Victorian State Championships - 2011
22nd - 25th April
 

Click on thumbnails for enlargement
Photos courtesy of Harry Bailey; John Hallowell; Adam Kobelt;
Warren Leadbeatter; PJ Rowland; Lance Smith; Paul Stein

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The CLASSIC B teams were all ready to go after a short lunch break. A good variety of .25 engines were to be seen. They included OSFX, GMS, Irvine, Enya and Brodak. Most of them had been ‘breathed on’ by engine man Lance Smith who was circle side to watch the action.

Mark Poschkens was keen to get back on the pace after his experiment with diesel fuel over in Sth Oz… So the GMS went back to Lance for some TLC and I spent a week with the bright yellow Rocket. The result was two excellent heat times and 2nd fastest of the day. They were in the final.

Paul Stein again had Richard Justic performing the up and down movements on the handle. The resulting 2.56.38 was yet another heat record, lowering the old one by a mere 7/100th of a second! Classic B is sounding more and more like swimming at the Olympics!

Trust me, this record is not going to last very long! So many teams are now knocking on the door. In practice a couple of weeks ago with the OS FX Streak, we were just flying around doing a couple of stops and optimizing the needle for 50 lap range. Lance was timing and he came over and said “you have just done a 2.48”. I didn’t even know he was counting laps!

Mark Ellins and Graeme Wilson missed out on the final by 1.87 seconds… Their Brodak B25R Swooper was circulating in the low 15’s/7 laps and was looking to be a real threat. In the end it was a typical Classic B event … oh so close among the front runners, with just a second or two deciding who will have a chance to take the title and who will help with the timekeeping.

Jim and Colin Ray had the airspeed to post a sub 3 minute time. Their OS FX 25 Crescendo was keeping up with the fastest models there. This time however, good luck deserted them and slowed the pit stops resulting in a best of 3.10.41 for the 70 laps.

Harry Bailey and Peter Roberts were expected to contest the final with their Nats winning Irvine/Galaxie combination. However, Murphy arrived on cue and decided to wreak havoc with the fuel system and despite their best efforts, the problem could not be solved in the limited time.

Ken Hunting and Bryce Young had the B25R wound up and despite reasonable speed, the Grassfire could not threaten the leaders and make the final like it did in Albury last October.

It was showdown time… for 140 laps of VERY hectic racing! A Streak vs 2 Rockets. An OSFX vs an Enya vs a GMS and all of them benefiting from a ‘laying of hands’ by Lance Smith. No quarter was asked or given. The team members came from Victoria, South Australia and NSW and gave their all. Could Mark Poschkens take the title? He had Murray Wilson flying so there was a big chance. But too much enthusiasm with the needle proved to be their undoing as the GMS went lean and slowed.
Then disaster struck as Ric picked up Poshy’s lines on landing. The ensuing tangle put paid to the chances of both teams losing precious seconds as handles were unwound.

Despite a missed catch at the second stop Hallowell/Baker’s race was going to plan with 50 lap range for a two stop final. With Andrew Nugent doing a sterling job on battery, the Streak crossed the line first in 6.14, well clear of the other two. It was to be Nobby’s last race, at least for a while, so it was fitting that he went out with a bang… or should I say, finished up on top with a decent win!


John Hallowell.
AUS 1984

Spectators in Australia do not often have the opportunity to see two World Champion teams in action at the same venue.

The Simons/Potter combination was in action against the current World F2C World Champions Fitzgerald/Ellins at Frankston with the other Australian representatives of Letchford/Walton and Wilson/Poschkens thrown in for good measure.

Three other Victorian teams had entered but G Wilson/Baker did not compete.

Rob Fitzgerald has not yet fully recovered from a hip operation, and only flew in two rounds but managed to post some very respectable heat times.

The three up final was a run away success for Simons/Potter.

CD – A.Nugent 

CD – H.Bailey  

Sunday August 7th.

The remaining events from The Victorian C/L State Championships were completed today at Frankston. No problems with the weather on this occasion. In fact it was very pleasant.

Midge speed was first up and was concluded in a short time.

Mini Goodyear T/R was up next and there were five entries. The G. Wilson/ M. Ellins team had the fastest model and combining that with good pit stops gave them a well deserved first place.

Simple Rat Race had some close competition and it was the team of M. Wilson/M. Ellins that were first over the line in the final followed by K. Hunting/N. Baker and in third place H. Bailey/ P. Roberts.

The Cosmic Ray’s (Jim and Colin) had a day of blown glow plugs and could not get amongst the top runners.

Later in the day some Speed models were flown. Noel Wake put in some consistent flight of his Nova Rossi 21 model.

For the third week in a row there will be another competition at the Frankston field next Sunday. See the contest calendar for details.

Harry Bailey

What a magic weekend it was for the much anticipated ‘Super Sunday’ at Knox! Fine conditions, around 20c and just light winds made for ideal flying on the smoothly mowed surface courtesy of CLAMF member Don Condon. His professional grass cutting with a great big self propelled mowing machine was really appreciated.

Contest Director Keith Baddock made sure Vintage A got under way as soon as Combined Speed was finished. There was a lot of team racing to get through and a huge Vintage Combat event after that. And there are only so many hours in a day…

Trevor Letchford and Steve Walton were over from the west and were keen to show the locals how it is done. Not this time though… No doubt they will get it all together at the upcoming WA State Champs on the 21st May. They are also keen to build an Elliptical for their R250 as it fits perfectly in their model box.

Jim and Colin Ray started off the day in fine style with a PB 3.18.22. They were really honking with the R250 powered Voodoo 5 and were looking for a place in the 160 lap final.

Ric Justic and Paul Stein continued their stove hot form from a few weeks back in Albury with a FTD 3.11.71. With that sort of time, they could afford not to fly in round two and just wait for the final instead.

John Hallowell and Neil Baker had good airspeed with the Elliptical but a fast time proved elusive. When a 3.22 is only good enough for 6th place, it speaks volumes for the quality of the opposition.

Graeme Wilson and Mark Ellins performed to their usual high standard but missed the final by just over a second with a best of 3.19.57. When you think of all the ways a second could be made up, I bet they wish they could fly that race over again!

Harry Bailey and Peter Roberts were knocking on the door, but in the end were just a few seconds or a lap and a bit away from making the final and having a chance for a win. A best of 3.21 would be written in the CD’s notebook.

Ken Hunting and Bryce Young recorded a couple of times they would rather put behind them. They can and will go much quicker at the next VTR event.

Murray Wilson and Mark Poschkens posted a sizzling 3.14 in round one with the pink and black Dimpled Dumpling and wisely decided there was no way that three teams would beat that sort of time. So they also sat out round two and awaited the final.

The final promised a super quick race, but only Ric and Paul delivered. At their second stop, Posh found no compression for a restart. The compression screw had worked loose on top of a tight contra piston, making it impossible to fire up so they had to retire on 95 laps. The Cosmic Ray’s race didn’t go to plan so it was left to Ric & Paul, the Vintage A invincibles with the grey D.D., to notch up yet another superb win. Their very fast time is certainly a State record and as far as I’m aware, a National record as well for the FAI length lines.

John Hallowell.
AUS 1984

CD K. Baddock  

Vintage Combat again proved it’s popularity with the highest entry level (18) of all the State Champs events. The last eight remaining entrants had

to resume flying early on Monday morning at Frankston and Mark Ellins did not lose a bout to become the eventual winner.