August Club 40 race report
August 2022 Club 40 race report
We set the pylons up Friday before the races and tried to remember our cues for turning on the pylons. And then we got some rain…..
Saturday morning greeted us at the field with low clouds and some fog in the low spots. It stayed humid all day as the temperatures rose to “only in the 80’s” but the humidity was extremely high, everyone looked soaked within minutes of arrival. Safety was once again stressed at the pilot meeting and job one was to keep hydrated.
We had 4 entries in each of the 2 classes and got a slightly earlier start racing under low clouds.
The first Silver race saw Sparky best Clint, our perennial silver winner and was feeling pretty good about upcoming races that would be very competitive. After the race Clint managed to line up his plane so that he landed on top of Sparky’s plane sitting on the runway! A loud crack was heard and Clints plane was out of the races for the day. Sparky’s plane apparently wasn’t the worst for wear and racing continued. I think Clints wing hit the cylinder on the stationary airplane.
In the Bronze class practice and concentration by all showed that they were getting faster with experience. Three our of four Bronze racers got greedy in the corners and double cut out of the race receiving a zero instead of picking up a point or two.
After 4 heats of Silver and 4 heats of Bronze class we broke for lunch. David Poland and wife Janet provided the goodies and my favorite was the Brownies with nuts. They felt warm like they just came out of the oven but it could have just been the warm temps at the race.
Back to racing, it was going to be a tight finish in Bronze and each race would be critical to picking up maximum points. Like most racing the guy who makes the least number of mistakes will be victorious as cuts can send you from first to third place in one turn.
Silver class saw several 2 plane races with Clint out for the day. In two races in the last few laps the second place airplane was getting closer and closer to a cut as the lead was being stalked. In the last turn for home the second place airplane made a tight final turn and bested the leader across the finish line only to be called for a cut! It was exciting to see such a close finish but our honest and very fair pylon judges called the cut and Sparky prevailed!
Our race officials were Starter Rick Hill, Score keeper Terry Sloan, Pylon #1 “Stickman” Steve Dorset and Pylon #2 Yikai Yan.
Results: Points Fast time
Bronze:
Tim Porter 13 1:50.3*
Kitt Gerhart 12 1:59.9
David Poland 11 1:51.3
Tracy 8 2:08.1
Silver:
Tim Sparks 17 1:31.2*
Brice Himebaugh 12 1:32.0
Matt Fornefeld 11 1:37.4
Clint Seyer 2 xxx
As a reminder I have several gently used airframes and some bronze class engines. Let me know, I can get you racing in short order.
I will even share me speed secrets!
1.Practice
2.Practice
3.Practice!
Sparky
PS Yikai got some stick time on my Club 40 airplane after racing concluded. Will he be th next Club 40 pilot, he clearly has the skills!
Next race is 10 September in Galveston IN see you there!