Warrnambool located on the south-western Coast of Victoria and at the western end of the Great Ocean road, is world famous for it’s spectacular oceanic coastal views. Home club to the Hocken family, Koroit is a humble club amongst farm land with great facilities and very well maintained grounds.

As usual Friday arrivals consisted of pilots and teams travelling from afar and were greeted with perfect Autumn conditions of mid 20’s and light winds.

The usual campers of Axons, Steeley’s, Murphy, Arapakis’ settling in for the afternoon and evening grazing with spits roasting and beers flowing. Well into the evening, festivities continued with perfect star filled night skies. In the morning, we woke up to misty rain and cold winds.

The field of competitors for Formula 400

Flying didn’t start until late morning due to the wet weather conditions. The usual race format of F400, Q500 followed by F3D was to be flown.

A field of 11 F400 pilots challenged the sky’s with Shaun Jacobsen in fine form with opening rounds in the 60’s putting loads of pressure on the rest of the field. Great to see the South Aussies at the event with 4 pilots flying in this class. Brian (Iron-man) Steele finished with the most cuts for the weekend which is certainly uncharacteristic and Leigh Hocken recording the fastest time of 64.95  seconds. Nevertheless Ranjit Phelan and Baz Murphy finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively after 1st place getter, Shaun Jacobsen. Well done to all pilots.

- Long time pylon racing friends, Jim Orenshaw and Gary Davidson (LtoR) with Gary's El Bandito F400 model.

Q500 always slated for a few laughs and a bit of sledging on the start line saw some brilliant flying and sub 100 seconds times by the three top place getters. A mix of experience and newer pilots to the racing scene challenged each other with each pilot flying at their best.

Jimmy (Tiger) Orenshaw taking out 1st place again, now in a really good position for the season championship just nudged in front of Tom Allen who came 2nd with Jarrod Jacobsen finishing 3rd dueling Dannmann’s Dad (Andrew Arapakis)for the weekend. 

Local lad and winner of F3D class - Leigh Hocken and his VooDoo pylon racer.

F3D with a 10 pilot entry was great to watch. The first up race was with good mates Shaun Jacobsen and Dannmann. Shaun opening up with a personal best, WELL DONE Shauny! Dannmann having looked forward to this weekend, unfortunately hit #2 pilot on his 3rd race with uncharacteristic model issues which saw him finish well down for the weekend. Leigh flew a brilliant race with his average for the event of 60 seconds and Shaun finishing 2nd in his second ever F3D race. He flew very consistently and was closely followed by a veteran of pylon, Baz Murphy, having got all his times in.

With only one event to go at Munro before the great race at AMPRA which is being held at Coolum QLD. This will be the first event for the team selection trial for the 2017 F3D World Championships to be held in Sweden. Good luck to all pilots!

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Shaun Jacobsen
3rd Barry Murphy

Fastest Time: 58.97 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 10

Class – F400

Places:
1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Ranjit Phelan
3rd Barry Murphy

Fastest Time: 64.95 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 11

Class – Q500

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

Fastest Time: 95.87 – Mike Kellet
No. of competitors: 6

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

The following is how the season championship stands currently.

FA1

1st – Daniel Arapakis
2nd – Barry Murphy
3rd – Leigh Hocken

No change for the top two positions, but Leigh Hocken has moved up to 3rd position, displacing Glenn Matthews.

F400

1st – Brian Steele
2nd – Glenn Matthews
3rd – Shaun Jacobsen

No change for the top two positions, but Shaun Jacobsen has moved up to 3rd position, displacing Jim Orenshaw.

Q500

1st – Jim Orenshaw
2nd – John Schmidli
3rd – Andrew Arapakis

For Q500, again there was no change for the top 3 positions.

Check Out Season Championship >>>

Season Fastest Time

There was no new fastest time recorded at the Warnambool event

FA1 – Leigh Hocken – 57.38

F400 – Leigh Hocken – 61.75

Q500 – Daniel Arapakis – 89.59

Check Out Complete Calendar >>>

Event Report – Anonymous
Additional information: John Schmidli
Photos – Andrew Arapakis & Tom Allen

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.

The annual VMPRA race was held at the Warrnambool Club’s field on the weekend of 28 – 29 March 2015.  The event has been on the VMPRA calendar for well over a decade and the club has been very supportive of pylon racing.

Warrnambool is located on the Southern Ocean, and historically this has meant cool and windy conditions…and fast times.  This year a storm front passed through the area on the Thursday prior to the event giving the area and the flying field a good watering.  The weather then improved throughout the weekend.

