RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING
Kurt Bozarth, 18699 E. Ida Ave., Aurora, CO 80015
This month I have several races to report on: the Central American National Championships, the US Team Trials, and the NMPRA (National Miniature Pylon Racing Association) Championships. In the next issue I hope to cover the results of the 2005 Winterfest Quarter 500 (Q-500) race held in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Central American National Championships
I received some terrific information from Julio Quevedo Jr. regarding pylon racing in Central America. Julio is quite an accomplished RC pilot—I’ll have more about him later.
He reports that the Central American Modelers Association’s 2004 Championships were held November 5–7 in Guatemala. This has been an annual event since 1998, and its location rotates to different Central American countries each year. The events included Q-500 and Open Pylon Racing, Scale, International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC), Helicopter, and Soaring.
This year’s championship event was organized by the Guatemalan clubs AGA, ACME, and the Hornets. Klaus Wagner was the event director and Irwin Cosillo was the Pylon CD. A total of 31 contestants entered, and the majority were from El Salvador and Honduras.
After three days of exciting racing, with a few crashes thrown in for fun (best crash went to Tomas Wandel), the results were as follows.
Q-500 Pylon:
- Julio Quevedo Jr. — flying a Shotgun
- Klaus Wagner — flying a Doddger
- Raul David — flying a Shotgun
Open Pylon:
- Julio Quevedo Jr. — flying a Shotgun Q-500
- Raul David — flying a Napier Heston Quarter 40 (Q-40)
- Julio Quevedo Sr. — flying a Q-500
No one at the Central American Championships was surprised to see Julio Quevedo Jr. on the winner’s podium. He has been there many times, and not just in pylon racing. He also won Team Scale and Helicopter Freestyle, and he placed second in IMAC Advanced.
And if that weren’t enough, Julio races RC cars in his spare time. He has flown in five Aerobatics World Championships and two US Nats (Soaring and Pattern). Whew! I’m exhausted from just writing about it.
US Team Trials
Longtime pylon racer and fast guy Tom Scott was generous enough to send me details about the US Pylon Racing Team Trials, held December 5–7, 2004.
The Markham Park Pilots Association (MPPA) hosted the event at its public field in Sunrise, Florida (approximately 15 miles west of Fort Lauderdale). Cliff Telford was the CD and did an outstanding job as always. Jim Perdue (MPPA club president) and “Rocket” Ray Brown organized the event and the course workers. The contest was extremely well organized and a huge success.
The objective of this competition was to select the top FAI-class pylon racers to represent the United States at the 2005 F3D World Championships, to be held in Tours, France, August 27–September 3. You can find more information about the World Championships at http://francef3dwc.site.voila.fr/index.html.
According to Tom, the Team Trials included some of the most intense racing he had ever seen or experienced. It was obvious that all 13 racers in attendance had logged many hours of practice and were serious about making the US team. A total of 12 rounds were flown during a two-day period. The worst two times were discarded for each participant. In the end, only 3.6 seconds of total time separated the top three finishers.
The 2005 US FAI Pylon Racing team will consist of:
- Richard Verano
- Randy Bridge
- Craig Grunkemeyer
Bruce DeChastel will be the team alternate, and Jim Allen will be the team manager.
Five-time World Championships competitor Richard Verano (who finished first in 1993, second in 1995, third in 1999, and second in 2003) has set F3D world records at his World Championships attendances and was the first to break the 1-minute barrier. He is excited about the 2005 team's potential and feels that it could be the best to date.
Randy Bridge—current and five-time US national champion—will make his international debut along with Craig Grunkemeyer, who is a five-time Nats winner and designer of the popular Doddger Q-500 model.
Team alternate Bruce DeChastel is a six-time international competitor, having represented Australia and the US. Current World Champion Chris Callow of Australia flew Bruce’s FAI design—the Evo—when he set the record of 0:57.7 in 2003 in Melnik, Czech Republic.
One can understand why Richard is so excited about this US team. The best of luck to them all.
NMPRA Championships
The NMPRA held its 2004 Championships in Orlando, Florida, December 10–12. As a warm-up for the Q-40 (AMA event 422) races Saturday and Sunday, a day of Q-500 racing (AMA event 428) was held Friday. Sport Quickie (AMA event 424) was flown throughout the weekend.
Q-500 had 27 entries, Sport Quickie averaged eight participants a day, and Q-40 had 32 entries. Several racers, including myself, had to cancel plans to attend because of the never-ending demands of a never-understanding employer.
In addition to great racing, a great banquet was scheduled for Saturday evening at a local country club. Evidently the food was terrific, and to quote Bob Brogdon—NMPRA secretary/treasurer and party planner—“The banquet had to be one of the best ever!”
Awards were presented to the top five racers with the highest point totals for the year in Q-500 and Q-40. Dub Jett, of Jett Engineering, was honored with a unique award for his long and faithful membership and accomplishments in the NMPRA.
The results of the NMPRA Championships follow. If you recall, 15-year-old J.D. Glass was the most outstanding Q-500 Junior at the 2004 Nats. How quickly they grow up!
Q-500
- J.D. Glass
- G. Tahhan (of Venezuela)
- Rusty Van Buren
- Ray Brown
- Dennis O’Brien
Fast time: J.D. Glass — 1:10.08
Q-40
- Dub Jett
- Tom Scott
- Fred Burgdorf
- Ray Brown
- Gary Freeman Jr.
Fast time: Fred Burgdorf — 1:02.06
Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have comments or subject-matter suggestions. I particularly welcome race write-ups and high-resolution digital photos. My e-mail address is [email protected].
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
