Victorian State Championships 2014

Well the day was a overcast with the threat of showers but spirits were high buoyed by the presence of our interstate competitors. Plenty of warm food was planned for the weekend to keep out any autumn chills and the circles looked in great condition after Pete had tickled them with the mower

The calendar of events to be flown at KMAC for Saturday was F2B Stunt Rounds 1 and 2 followed by Vintage Stunt which was the best of 2 rounds plus a static score. The winner of F2B would be the best of 2 flights flown on Saturday + the best of two flights to be flown on the following day.

The programme stepped up a peg or two on Sunday with the final flights for F2B to be flown, followed by the Classic Stunt competition. Like Vintage the Classic was decided on the best of two flights. On Circle 2 team race and speed were conducted concurrently with stunt and Vintage combat flown on Circle 3.

Despite rain intervening during Saturday the programme was able to be completed.

F2B

There was no doubt Dougie Grinham had his feathers fluffed up this weekend fielding models in all the Stunt events. To keep him and his Starcraft honest was Reg Towell with his 4 Stroke Miss America Mustang, Yatsenko's of Frank Battam and Mark Ellins, a Bob Hunt Saturn being campaigned by Don Keyssecker and Mark Gordon's Cardinal Profile . It was a tight tussle from the beginning. Dougie would have felt confident going into day two having posted a great round two score of 1032, a score that would not be beaten over the whole event. However Reg found something extra in round 3 that meant that Dougie had to dig deep only to find there were no more rabbits in the hat. Frank was never far from the mix but was unable to match the other boys this time. Despite the fight back from Reg on day two Dougs 32 point lead from day 1 may have proved a bridge too far.

There never seems to be a competition without some drama and in this case it was about the boy who could not manage the sums. On Sunday we lost our computer to old age (something some of us can relate to) and needed to manually calculate the K factors and total the score sheets. It was not until after the event and the winner declared that errors were discovered. The issue was referred to the CD and a decision made.

Our apologies for the confusion, and yes the computer has been fixed. The following is a statement from the CD.

"At the recent Vic State Champs, it was noted that a small error in scoring the F2B stunt competition had occurred. It has only affected the two top flyers namely Reg Towell and Doug Grinham. After recounting the two scores there was a difference of 2.25 points! It is too close to call, so Reg and Doug have been declared joint winners. Congratulations to both, and maybe next year a little unofficial fly off to secure bragging rights? As Contest Director for the event I do apologise for any inconvenience and misunderstanding this may have caused."

Peter Koch.

VINTAGE STUNT

Hat's off to the venerable Mr Nobes with his refurbished Guided Whistle. Fresh from his win at the Nationals his first round score was good enough to hold out the opposition but only just with Dougie snapping at his heels in the air. Round 2 was a disappointment for both Dougie and David. David's Atwood went off song while the Fox sandcast just flatly refused to start. Ken was the winner in this round not having any reliability issues. Mark and the Senior Monitor posted remarkably consistent scores for both rounds and would probably close the gap on Ken if he had a bit more time in the air leading up to the event. Dave Lacy although a little behind the others none the less looked to be enjoying himself before a line broke nearing the end of round 2. The Jamieson came off considerably worse for ware. Speaking with Don after the meet he advised that he was fighting the flu and did not have the best weekend in the circle all round. Still it was good to catch up again and we very much appreciated his effort in travelling down from Orchard Hills in NSW.

CLASSIC STUNT

There were two withdrawals from the event being Dave Lacy and Don Keyssecker. It might have been a small line up but the top 3 all posted 500+ scores from both judges. We have all seen these models before and there is no doubt they lived up to their heritage on the day. Flying one of his favourite designs Dougie bolted out of the blocks with a good break on his competitors and repeated the score in round 2 to show it was no fluke and you would have thought it was in the bag. Frank was the last flight and he knew what he had to do to rest the title from Doug. I don't think I have seen a more determined and focussed bit of flying in Classic. It was a delight to witness and something I didn't think his Bearcat was capable of. Commiserations Dougie but you have to take your hat off to Frank's last flight. What a scorcher!

TEAM RACE and SPEED

I can only say that when the speed boys started in the afternoon everyone ducked for cover. Here are the results courtesy of John Hallowell for the events flown at Knox. See ACLN Issue 186 for the full Team Race and Speed results.

The final was a beauty and any of the three teams could have been declared the winner. All were evenly matched for airspeed. Last year’s winners Wilson/Baker missed a kangaroo catch with the Olympian and lost time while both McDermott/Ellins and Bailey ran out of fuel with only a few laps to go and had to do an extra pit stop! In the end, a two stop final strategy and the slipped catch cost less time than the extra pit stop. Murray and Neil were home first again in 7.00.40 ahead of McDermott/Ellins in 7.05.09 and Bailey/Hunting on 7.07.69.

VINTAGE COMBAT