Report – John Schmidli.
Please note: We are seeking someone to regularly write event reports. 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.
Back on November 22 – 23, the VMPRA held its final event for the 2025 Championship season at Barry Murphy’s Field in Munro. We raced four classes: F3D, F3T, Q500, and the relatively new E2K class.
This was likely the best-attended race of the entire season. On Friday, 18 attendees turned up for practice. Saturday brought fantastic weather, allowing us to fly four rounds of each class. The day began with two rounds of E2K and finished with another two, flying the E2K aircraft on the short course for the first time to see how it better suited the planes and battery setups.
It was great to see some familiar faces from the past, along with new participants racing with us for only the second time. Keith and Kieran Harvey, along with David and Toni Axon, were in attendance, and Ian Haig joined us to race Q500 for the first time in nine years. We also welcomed new competitor Jack, flying Q500 with Damo calling for him – a great sign for the future of pylon racing.
After a fantastic day of racing on Saturday, we held the AGM once flying had finished, followed by a delicious roast meal and dessert – including a birthday cake to celebrate Wendy’s 40th.
Unfortunately, Sunday turned out to be very wet, and racing was eventually called off, with everyone heading home early.
A big thank you to Barry Murphy for hosting us – it’s such a fantastic field to fly at, and we’re already looking forward to returning there for our first event next year in February.
For the Quickie and E2K flyers, we still have one more event for the year at Western Port on Sunday, December 7.
I hope everyone has a great Christmas break, and I look forward to catching up in the New Year for plenty more pylon racing.
These are the placings for this race weekend, plus the fastest times. For all the results, see the “Result” button below.
Places:
1st Beau Murphy
2nd Rick Townsend
3rd Tom Wetherill
Fastest Time (Red Box): 57.10 Beau Murphy
No. of competitors: 7
Places:
1st Andrew Davies
2nd Brian Steele
3rd Glenn Matthews
Fastest Time (Red Box): 63.19 Andrew Davies.
No. of competitors: 9
Class – Q500
Places:
1st John Schmidli
2nd Eddie Rich
3rd Alan Whitbourn
Fastest Time (Red Box): 100.44 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 9
Class – E2K
Places:
1st James Hurley
2nd Glenn Matthews
3rd John Schmidli
Fastest Time (Red Box): 78.24 James Hurley (Short Course).
No. of competitors: 5
That’s a wrap for F3D and F3T for this season, and the results are…
1st – Anthony Thurgood
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Andrew Davies
No change at the top two positions, but Andrew Davies has popped up into third place, displacing Jim Orenshaw back down to fourth.
1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Anthony Thurgood
3rd – Andrew Davies
With one event to go at Western Port, Jim Orenshaw has wrapped up this season’s championship for Q500.
1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – Eddie Rich
3rd – John Schmidli
The next full three-class pylon race will be the first event for 2026 and held at Munro on February 21-22.
Please check out the updated calendar as most of next year’s events are now listed.
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.
VMPRA regulars headed to Warrnambool for an event held on the weekend of 17–18 October. Most competitors arrived on the Friday. The club did a fantastic job preparing the field, which was in immaculate condition. The weather also cooperated, allowing plenty of time for practice flights and setting up the pylons.
Saturday proved to be a stunning and unusually calm day for Warrnambool, leading to slower-than-usual times. Four classes were flown on the 10 ½ lap course – Q500 Sport, along with E2K, F3D, and F3T. Sadly, the weather deteriorated, and no flying took place on Sunday due to the windy conditions.
Q500/E2K was first up and four rounds were flown. Q500 attracted seven entries, and it was good to see the return of Alan Swift and new entrant Jack Andrew. Jim Orenshaw, aka Crash Panda, finished in first place, followed by Eddie Rich and Alan Swift. John Schmidli set a fast time with a 99.82, but unfortunately, his model was lost due to a spectacular mid-air collision.
E2K was flown on the usual “long course” to save time resetting the pylons. Jim and John battled it out until John was watching the wrong model, which caused a crash. As a result, Jim finished first. John posted the best E2K time with a 112.26 – not much slower than many of the times in the Q500 Sport class. We expect to see more of these 3D-printed models appearing at future VMPRA events.
FA1 was up next with five entries, and five rounds were flown. Ever-improving Anthony Thurgood finished in first place, flying an ex-Leigh Hocken model. He also posted a fast time of 65.98. Glenn Matthews came in second, and Tom Wetherill was third.
Last class flown was F3T, which attracted eight entries with five rounds completed. The race was very close, and Brian Steele finished in first place, followed by Andrew Davies and John Schmidli. Brian posted the fastest time for the class and for the day, with a 66.24.
As mentioned earlier, Sunday’s weather was unsuitable for flying, so the course equipment was packed away and the awards ceremony took place. Special thanks were given to the Warrnambool club for providing the field and for it being in such great condition. By finishing early, we gained more time to navigate all the potholes on the Hamilton Highway on the way back to Melbourne.
These are the placings for this race weekend, plus the fastest times. For all the results, see the “Result” button below.
Places:
1st Anthony Thurgood
2nd Glen Matthews
3rd Tom Wetherill
Fastest Time (Red Box): 65.98 Anthony Thurgood
No. of competitors: 5
Places:
1st Brian Steele
2nd Andrew Davies
3rd John Schmidli
Fastest Time (Red Box): 66.24 Brian Steele.
No. of competitors: 8
Class – Q500
Places:
1st Jim Orenshaw
2nd Eddie Rich
3rd Alan Swift
Fastest Time (Red Box): 99.82 John Schmidli
No. of competitors: 7
This being the 2nd last championship race for the 2025 season, with only Munro to be flown in November, the championship placings are really being consolidated.
No change in the top 3 positions. Brian is still in with a chance to take out the position, but he would have to win and Anthony come 10 or lower, which is unlikely with the current competitor number.
1st – Anthony Thurgood
2nd – Brian Steele
3rd – Andrew Davies
No change in the top 3 positions. Brian doesn’t even have to enter the Munro race to take this one out.
1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Anthony Thurgood
3rd – Jim Orenshaw
No change at the top 2 positions, but John Schmidli has moved up into 3rd place, displacing Alan Whitbourn by 1 point. Jim doesn’t even have to enter the Munro race to take this one out.
1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – Eddie Rich
3rd – John Schmidli
Please check out the updated calendar as most of next year’s events are now listed.
Report – Tom Wetherill.
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.