Saturday Round five of the North Island Stunt Series kicked off around 10ish with six entries in F2B and one would be Sportswoman, Marie Webby, due to the absence of competition!
First round saw ideal conditions which some fliers used to advantage and others to blow out the cobwebs. Great to have Loren Nell accompanied by his father and wife Gail here for the day along with Kevin Barnes from the Waikato, Don and Andrew Robinson, New Plymouth, and the only Aucklander( ex Whangarei!) Adrian Hamilton. Loren’ s electric stunt machine seemed effortless but he was busy between official flights eliminating bugs. To add it the technology mix was Adrian’ s“ nothing substitutes cubes V8”, Kevin’ s Yatsenko suitcase model, Danny’ s profile LA46 Pizazz – which cut well through the bumpy air later in the contest, Don’ s St60 Magnum and Kim’ s 20 year old vintage(?)‘ Aotearoa’. At the end of the day though it wasn’ t technology that won, but reliability and consistency.
In the judges seats we must thank again Gus Knapp( Whangarei) and Andrew Robinson who drives many miles to assist with stunt contests. Gus has judged sportsman in previous years and has closely watched C / L aerobatics. He did a sterling job judging F2B officially for the first time.
At lunchtime and later, trainers buzzed the air with some enthusiastic juniors, Peter, Marie and Tawhai having a lot of fun.
Andrews pulse Jet flight signalled the end of the contest sending birds spiralling away above the water treatment ponds and brought cattle over for a closer inspection. Chucky flights added to the pleasant atmosphere and a great day was had by all.
Sunday Sunday dawned fine with a mild wind from the SE that progressively eased as the day went on. 6 entries in Slow Combat made for a no rush event. Great to see Bob Reynolds and Steve Hansen come up from Auckland for the day and Kevin Barnes and Adrian Hamilton stay over from the previous day ' s stunt event to join locals Danny and Peter Walker. Apart from the obligatory mid-airs other highlights included the return to competition by Steve after a long hiatus, a youngest verses …. not quite as young duel between Peter and a very sporting Bob that resulted in Peter taking his first cut and a hard fought battle between Adrian and Danny that made it to Youtube( search ' Whangarei slow combat march 2013 '). The final came down to a best of three between Kevin and Adrian, both with two lives. Adrian’ s tactic of not attaching a streamer worked against him in the first bout which he was unable to recover from but took advantage of a poor motor run by Kevin to take the second. However it was Kevin who triumphed in the third and deciding bout following a midair that knocked Adrian out for the count.
Top left: Kevin Barnes / Bob Reynolds Top right: Trainer racing Tawhai Webby, Adrian Hamilton Above: Trainer racing Marie Webby, Steve Biggins, Andrew Robinson Opposite Page: Serious Talk F2B Kevin Barnes, Adrian Hamilton, Loren Nell.