Well it was certainly windy up the hill today! We had 16-19ms on East Lomond and it was fairly well round to the west so pretty crossed and tricky conditions. It was good to see Ian Simpson up the hill after a few years away so we had 6 pilots and just as well because self launching today would have been tricky.
Mike was up first and started very well with a pair of 38’s, with his heavy FS4.3 carrying speed around the upwind turn particularly well, Ewan wasn’t quite as quick to get to grips with it and Ian was flying his Crossfire which was a bit light to carry speed upwind. I took a round to get my eye in and flew a 41 and a 36 and George started well with a 42 but was slower 2nd round.
I’m not sure if things got a bit more crossed for rounds 3 & 4 but the times were slower, with Mike very consistent on a pair of 41’s and me 43, 42. We had a break for lunch And Mike started strong again with a 35.43 and FTD with a 42 in round 6. Ewan was getting steadily quicker and went 44, 43 and I went 38, 41, not quick enough to gain any ground on Mike who was flying very well indeed.
Mike went 37, 38 in rounds 7 and 8 to really pile the pressure on then Ewan with a 41 and a 44, Ian was sitting the last few rounds out as the wind was increasing steadily and his light Crossfire was not enjoying the conditions. I stepped up and the wheels came off a bit with two cuts in round 7 for a 47 then stuffed the Jedi into the hill on crow through (wings OK but fuselage repairs to do), Mick had also had a bad landing and cracked a fuselage and George finished with a 45 and a 54. We called it a day after 8 rounds.
And the winner was… Mike McCracken! I have known this was coming for a while as Mike’s flying has been improving but today he kicked ass and it was a very well deserved win, well done that man!
1 Mike McCracken 6981.22 1000.00
2 Peter Gunning 6550.58 938.31
3 Ewan Maxwell 6219.10 890.83
4 George Young 5848.03 837.68
5 Mick Walsh 4729.01 677.39
6 Ian Simpson 2868.46 410.88
FTD: Mike McCracken 35.43
Next event is 15th July
All the best
Peter