Arapkis remained in 2nd place with Gary Davidson and Andrew Davies swapping positions with Gary now in 1st position and Andrew in 3rd.

Q500 – John Schmidli remains in 1st place, Jim Orenshaw moved up to 2nd having swapped with Daniel Arapakis, now in 3rd position.

Full Championship Results

New Calendar Entries

It’s worth having a look at the events calander again as there have been some additions.

For this year, there have been 2 non-Championship events added.

  • A sports/Q500 event being put on in November by the LDMFA club. A great chance for those wanting to get into pylon racing, to give it a try.
  • At the end of the year, there is the 67th MAAA Nationals being held in Albury/Wodonga. We have decided to get right behind the Nationals by participating and also encourage others from surrounding states to come along.

2014 Calender

We are starting to get events confirmed for next year, so keep checking back and add them to your diaries. Two events now listed are:

  • Camperdown – the first event for the year.
  • A F3D WC 2015 team select event in October being held at Cohuna.

Next Event

The first time Vern has beaten Brian!

The next event on the Calendar is the State Championship being held at Hamilton on October 12-13. I believe there will be a number of our South Australian friends coming to this event which will be great. I look forward to seeing everybody there.

The championship table has been updated and there is also a photo gallery from this event.

John Schmidli (Report & Photos)
Additional photos thanks to Andrew Arapakis
The written content in this post is acurate 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.

Quick Reference

Event Result
Photo Gallery
Season Championship
Event Calender