Easter Champs 2000 - New Plymouth

Friday 21st April.
Report By Glen Lewis

1/2A Team Race

I travelled up to New plymouth in the morning and arrived at the NP site to find what we can only now call New Plymouth 'combat' weather! The trip up was mostly fine and about 30 minutes from the site my pitman Robert Bolton rang me to say it had just started to rain and when I got there it was high overcast and light drizzle patches.

Practice was well underway and we got our model out of the box for the first time in about 16 months and fitted a new prop and got a setting and we were ready to race. We found ourselves in the first heat together with Alan Barnes and Robin Boys so this was potetially a real fast race. We had a few problems with range and had to 3 stop the race and lost some time to finish with a 3-44.27 with Alan 6 seconds faster with a clean run.

The next heat saw the Robinson team of Don and Andrew who have been doing a lot of practice against fellow sibling Brendon and the new Gibson / Suter Team. Team Robinson showed that practice does pay off with a personal Best time of 3-31.78. The final was set to be a real ripper with the three best teams in the country over the past few years racing off for the top place.

They were Team Robinson, Alan Barnes with Alistair Boys flying and the Lewis / Bolton team taking the 3rd spot. From the hooter, Lewis / Bolton were off the ground and from the rear pit station were past the other two teams inside the first lap, this was where they stayed and were never really challenged with a near perfect setting and pitstops that saw the model on the ground for less than 3 seconds a stop. The Robinson's went out hard and fast but cooked up and never really recovered while Alan had a reasonable race but cound not compete with the Robert Bolton pitstops. This left Lewis / Bolton to clean out the final in a near record time for their first 1/2A event since the Nationals of 1998.

Results

G. Lewis / R. Bolton

F2D Combat

Well as you may have guessed from 1/2A Team race it was typical NP Combat weather but as there was no wind and the drizzle was very slight one could almost say it was nearly perfect!!
There were only 5 entants for F2D this year which is about normal with one exception, we had an international competitor.
Rudi Konegshofer from Austria who with partner Petra have been travelling the country since last September have been enjoying our countryside and the hospitality of our fellow modellers. This I believe will be their last comp. before they head home so we wish them both all the best, they will be missed.
The combat was of a good standard apart from one midair that saw Martin loose a treasured 'Boron' in a motor to motor clash with the king of midairs Jon Spain. Martin also had another with Rudi that left Rudi with one less model to take home!! By the end of the day we were down to the last two, Rudi and Jon. The final was held the next day after the Team race events.
The final was a long drawn out battle with a sucession of 2 cuts to 2 score lines but after the third refly, Rudi finally came out on top.

Results

Saturday 22nd April.

Diesel Goodyear

Today was a great day for flying, next to no wind and clear blue skies.
Practice was flown and racing got under way as Alan Barnes started to crack the whip and get the show on the road. There was a field of 7 for this event and competition for the top spot was hot with airspeeds of most very close.
The first heat showed some nerves and times were not as fast as was hoped for but all three teams did improve in the next rounds. Newcomer Lars Carlson gave Adrian and Martin a good race pushing them to a personal best time and a spot in the final. Robin Boys put in a good first race to just beat Adrian and Martin out of top spot by 0.67 sec with Stuart Milne and Paul Squires making the third spot just ahead of Lars Carlson.
The final was a great race, and from the start it was clear that Robin was going to get a real run for his money and Adrian and Martin were getting better every race and this year was there year for Goodyear and gave it everything. And in the end had a comfortable win and just for once, nothing broke!

Results

Fast Goodyear

There were 6 entries in fast Goodyear this year and the standard was looking good and getting better as the day progressed. Robert and Glen put up their newly revived Stels powered beast and gave everyone sore ears as it screamed around at good speed but were undone in the first heat with a failure of all but one of the mylar hinges on the elevator. The model was landed safely but their day was over.
Bryce put in some good times with a personal best in the 3rd heat with a 4-07.52 to book a spot in the final. Shauns effort was undone with a bazaar accident in the 2nd heat when a line cross situation got out of hand and Bryce hit the shut off and carfully threw the handle away to avoid a 3 plane mid-air with the model narrowly missing a time keeper (Robin) who did not bat an eyelid. A hand swap might have been a better alternative here but as Bryce is a seasoned F2D pilot and being used to having a safety strap, this was not the first thought. A lucky escape for all and not even a broken prop!!
Adrian and Martin booked their spot into the final with a solid 4-04.89 although Adrian was looking a little weary after that heat and handed the handle over to Glen for the final. The last spot in the final went down to the last heat of the day with Stu and Paul edging out Robin Boys by 2 secs to make the last final spot.
The final was a really awesome race with very little difference in air speed but with Glen pulling a little harder than everyone else gave Martin the edge. The 100 lap pit was the crucial one and Martin had to do a fast plug changed while Glen gasped for some air! At the 3/4 mark it was a very close race but Glen was still able to get a few overtakes and that made the difference and a narrow win over the ever improving Stu Milne / Paul Squires team by 6 secs.

Results

Saturday 22nd April.

During the day Aerobatics was flown and from time to time some of the team race people had to venture over to the grass circle to put in a round of aerobatics. The day flowed well and there were no clashes at all and as the weather Gods were smiling on us the flying was very enjoyable, both to watch and fly.
Newcomer Lars Carlson was the show out pilot in Sportsman easily winning, maybe time to step up to F2B! In F2B it was good to see Lyall Goggin back flying, Lyall has been out of control line for a while and in past years was involved mostly in Team Race so I hope we see more of the 'old firm' returning.
Kim Webby was in fine form and hot on his heels was Owen Rogers who is getting into some form to take to the Worlds along with Dave Wright who needs a little more fine tuning to be at his best.
All in all a great days flying.

Results
F2B