Pilots that arrived on Friday were treated to sandwiches and tea/coffee and sweets – the hospitality was provided by Toni Axon.  It was a very civilised way to start the weekend and there was plenty of time for practice flights. Late in the afternoon, Tom Jacobsen and the dedicated group from South Australia arrived. These guys are truly passionate about their pylon racing and they helped bolster the numbers as a number of the VMPRA regulars had family and business commitments.

Saturday dawned overcast and cold, with occasional rain showers. The course was set up and racing got underway by mid-morning. The schedule was to follow the usual VMPRA plan – VIC F400, Q500 Sport and FA1, with the target of completing eight rounds for each class. As usual VMPRA procedure, racing was over 10 ½ laps.

VIC F400 was first up and this class attracted eight entries.  Four rounds were flown on Saturday and Shaun Jacobsen set the early pace, ending up with a best time of 64.88 for his DKT powered AR-6. Shaun was chased all the way, wing tip-to-wing-tip, by an inspired Jim Orenshaw. Jim had found a new prop that gave more speed and he finished the day with his best time of 65.51.

Four rounds of Q500 Sport was the next class to see action and this class attracted seven entries. John Schmidli set the early pace in the first round, however, he was not able to maintain consistency. John’s regular team-mate, James Hurley, had other commitments this weekend and Gary Davidson stepped in to help out. James York was debuting an impressive new Banshee and John Yanni also had a new model. David Axon had recruited Barry Murphy (apparently bribed by offers of sandwiches and tea) as a mentor and caller for the weekend – in the absence of Brian Steele. George Angelov was back in action as well with help from Gary. However, their efforts were in vain, as Tom Wetherill bagged some good scores in the 94 second range to finish ahead at the end of the day.

FA1 was the next class to be run and this class also attracted seven entries. Leigh Hocken, a member of the host club, member of the Australian F3D 2015 Team and local hero, set the pace on the first day with a string of 59 second times.  His best time coming in Round 5 with a brand new model.  At the end of the day, Tom Wetherill was second with best times in the 61 second range and Daniel Arapakis was third with a best time in the 62 second range.

On Sunday, the weather continues to clear and beanies were replaced with sun screen.  The first event was to complete the final four rounds of VIC F400.  Shaun Jacobsen continued to show the way and finished first overall with a score of 394.4.  Another win for SA!  Glenn Matthews finished second with a score of 421.2.  He was followed 0.5 seconds behind by Jim Orenshaw.  Cuts incurred during chasing Shaun caused him to drop back in the results.  Times on Sunday were slower than the previous day.

The remaining four rounds of Q500 Sport were flown next. There was plenty of very close racing as well as some bumping and sharing paint in flight – fortunately no loss of models occurred.  Although the times were also slightly slower than the prior day, Tom Wetherill finished in first place with a score of 578.9.  John Schmidli was second with a score of 610.0 and James York, who had started to dial in his new model, finished third with a score of 668.8.

The last event for the weekend was to complete the final three rounds of FA1.  Leigh ran a new model in preparation for the 2015 World Championships and blitzed the field with a best time of 57.44 for 10 ½ laps.  He ended the weekend in first place with a score of 354.9.  Daniel Arapakis stepped up the pace and posted a personal best of 59.2.  He finished second with a score of 369.9.  Tom Wetherill was third with a score of 377.6.

Attrition during the weekend was low overall.  However, Gary Davidson bore the brunt of any misfortune.  He had an impressive engine blow-up, creating a new ventilation system for his MB, as well as losing an F400 model.

In summary, a great weekend of racing and special thanks go out from VMPRA to the host Warrnambool club for use of their facilities, their hospitality and for their members who worked the course and served in the canteen.  Thanks also to Glenn and Nerida Matthews for running the timing system, to Toni and David Axon for working as starters, and the VMPRA members who worked the course during the weekend when they were not racing.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results – FA1

Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Daniel Arapakis
3rd Tom Wetherill

Fastest Time: 57.44 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 7
Course – 10.5 Laps

Results – F400

Places:
1st Shaun Jacobsen
2nd Glenn Matthews
3rd Jim Orenshaw

Fastest Time: 64.88 – Shaun Jacobsen
No. of competitors: 8
Course – 10.5 Laps

Results – Q500

Places:
1st Tom Wetherill
2nd John Schmidli
3rd James York

Fastest Time: 94.03 – Tom Wetherill
No. of competitors: 7
Course – 10.5 Laps

Check out the full results>>>

Season Championship

The following is how the season championship stands currently.

FA1
So now our AUST junior team representative has jumped up to the top position having displaced Glenn Matthews down to 2nd place.

1 – Daniel Arapakis
2 – Glenn Matthews
3 – Andrew Davies

F400 – Results
Glenn Matthews has jumped up to top position displacing both Andrew Davies & Brian Steele down to 2nd and 3rd respectively.

