RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING
Kurt Bozarth 7825 S. Flanders St., Centennial, CO 80016 E-mail: [email protected]
WINTERFEST 2005
The 2005 Winterfest Q-500 Race was held in Phoenix, Arizona, January 15–16. This annual event brings out the big dogs in RC pylon racing. Each year the weather and the racing in Phoenix promise to be outstanding.
I made the trek from Colorado to Phoenix, enjoying the challenges of a delightful little blizzard. (You may have seen the driver from Colorado jumping out of her car just before it slammed into another at an icy intersection—no relation.) My racing buddy Brian Neff joined me on the drive while our other buddy John Williams followed a few hours back. After driving 250 miles at a speed slightly faster than that of an underpowered park flyer, we finally made it over Raton Pass and into the clear skies of New Mexico. From there it was smooth sailing. We had not heard from John for several hours and feared he had slid off the icy road outside of Trinidad, Colorado, but his trusty Saab made it through the snow just fine.
Thursday was a great day of practice, with approximately 20 racers at the field. Friday was much more crowded; at one point more than 70 airplanes were in line waiting for their turn to get airborne.
Pylon racer Doug Clancy during Thursday's practice: “Don't all of those motocross racers have a job, considering it's a weekday and all they're doing is just playing?” Unknown motocrosser during Thursday's practice: “Don't all of those RC pylon racers have a job, considering it's a weekday and all they're doing is just playing?”
The Speedworld R/C Flyers host the annual Winterfest Q-500 Race at the Speedworld Motorplex (which includes a motocross track), located on the northwestern edge of Phoenix. Fearless leader and club president Randy Dauer and his staff of volunteers have done an outstanding job year after year.
The 2005 event was the best to date, thanks to a new lighting system and a new timing program developed by Stan Douglas. If you have never been to a race hosted by the Speedworld R/C Flyers, you are missing one of the best-run races in the world. The average time between flags is approximately five minutes, a turnaround most clubs cannot match.
This year there were faster LED turn lights at Pylon 1, and a new light system was used to flag the start of each heat with a fixed delay between lanes 1 and 3 and lanes 2 and 4. That meant no more inconsistent delays between the first and second waves of the flag. I felt like a drag racer watching the Christmas tree. It benefited me and my caller when we were on the second launch; there was less of a "surprise" factor when the lights came on.
Because of the large turnout (64 pilots in Quickie 500 [Q-500—AMA event 428] and nine pilots in Sport Quickie [AMA event 424]), Contest Director Jim Allen decided, supported by a token vote of the pilots, to run the event as a single race spanning two days. Eight heats of Q-500 and Sport Quickie were completed.
The first Q-500 heat consisted of Jim Allen, Chuck Andraka, Gino Del Ponte, and Marty Hoppe, and it was airborne at approximately 9 a.m. Saturday. The racing increased in intensity throughout the weekend and did not let up until 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Early in Round One, Mike Tallman and Dave Presta were the victims of a supersized midair. Dave lost a new Bird of Prey and Mike lost a Shotgun. There were no survivors, but as always, the racing continued.
CD Jim Allen and last year's champ Mike Helsel were also gunned down by a big-league midair. Travis Flynn, not to be outdone, showed us what bad air can do to a beautiful Vortex doing 170 mph around Pylon 3.
In the final round Darrol Cady experienced a flameout on lap 10. Fortunately his model was able to coast the remainder of the last lap and cross the finish line in NASCAR fashion—just barely.
After seven rounds, Fred Burgdorf and Gary Freeman Jr. had the only perfect scores. Fred's fast time from Round Two would hold out, but his perfect score would not. He finished third in his final heat, opening the door for Gary, and Gary walked through it with a first-place finish in his eighth heat, giving him the overall win. The top 10 Q-500 finishers were:
- Gary Freeman Jr.
- Fred Burgdorf (fast time: 1:07.12)
- Randy Bridge
- Tony Lopez
- Gary Freeman Sr.
- Kurt Bozarth
- Jim Allen
- Tom Strom Sr.
