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A description of the Australian Model Aircraft National Championships held at Albury/Wodonga on the NSW/Victorian state border, commencing December 2001.
Pictured at right are: 1. Ken Taylor's beautiful vintage stunt model, a Yates' "Madman", placed ninth of 18 entries. 2. Expert aerobatics winners. From left to right are Brian Gardner with his big "Gigabyte" model, Mark Batty with his simple "Sukhoi", and Joe Parisi with his "Reactive". All three were previous nats winners, as were most of the 16 entrants in this division. See our Aerobatics Nationals Champions page for more details. 3. Hans Bertina's classic B team racer known as the "Thornlie Thunderbolt" was as attractive as any in its silver and red Wharfedale-like colour scheme. Engine starting problems limited it to fourth place amongst 10 entrants. 4. Classic B team race winners. From left to right are Ken and John Hunting, Keith Baddock and John Hallowell, Jim and Colin Ray. See this page for more photos and a full report from John Hallowell. 5. Vintage A team race winners. From left to right are Keith Baddock and John Hallowell, Robert Fitzgerald and Paul Stein, Peter Camps and Stan Pilgrim. 16 entries made this numerically the most popular racing event. See this page for more photos and a full report from John Hallowell. 6. Shoestring, the winning Bendix model of Bob Fry and Alasdair Taylor. See this page for more photos and a full report from John Hallowell.
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Australian Nationals are usually held over the New Year holiday period, so although this 55th one is called the 2001 Nationals, much of it was actually flown in January 2002. Activity got underway on December 29th with processing of models for compliance with the rules, then continued for 6 more days. See below for full results and descriptions of individual events.|
On December 30th, the first day of competition had most of the bouts in F2D Combat being decided on airtime. All competitors were praised for the good sportsmanship displayed, with the eventual winners being: 1st Grant Potter 5wins/1loss, 2nd Robert Owen 4wins/2losses, 3rd Keith Baddock 2wins/2losses. F2A Speed competitors found the hot weather made it difficult to achieve their best speeds, but the winner, Robin Hiern, produced three trouble-free flights. 1st Robin Hiern 278.93 Km/h 2nd Richard Justic 262.85 Km/h 3rd Noel Wake 251.12 Km/h. F2C Team Race was decided in hot conditions on December 31st from amongst 11 entries, with the results being: 1st Robert Fitzgerald/Mark Ellins 7min 13sec 2nd Grant and Geoffrey Potter 7min 42sec 3rd Graeme Wilson/Paul Stein DNF. Class 2 Team Race was flown the same day with 9 entrants, and these powerful racers had no trouble coping with the strong wind blowing. 1st Harry Bailey/Mark Ellins 6min 14sec 2nd Graeme Wilson/Alan Lumsden 7min 47sec 3rd Robert Fry/Alistair Taylor 8min 21sec. On New Years Day the two scale events were moved to the airport because of fears that scale control liners would not take off from the grass surface at Alexandra Park. But a gusty wind contributed to much model damage, as is so often the case in these events. Bendix racing attracted 10 entrants and produced these results: 1st Robert Fry/Alasdair Taylor 7min 29sec, 2nd Anthony Bonello/Andrew Heath 8min 8sec, 3rd John Hunting/John Taylor DNF. More Half A Team Race lived up to its name with 5 entrants. 1st Graeme Wilson/Mark Ellins 9min 30sec, 2nd Ken and John Hunting 10min 26sec, 3rd Robert Owen/Richard Justic DNF. Junior 2.5cc Rat Race with 4 entrants also battled the windy conditions: 1st Murray Wilson 184 laps, 2nd Lachlan Hines 165 laps, 3rd Michael Comiskey 141 laps. |
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2.5cc Rat Race attracted 9 entries and produced some fast racing. A dramatic line tangle in the final brought the leaders crashing to the tarmac with only a minute and a half to go, allowing the Hunting brothers to slip through for a win. 1st. Ken and John Hunting 495 laps, 2nd Graeme Wilson/Alan Lumsden 493 laps, 3rd Jim and Colin Ray 417 laps. The Goodyear race had 11 entries: 1st Robert Fitzgerald/Greg Pretty 7min 24sec, 2nd Jim and Colin Ray 8min 26sec, 3rd Robert Fry/Alasdair Taylor DNF. Meanwhile, F2B Aerobatics had been in progress for several days: Combined Speed is one of those rare events in which a single competitor can come both first and second! 1st Robin Hiern 103.91%, 2nd Robin Hiern 100.64%, 3rd Noel Wake 96.52%. Open Combat was fought out between 7 entrants. 1st Richard Bellis, 2nd Michael Comiskey, 3rd Ken Maier. Vintage A Team Race was flown in ideal weather conditions. Sunny skies and good flying resulted in a very successful event. 1st Paul Stein/Robert Fitzgerald 7min 07sec, 2nd Peter Camps/Stanley Pilgrim 7min 13sec, 3rd John Hallowell/Keith Baddock 7min 52sec. More. Open Rat Race was a noisy affair as usual. 1st Graeme Wilson/Mark Ellins/Alan Lumsden 5min 13sec, 2nd Robert Fry/Alasdair Taylor 5min 52sec, 3rd Richard Justic/Colin Ray/Peter Van Meurs 6min 54sec. Classic Stunt, limited to models designed before 1965, attracted 16 entries. 1st Reg Towell 1477 points, 2nd Peter Rowland 1452 points, 3rd Peter White 1438 points. Vintage Stunt, limited to models designed before 1960, attracted 18 entries of which 13 turned up to actually fly. The results could not have been closer! 1st Doug Grinham 437 points, Equal 1st Peter White 437 points, 3rd Francis Battam 427 points. Classic B Team Race provided some good racing between the 10 entrants. 1st John Hallowell/Keith Braddock 6min 30sec, 2nd Jim and Colin Ray 7min 00sec, 3rd Ken and John Hunting 7min 47sec. More. |
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