1 – Glenn Matthews
2 – Andrew Davies
3 – Brian Steele

Q500 – Results

Tom Wetherill has moved up another place from 3rd to 2nd with John Schmidli remaining in top place.

1 – John Schmidli
2 – Tom Wetherill
3 – James Hurley

Full Championship Results>>>

Next Event

Unfortunately the Quickie/Sports event at Bacchus Marsh has had to be cancelled. Therefore the next event will be Cohuna on May 16-17, 2015

Check Out Complete Calender >>>

Event Report – Tom Wetherill.
Additional content – John Schmidli
Photos – John Schmidli and Tom Wetherill

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 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.

With the Friday being ANZAC day, it was a good chance to leave early for the trip to Warrnambool and do some test flights and setting up. The weather on the Friday was quite spectacular. Quite a few of us camped out at the field.

Saturday started off with rain but this dispersed by the time test flights started. After setting up the course, F400 started. With the first round completed, it was decided that the course needed to be re positioned due to a visibility issue with the no. 1 pylon judges. There was long grass obscuring the planes taking off, causing some confusion as to which plane to follow. If you don’t know all the plane very well, it is very easy to end up following the wrong plane if you can’t see the launch.

The course was reset and racing started again having dropped the already raced rounds. It was around 11am by the time we got going again. As a result, the number of rounds ended up being 7 rather than the usual 9 rounds for the weekend.

This was also exacerbated by having to reset the course at the last minute on the Sunday due to the predicted wind direction.

Pylons 2 and 3 judges were in place all week end which was excellent. Again this makes for legitimate results.

Thanks goes out to the members of the Warrnambool Club, Toni Axon, Nerida Matthews and all who helped out with pylon judging.

Check out the event photo gallery>>>

Results

FA1

Place getters in FA1, Tom Wetherill, Leigh Hocken & Frank Cassella (L-R)

It was good to see the team of Leigh Hocken and Frank Cassella back racing at this event and doing well. F3D is getting serious now with the next event at AMPRA being the start of the Australian team trials for the next world champs in 2015.

Places:
1st Leigh Hocken
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Frank Cassella

Fastest Time: 57.37 – Leigh Hocken
No. of competitors: 11
Course – 10.5 Lap

F400

Places:
1st Glenn Matthews
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd Andrew Davies

Fastest Time: 68.71 – Glenn Matthews
No. of competitors: 10
Course – 10.5 Lap

Q500

Places:
1st Daniel Arapakis
2nd Tom Wetherill
3rd John Schmidli

Fastest Time: 96.35 – Daniel Arapakis
No. of competitors: 8
Course – 10.5 Lap

Check out the full results>>>

2013-2014 Season Championship

This event marked the end of the 2013-2014 VMPRA Season Championship after a total of 8 events for FA1 & F400 and 9 for Q500. I know from my point of view, it has added an additional element to the competition through-out the year.

FA1

2013-2014 Season Champion for FA1 – Barry Murphy

2nd place – Brian Steele
3rd place – Glenn Matthews

Congratulation to Barry Murphy who won by a huge margin even though having raced in 1 less event than the maximum. Brian Steele also raced in 1 less event and came in 2nd.

F400

2013-2014 Season Champion for F400 – Glenn Matthews

2nd place – Andrew Davies
3rd place – Daniel Arapakis

Congratulations to Glenn Matthews on winning this class. It was very close at the top with Glenn and Andrew on equal points with only 1 event left to run.

Q500

2013-2014 Season Champion for Q500 – John Schmidli

2nd place – Daniel Arapakis
3rd place – Jim Orenshaw

It was a tight battle all season between Daniel and myself and I had not expected to be able to defend my title from the previous year. Daniel announced at Warrnambool that he was going to retire from Q500 and put all his efforts into FA1 & F400. Well done Daniel. He was responsible for many of us cutting our personal bests by a considerable amount. There is nothing like strong competition to sharpening your performance.

Full Championship Results>>>

New Event

There has been the addition of a Q500, EF-1 & Sport event scheduled for Werribee on August 24, so all those interested, pencil this one in to the calendar. We have been getting quite good size turnouts at these 1 day events, especially being to close to Melbourne.

Next Events

The next event for those wanting to travel to sunny Queensland and to the 1st of the 3, F3D world champ team trials is AMPRA which is being held at Maryborough on the Queen’s birthday week end . Check out the AMPRA schedule and the QMARA website.

The next VMPRA event is at Marong near Bendigo on July 5-6. We intend to run the VMPRA AGM on the Saturday night. Time and location TBC.

Report & Photos: John Schmidli