Meeting held at Knox on Sunday February 25th.

Well - Not really a CLAG Flying Day, but a day that certainly caused celebration within the ranks of the Club.

Re-printed here is an abridged version of the -
 

Hearn's Trophy  -  KMAC Feb 2007
(Author: Peter O'Keeffe)

Victory Snatched With A Third-Round *Blinder!!

ROUND 1:
Col Collyer drew first flight before the judges and put up his Nobler with OS FP35 engine power. He felt the needle setting was a little too lean even considering the windy conditions that he had to overcome and he scored a 782 as a result. Mark Ellins, campaigning his Grinham-built Jazzer with Stalker 61RE also had to contend with the wind and he flew very well to score 1060. Doug flew his new Hot Dog in slightly calmer and more favourable conditions and his score of 1070 just edged out Mark for top spot in this round. Sean Frith, one of our up and coming Junior flyers, flew his profile model with OS FP25 power but had engine run issues due to a problem needle valve assembly. He persevered and came through with a score of 632. Craig Hemsworth fired up his Russian design, KA10 with Stalker 51RE up front and also experienced some relatively calmer air for his flight. He had a smooth flight and posted third in this round with a score of 1029. Dave Lacey was next, flying his Sukhoi profile with OS LA46 power. Dave put in a couple of flights on the practice circle adjacent to the competition circle to become more familiar with the windy conditions and fine-tune his engine for the best stunt run. Dave is a regular competitor at KMAC stunt competitions and he and his wife Vera make the trip down from Ballarat… a couple of hours north-west of Melbourne.

ROUND 2:
The wind increased and became gustier during this round. All competitor performances in this round reflected the worsening conditions with reduced scores. Doug top-scored again in this round, with Craig following close behind by a mere 2½ points. Mark’s score dropped away a little (978) but he was still well in contention at third place.

John Goodge, from the Gippsland club CLAG, unfortunately arrived a little late for the first round and he entered the competition in this second round with his Lew McFarland Shark 45 with a Stalker 51 Rear Exhaust engine for power. John scored a commendable 786. The windier conditions became a problem for Sean’s model, especially in the overhead manoeuvres. He did a great job of maintaining line tension during his flight by backing up during stunts to somehow keep the model under control. Col had more engine run problems and his score of 125 told the story. In fact, none of the flyers had a good time score-wise in this round. As it turned out, the scores from the first and third round were to be the best available to go towards their averaged final scores to determine the rankings for this competition.

ROUND 3:
Gusty winds continued…. Col, as stated previously, had a very rich engine run when the model turned inverted and he wisely waved off the flight to save his model for another day. Mark, with a score of 1040 for this round, commented that the wind was changing direction which was supported by the judges having to move around in response to the new wind direction. Doug copped a few more wind gusts than he’d like and he scored a 1023 for this round. Sean, flying a borrowed Oriental Profile with LA46 engine up front, had a couple of flights on the practice circle with it. He then took this Kim Laughton loaner into the competition, though this was only the third time he’d flown the model. Sean posted his best score of the day (663) which was excellent considering he had a short engine run which saw him completing the square 8s just before the engine quit. Sean has progressed rapidly with his father’s (Andrew) expert guidance and it was only late last year that we were watching him beginning to fly lazy eights and inverted stunt manoeuvres. John Goodge had a great second flight in this competition and posted an excellent score of 928 as a latecomer to this event. John shows a lot of promise as a serious contender in future stunt competitions.

But the outstanding flight of the day belonged to Craig Hemsworth who lit up the scoreboard with a blazing 1085. Craig put in a smooth masterful flight to give himself the edge when all scores were tallied in this round. He didn’t have it all his own way as the engine cut just at the end of the 4-leaf clover and he had to glide the model around for the required 2 laps before he could finally set it down to land! With this blinding third round performance, could Craig successfully snatch victory from the other contenders to stand proudly as the new face on the winner’s podium?..

RESULTS:
The 3 rounds of competition were completed by 2pm and scores totalled up ready for the presentation in the KMAC pavilion soon after. Mark Ellins had edged out Doug Grinham for second place with a mere 3 points difference between the two competitors. But it was indeed Craig Hemsworth’s brilliant 3rd round score that cemented his winning position in this Hearn’s Trophy stunt competition for 2007. He took out the honours with a winning margin of 7 points ahead of his nearest rival. Congratulations, Craig!

Final Placing's and Scores for the 2007 Hearn’s Trophy Stunt Competition:

1. Craig Hemsworth 1057.625

2. Mark Ellins 1050.375

3. Doug Grinham 1047.125

4. John Goodge 857.25

5. Dave Lacey 747.5

6. Sean Frith 648

7. Col Collyer 496.25

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