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 .