Event Report – Hamilton, May 2025

Back on the weekend of May 17 to 18, the VMPRA went to Hamilton for a race weekend. Numbers were a little down unusual, particularly for F3D.

On Saturday morning, conditions were rather grey and wet. Because of the low number of competitors and the fact that we had almost enough help from the club, we decided to run F3D and Q500 together, eliminating the long waits between F3D rounds. This would have worked well, except for regular stops for rain showers. We only managed to complete 5 rounds of the class on Saturday.

Sunday morning gave us far better weather conditions, and having flown the other two classes on Saturday, we ran 8 rounds of F3T. We managed to get through these rounds reasonably quickly with a slightly earlier finish than usual. Thank you to the Hamilton Club for hosting this event and providing splendid catering and a field in good condition.


The next event is an AMPRA at Munro on June 7 – 8. Hopefully, we can get good numbers at this event, being one of our highlights of the year.


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 Brian Steele
2nd Anthony Thurgood
3rd N/A

Fastest Time (Red Box): 71.21 Anthony Thurgood
No. of competitors: 2

Class – F3T

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 70.19 Brian Steele.
No. of competitors: 5

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 102.01 Alan Whitbourn
No. of competitors: 6

Season Championship

FA1

Anthony Thurgood is still in top position. Brian Steele has moved up into 2nd place from 3rd.

1st – Anthony Thurgood
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Glenn Matthews

F3T

No changes at the top 2 positions. Jim Orenshaw has moved from 6th placing into 3rd.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

Again, there has been no change in the top 3 placings.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Alan Whitbourne

Next Race Events:
– AMPRA Champs, Munro June 7 -8, 2025.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Mt Wallace (Q500 & Sports), May 2025

The VMPRA finally raced the Mt Wallace state field after several past cancellations. It was blowy, but we completed 5 rounds of Q500 with 7 competitors. It was also fabulous to have 2 home club members competing in the Sports race, both flying Scanners and doing quite well for their first time flying pylon.


Results

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

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Tom Allen
3rd Eddie Rich

Fastest Time (Red Box): 101.44 Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 7

Season Championship

Q500

Again, there has been no change in the top 3 placings.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Eddie Rich

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Warrnambool, April 2025

It was a pleasure to return to the Warrnambool Model Aircraft Club for another exciting pylon racing weekend on April 12–13. As always, the Warrnambool club were fantastic hosts, and a big shoutout to the members managing the No.1 pylon—they did an outstanding job.

Saturday brought ideal flying conditions, while Sunday remained fine but noticeably windier. The weekend turned out to be a real test of endurance, with a higher-than-usual attrition rate. By the end, only two competitors remained in F3D and F3T, and just three in Q500.

It was great to have Steve and Jo Taylor join us from Queensland. It was wonderful to have Steve racing with us.


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 Anthony Thurgood
2nd Glenn Matthews
3rd Brian Steele

Fastest Time (Red Box): 71.76 Brian Steele
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 69.82 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 9

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 97.76 Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 8

Season Championship

FA1

No change in the top 3 placings.

1st – Anthony Thurgood
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Brian Steele

F3T

Brian Steele consolidated his top position, ahead by 6 points, Andrew Davies moved from 4th to 2 nd place, pushing Anthony Thurgood down a place into 3rd position.

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

Q500

Again, there has been no change in the top 3 placings.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Alan Whitbourne

Next Race Events:
– Mount Wallace – May 4 – Q500/Sports (Come Try Race).
– Hamilton – May 17 – 18 – F3D, F3T & Q500.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Munro, March 2025

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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 Anthony Thurgood
2nd Barry Murphy
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 64.23 Anthony Thurgood
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.46 Brian Steele.
No. of competitors: 8

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Allan Whitbourne

Fastest Time (Red Box): 96.47 Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 7

Season Championship

FA1

No change in the top 3 placings.

1st – Anthony Thurgood
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Brian Steele

F3T

No change in the top 3 placings.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Anthony Thurgood
3rd – Glenn Matthews

Q500

Again, there has been no change in the top 3 placings.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Alan Whitbourne

Next Race Events:
– Warrnambool April 12-13.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Werribee, Mar 2025

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Results

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

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time (Red Box): 99.01 Jim Orenshaw
No. of competitors: 8

Season Championship

Q500

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – Gary Davidson
3rd – John Schmidli

Next Race Events:
– F3D, F3T & Q500, Warrnambool – April 12-13, 2025.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Echuca, Feb 2025


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 Anthony Thurgood
2nd Glenn Matthews
3rd Brian Steele

Fastest Time (Red Box): 67.74 Anthony Thurgood
No. of competitors: 4

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Anthony Thurgood
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.62 Glenn Matthews.
No. of competitors: 7

Class – Q500

Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Alan Whitbourne

Fastest Time (Red Box): 100.68 John Schmidli.
No. of competitors: 6

Season Championship

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Munro, Nov 2024

How good was that weekend at Munro? Good weather, good attendance, good competition and a good banquet?
Thanks to all the interstate competitors making the trip, it was great to see South Aus and Queenslanders, some I hadn’t seen for 30-odd years.

Thanks to the interstate girls for helping run the event, timing and no.1, and Wendy for running the computer, I hope they enjoyed their jam doughnuts; I didn’t win the US Lotto, so I couldn’t give them a car each.

Thanks to Barry, Alan, Greg and Andrew for the banquet and lunch food and Nerida for the yummy dessert.

Thanks to Glenn for all his efforts in keeping the timing equipment running.