- John Williams
- Darrol Cady
Gale Enstad owned the top spot and fast time throughout the first day of Sport Quickie racing, with Bob Ponek hot on his heels. However, Sunday was a different story—Bob slipped past Gale to steal first place for the weekend. Sport Quickie results after two days:
- Bob Ponek
- Gale Enstad (fast time: 1:31.36)
- Steve Cook
- Dan Thordarson
- Don Schelling
- Tom Skavinsky
- Ken Busse
- Wayne Cloud
- Mark Mellott
JR GOLD CUP Q-40 (NMPRA) — SPEEDWORLD MOTORPLEX
The Quarter 40 (Q-40) National Miniature Pylon Racing Association (NMPRA) / JR Gold Cup Series is intended to improve the quality and enjoyment of pylon racing at the national level. Gold Cup racecourse facilities and operation standards are high, ensuring excellent racing environments and competitive events.
JR (distributed by Horizon Hobby) has sponsored the series in recent years, and Powermaster has provided the fuel. JR provides engraved awards through fifth place, along with a fast-time award at each race. The company also donates $1,000 worth of Horizon Hobby gift certificates to the host club.
The first JR Gold Cup race of 2005 was hosted by the Speedworld R/C Flyers at the Speedworld Motorplex in Phoenix. Turnout was excellent, with 72 racers in attendance. Unfortunately I fell victim to the demands of work and had to cancel my plans to attend at the last minute. Stan Douglas was kind enough to post an update on the Internet after the first day of racing. As he suggested, webcams in the pits would be great for those junkies who are unable to attend events—perhaps that will be next on his list of racing-technology developments.
After four rounds (more than 70 heats), Fred Burgdorf was in first place with a perfect score, Lee Ulinger was in second, and Darrol Cady was in third. Day Two robbed Fred of his perfect score, and engine woes bumped Lee Ulinger out of contention.
Gino Del Ponte, with only one point lost to Gary Schmidt, was able to grab the top spot and hold it. You might recall that Gino was the 2004 AMA Nats Q-40 champion.
The results of the first JR Gold Cup Q-40 race of the year were:
- Gino Del Ponte
- Mike Helsel
- Randy Bridge
- Fred Burgdorf
- Darrol Cady
- Rusty Van Baren
- Doug Killebrew
- Lee Ulinger
- Randy Smith
- Drew Telford
- Dave Shadel (fast time: 1:02.76)
CALIFORNIA SPEED PROS (LYLE LARSON)
In the last few columns I have presented information about some popular models and designers/manufacturers. This month I provide information about Lyle Larson and a few of his current designs.
Lyle’s company is California Speed Pros—never mind the fact that he lives in Piedmont, South Dakota. His website: www.angelfire.com/ok2/racewithme/lylepage.html.
Lyle has been involved in pylon racing since 1977 and has designed and manufactured many successful FAI, Q-40, and Q-500 airplanes. He has flown his own models to big wins, called for racers who have flown his models to big wins, and watched his competition fly his models to big wins.
Gino Del Ponte flew a Lyle Larson Dago Red to first-place finishes at the year's first JR Gold Cup race and at the 2004 Nats. As are many Q-40 designs, the Dago Red is modeled after a full-scale P-51 Mustang.
Fred Burgdorf, Travis Flynn, and Randy Bridge flew Lyle’s most recent release—the Proud Bird—to a 1–2–3 finish in the 2004 NMPRA Q-40 season points championship. Fred was also the 2004 JR Gold Cup champion and set fast times at three of the four series races with a Proud Bird.
Fred Burgdorf also set the fast time of 58.91 seconds at the recent FAI Team Trials flying a modified Larson Vendetta.
Lyle has flown in two World Championships (earning fourth place in 1991 and eighth place in 2003) and has attended several others as a caller. This year he will travel to Tours, France, to call for Randy Bridge in the FAI world competition.
Lyle has also had success with his Q-500 Bird of Prey. The kit comes with a fiberglass fuselage and gel-coated composite wing and tail. The model’s V-tail has a unique design that distinguishes it from more generic Q-500 V-tails. Lyle won his matrix at the 2004 Q-500 Nats flying a Bird of Prey, and he finished in a four-way tie for first in the finals.
All of Lyle’s kits are readily available and competitively priced. He has a wealth of information about pylon racing and the experience to back it up. Without suppliers such as Lyle and many others, our hobby/sport would not be what it is today.
In the next column I hope to provide some interesting details about Terence Palaschuk of Canada and his Neme-Q. As always, suggestions and comments are welcome. I’ll be back in two months.
Best recent online quote (from Gary S.): “If it’s fixable, you aren’t going fast enough.”
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
