Victorian State Championships - 2010
3rd - 5th April
 

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Photos courtesy of Paul Stein; John Boys

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Now for the much-anticipated Classic B contest. The last rules update has provided even closer results with the new ball raced engines mixing it up with the established PB engines. It may come as no surprise to those ‘in the know’ that the fastest and best engine in Classic B is the Enya PB prepared by that internationally renowned ‘motor man’, the late Alan Barnes of New Zealand. This engine actually comes from the Lance Smith collection but is being campaigned by Paul Stein part of a joint development project.

Once again, eight teams were lined up to do battle. Perhaps the biggest shock given the superb weather was the failure of any teams to dip under 3 minutes. A few certainly got close with the Cosmic Rays recording their best ever heat time of bang on 3 minutes.

The bottom line is that Classic B has done it yet again with an exciting display of extraordinary SUPER CLOSE racing! The first 6 teams recorded: 3:00, 3:01, 3:02, 3:03, 3:04, 3:05. Amazing, huh?

Hot favourites Rob Fitzgerald & Paul Stein had a first round they would rather forget with the Enya .25/Rocket combo, but true to form they unleashed their potential and recorded a smart 3:02.75, good enough for 3rd spot in the final.

Just ahead in the heats were Graeme Wilson and Mark Ellins who did a first round 3:01.97 with their Brodak and decided to sit on their time. It was a gamble that paid off with only the Cosmic Rays dipping under that time. The Cosmics were on fire, posting their best heat time ever of 3:00.28. How unlucky not to make it into the 2:50’s! The Lance Smith prepared OS FX 25 in their trusty old Crescendo has ensured Jim and Colin Ray are back where they belong in Classic B… as genuine contenders for winning the race.

Much was expected of current SA Classic B champ Mark Poschkens. Unfortunately his pilot Maris Dislers was unable to be present, but Mark had an ace up his sleeve in the person of Richard Justic. Together they put in two very fast times of 3:05 & 3:06 with the GMS Rocket, to barely miss out on making the last three. They only needed to be a few seconds faster. After the Worlds, you can be very sure the Posh man will be working on this.

Harry Bailey and Peter Roberts were hoping to see the Irvine powered Galaxie make it to the final three and gave it a good shot in the second round to end up missing out by only 1.72 seconds.

Make no mistake, this Irvine is capable of blitzing the opposition, as a 2:57 heat and 3rd place at the last Nats clearly showed.

The Dream Team are capable of a much faster time than they posted at this meet. They are still working on getting their systems right for that often elusive smooth, consistent and fast engine run. Practice makes perfect…or so I am told!

Certainly Lance Smith has put in the hours down at Frankston sorting out engines and models. However, despite a very good piloting effort from Murray Wilson, they found themselves a scant 34/100th of a second away from a finals qualifying time. However, Lance would have been proud to see all the Classic B engines he has worked on performing so well. We are very fortunate to have Lance and Andrew Nugent prepared to do quality work preparing racing engines. This means Classic B is in better shape than ever with competitive ‘on the pace’ engines just a phone call away.

John Hallowell and Neil Baker had a suspected blockage and subsequent slow time first round with the Streak. The second round looked much more promising with a one flick start and speed to burn with the B25R red Swooper. But it all came unstuck at the pit stop when another model glided in on top of the Swooper distracting the pitman and causing a broken wing. It was going well enough for timekeeper Lance to declare it would have easily been a sub 3 min. time if a normal stop had been made without the incident.

At CD Keith Baddock’s command, all teams were smartly away in the final. The Enya quickly established a lead with good airspeed. The Ray’s were keeping close and the OS FX was going really well… could they again win this title? However, they were going to 3 stop and that was always going to be difficult. Graeme and Mark were going for a 2 stop and must have got hot as the engine refused to fire up at their pit stop, so their race was effectively over.
Meanwhile, Rob Fitzgerald and Paul Stein finished the 10 mile 140 lap race in fine style with a new record of 5:49.40.

Hearty congratulations to the winners!