Thanks to Barry for his work preparing the excellent field, and thanks to Lyn for allowing him out

Hoping we can continue such good attendance and running this great sport/hobby we all love
Maybe next time we won’t let the interstaters kick our butts.

Eddy
Contest Calendar Coordinator 


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 Beau Murphy
2nd Leigh Hocken
3rd Shaun Jacobsen

Fastest Time (Red Box): 57.15 Beau Murphy (Note: This was raced over a 10 lap course and doesn’t count to the fastest time over the season).
No. of competitors: 14

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Marc Hamilton
2nd Shaun Jacobsen
3rd Andrew Wall

Fastest Time (Red Box): 61.60 Brian Steele.
No. of competitors: 15

Class – F3E

Places:
1st Trevor Pearce
2nd Bruce Dechatel
3rd Tony Singleton

Fastest Time (Red Box): 58.74 Tony Singleton.
No. of competitors: 4

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Gary Whitbourne

Fastest Time (Red Box): 91.18 John Schmidli (Note: This was raced over a 10 lap course and doesn’t count to the fastest time over the season).
No. of competitors: 7

Season Championship

The 2024 season championship has been completed as of this race event for FA1 & F3T.
There is one more race to go to complete the Q500 season.

FA1

No change in the top 3 placings and the winner for the 2024 season championship for FA1 is Andrew Davies.

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

F3T

No change in the top 3 placings and the winner of the 2024 season championship for F3T is Andrew Davies.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change in the top 3 placings for Quickie, with only 3 points between 1st and 2nd place with only one race to go for the 2024 championship.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Eddie Rich

Next Race Events:
– Q500 & Sports Only, Mt Wallace – Dec 1, 2024.
– F3D, F3T & Q500, Echuca – Feb 15-16, 2025.

 

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

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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Event Report – Newbridge, Oct 2024

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Results

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

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Rick Townsend
2nd Andrew Davies
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 65.32 Glenn Matthews.
No. of competitors: 4

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd John Schmidli
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 64.08 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 6

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 99.19 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 8

Season Championship

FA1

No change in the top 3 placings.

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

F3T

Again, no change in the top 3 positions.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change in the top 3 placings for Quickie.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Eddie Rich

Next Race Event – Munro Nov 9-10, 2024.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Warrnambool (State Champs), September 2024

It was wonderful to be back at the Warrnambool Model Aircraft Club for the second time this year to hold our State Championships combined with the World Champs team selections.

Again, for the third time in a row, we encountered difficult weather on Saturday, with improved conditions on Sunday, where we carried out the majority of the racing. This meant we flew reduced rounds for the whole weekend.


Results

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

Class – FA1

Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Leigh Hocken
3rd Tom Wetherill

Fastest Time (Red Box): 57.18 Beau Murphy.
No. of competitors: 8

Class – F3T

Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Gary Davidson
3rd Glenn Matthews

Fastest Time (Red Box): 65.09 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 8

Class – Q500

Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Jim Orenshaw
3rd Alan Whitbourne

Fastest Time (Red Box): 98.04 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 8

Season Championship

FA1

No change in the top 3 placings, with Andrew increasing his lead by another 2 points, making him 4 points ahead of Brian. Anthony Thurgood remains in 3rd place.

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

F3T

Andrew Davies has regained the lead over Brian by 7 points, having been on equal points prior to this race. Jim Orenshaw remains in 3rd place.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change in the top 3 placings for Quickie.

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Eddie Rich

Next Race Event – Rick’s Field @ Newbridge on October 12 – 13.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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Event Report – Cohuna, September 2024

Back on August 17th to 18th, the VMPRA went off to the home of Victorian pylon racing, Cohuna, for our annual pilgrimage. Unfortunately, the weather was similar to Bendigo, where running of races on Saturday was limited, only flying six rounds of F3T before having to call it a day. We had better weather on Sunday, so we could run six rounds of F3D and then Q500 to complete the race weekend.

The great thing about being at Cohuna is the great bunch of helpers there to man the pylons. The number one pylon cage was full, and we also had helpers on two and three, which is fantastic and frees up competitors to be able to concentrate on racing.

Unfortunately, we had some issues with running the timing system, which resulted in confusion about the scores at the end of the weekend. Since then, a few errors have been corrected and the scores, as published on the website, are now correct and the championship standings have been updated accordingly.

At the end of the weekend, we had a birthday cake for Gary Whitbourn and Gary Davison, who both had significant birthdays on either side of the weekend. Thanks to Wendy and Anthony for organizing that.

Our next event is from September 14th to 15th, which will be the state championships at Warrnambool, where we will also be holding the team trials for the F3D and F3E world championships.
So we hope to have some interstate competitors as well as good numbers from Victoria there, which always adds another level of interest to the weekend.

So it should be a great weekend and fingers crossed for better weather this time. It’ll be great to see you all there.


Results

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

Class – FA1

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.55 Rick Townsend.
No. of competitors: 5

Class – F3T

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.19 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 8

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time (Red Box): 96.05 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 7

Season Championship

FA1

No change in the top 3 placings with only 2 points separating Andrew and Brian.

1st – Andrew Davies
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Tom Wetherill

F3T

Brian Steele and Andrew Davies are sitting at the top on equal points and only divided by Brian having a slightly better average race time over the championship.

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Andrew Davies
3rd – Jim Orenshaw

Q500

No change in the top 3 placings for Quickie also

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Eddie Rich

Next Race Event – State Championship & F3D/F3E WC Team Trial Warrnambool 14th – 15th September.

 

Report  – John Schmidli.
Photos – John Schmidli

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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