Tag Archives: pylon racing

Event Report – Hamilton 2012

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What a great weekend of pylon racing we had at Hamilton this year. The weather was great for Friday practice and Saturday’s racing. Sunday was a little windy but not bad enough to stop us flying. This event was our Victorian State Championships with trophies provided by the VMAA. On top of this, the F3D racing was the last of the Australian World Championship team selection trials. The aim was to fly 9 rounds of each class but with priority given to completing the F3D comp particularly as Tyler & Warren Mees needed to return to QLD asap to work on Monday.

Saturday morning, we started on time with 3 rounds of Q500 & F400 and finished up at 12 noon sharp. F3D started at 12:30pm after 25 minutes of testing and we were able to run the races through very efficiently, especially with the great help of the Hamilton club members who were manning the pylons (1,2 & 3) plus the start finish line as the 10 lap FAI course was being used for the team trials. Before we knew it, 9 rounds where complete. There was some very fast and spectacular racing with positions on the team at stake.

Sunday was a bit more relaxed affair although there was lots of close racing to be had with 6 rounds of Q500 & F400 to be completed. This was all done and dusted by lunch time. After another great BBQ lunch along with a vast selection of slices. we packed up, presented trophies and headed off home at about 2pm, a lot early than we normally finish.

Team Selection Results

With Beau Murphy’s win, he secured a place on the Australian team. Leigh Hocken and Tyler Mee’s fort it out for a possible 3 place on the team with Tyler winning this battle after his final re-run. I say a possible position because it’s not currently clear as to whether Chris Callow is going to be competing as a member of the team or as the returning World Champion. Time will tell!

The 2 team selection events run here in Victoria this year have been a high-light with having quite a few visitors from interstate. This time, besides Tyler & Warren driving down from QLD, we had the SA contingency of Stuart Humpherson, Trevor Pearce and Frank Weeks racing. The more competitors there are, the more fun to be had.

We also had 2 new pilots flying in Q500. Daniel Arapakis flew his new Viper having flown previously a trainer at Werribee. What a great job he did while enjoying the challenge of bringing his race times down, race after race. Also Paul Pollock flew Q500 for the first time and although a very experience r/c pilot, really enjoyed racing this affordable yet challenging class.

Season Championship

F3D – No changes in 1st & 2nd position, but Glenn Matthews has now moved up to 3rd place.

F400 – Gary Davidson & Jim Orenshaw have swapped places, Gary now in 1st place and like in F3D, Glenn Matthews has popped up into 3rd place.

Q500 – James Hurley & John Schmidli  have swapped places now with James in 1st position (JS – it pains me to say). Ian Haigh remains in 3rd place.

Next Event

The next event is at Bazza’s Padock down at Munro on November 24-25, 2012.

Also note that we have our first event for the year (Camperdown) now listed on the event calender, so be sure to pencil this into your diary.

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

Bendigo 2012 – Event Report

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Bendigo once again played host to the VMPRA for a weekend of FA1 (F3D), F400 & Q500.

On the start line and on time

Despite a bleak forecast, the weather was not too bad. Saturday, there were a few showers that stopped racing, but Sunday was much better and wind conditions were good.

All 3 classes completed 9 rounds, with 3 each on the Saturday and 6 each on Sunday. This event was competely void of any flying incidents which is quite unusual but a testiment to the skill and clean racing that went on.

Tom Wetherill's F3Ds

Saturday saw a lot of FA1s struggling with a quite a few flame-outs which wasn’t evident on Sunday and pylon 3 was a bit of a challenge for some reason (or was that just me?!).

Saturday night was the VMPRA Annual General Meeting where office bearers were elected. Glenn Matthews is now the president, I’m the secretary & Andrew Davies is the contest organizer. Gary Davidson was good enough to stay on as treasurer for another 12 months. Thanks goes out to the previous office holders, Davis Axon, Tom Wetherill and Mike Kellet for all their time and effort. Without these people, we wouldn’t be pylon racing in Victoria.

Special thanks should also go to Rick Townsend & Matt Young for their big effort in

Matt Young (left) - A very successful weekend flying F3D

preparing the airfield for this event. It was a great weekend of racing and congratulations goes to Matt Young for his 3rd place in FA1 in only his 2nd go at flying this class. Great to see new talent joining the ranks. This should inspire other young pilots to give pylon racing a go.

Check out the results >>>

Check out photo gallery >>>

The next event is Munro on August 11-12. Check out the calender >>>

John Schmidli

 

Bendigo – Next Event

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Unless you were lucky enough to travel to AMPRA this year, it’s been a bit of a break since the last race. It’s now time to get ready for the next event which is being held at Marong, near Bendigo on July 14-15, 2012. Q500, F400 & FA1 (F3D) will be run on both days (see event calendar).

Also on this week end, is the VMPRA annual general meeting which is being held at the Marong Caravan Park on Saturday night. This is an important meeting as we are electing a new committee and taking care of important business that ensures the smooth running of VMPRA.

Come along and show your support for pylon racing in Victoria. You can even put your hand up for a position on the committee. Without having these committee positions filled, pylon racing in Victoria would not be as strong as it is or may not exist at all.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Important:

Please note that the club has its regular flying day on Friday mornings, and they are generally finished by early afternoon. As such – it is not recommended to practice until after the club members have finished.

Also – the club wishes to remind us regarding leaving wire cuttings around the pits – please clean up after you have finished as there are sheep in the paddock and they do not want to have them ingest any wire.

Thanks