John Hallowell.
AUS 1984

At our recent State Championships at Easter the three finalists Simons/Potter, Wilson/Poschkens and Fitzgerald/Ellins had all posted probably the worlds three fastest F2C qualifying heat times this year to make the final.

These three teams will be representing Australia at the World Championships in Hungary.

A great final race was anticipated but Wilson/Poschkens missed the catch at the first pit stop and ran in.

At the second pit stop Fitzgerald/Ellins were first down but Hugh Simons ran his model through their lines on the ground and received a DQ.

Fitz and Ellins’ lines were ruined so they could not continue so that was the end of the race. A big anti climax.

Even the World Champions can make mistakes.

F2C CD Harry Bailey

Control line enthusiasts were blessed with near to perfect flying conditions for the Victorian State Champs Super Sunday on April 4th, 2010 at the Knox field. Combined Speed, Vintage A, Classic B, F2B Aerobatics and finally Vintage Combat meant there was rarely a moment with out a model in the sky. Great for the spectators too although you need to be early to get a good car parking spot!

After Speed CD Lance Smith had got through the grass event program, VTR CD Keith Baddock was quick to organize a draw and get his event underway. It was going to be a long day and it was important that there were no delays. As it was, Vintage Combat finished in twilight, not quite as dark as that WA Nats at Busselton where Mark Ellins beat Stuart Sherlock in Vintage Combat using the lights from a nearby hockey field to see their models!

Back to the racing… Just eight teams fronted for Vintage A and each one had a good chance of taking away the prize. It was going to depend on a lot of factors as to who makes the final… not the least being where the engine actually stops in the circle. If it stops in the wrong spot, it will easily add 5 or 6 seconds to a time. Such is the unpredictable nature of old time team racing that doesn’t allow the use of shutoffs to control landings. Maybe a thought for future rules updates?

Round one was soon underway and it was this country’s No.1 VTR team of Rob Fitzgerald and Paul Stein that set the standard for the others with a mighty 3:10.72 which is a record for the new 52’ lines. They wisely decided to skip the 2nd round as there was simply no way that 3 teams would beat that time.

Murray Wilson and Lance Smith had decided to use Lance’s engine and save Murray’s fast one for use during their European trip later this year. Their 3:24.7 first round was workmanlike but their second round time of 3:19.57 with the pink and black D.D. was good enough for 3rd spot in the final, tipping out Hallowell/Baker by 2/100th of a second!

Down from Sydney town, Richard Justic was on the handle for Andy Kerr and put a 3:23 in the CD ‘s notebook in round one. They were granted a refly in round two but suffered a few setbacks on the ground during this race and could only manage a 3:26.19.

3:23 was certainly the flavour of the day with Harry Bailey and Peter Roberts also doing a 3:23.81 in round 1. However, a few Gremlins crept into their system and prevented another decent time. John Hallowell and Neil Baker returned a 3:23.37 first round and a 3:19.59 second round. They also joined in a re-fly for Andy and Richard for, you guessed it, another 3:23.

Graeme Wilson and Mark Ellins did themselves proud with two exceptional times of 3:20.53 and 3:15.85. All that F2C work over the past couple of days was keeping these boys razor sharp. And it showed as Mark had a near perfect tune on the R250. These remarkable Australian made engines were used by all competitors.

Jim and Colin Ray were putting in the time with plenty of pre race practice. But although their model was quick, a fast time proved elusive on the day. The same could be said for the Dream Team of Ken & John Hunting who also couldn’t manage to post a time that would scare the frontrunners.

Time for the final. All three Dimpled Dumplings were smartly away, their R250’s singing a fine, high-pitched song. It was a good, clean race flown in near perfect conditions. The ghostly grey Stein machine had a slight edge on speed over G.Wilson/Ellins and M.Wilson/Smith. Fitz was nailing the landings and Paul was displaying great hand/eye co-ordination to catch the bouncy model. Very soon it was all over with yet another win to Rob Fitzgerald and Paul Stein in what must be a world record time of 6:31.56 for Vintage A on 52’ lines. All three teams flew well under 7 minutes which was a very good effort.

John Hallowell.
AUS 1984