By Steve Neu
The June edition of the SFSD T28 racing went off on June 12th as scheduled without problems. Twelve pilots were signed up to fly which made for 4-plane heats in the preliminary rounds and the finals. Four planes in a heat makes for some close racing!
The results of the preliminary rounds resulted in the following matchups for the finals:
Bronze:
Daric
Mark
George
*Jim
Silver:
*Quan
Frank
Larry
Bob
Gold:
*SteveN
Alex
Brad
SteveM
(*) denotes winner
The silver race had an exciting start where 3 of the 4 planes jumped the start—and none went back to correct the mistake—effectively handing the first place finish to Quan who did not jump the start. The gold race was close with no clear winner until the final few laps. Steve Manganelli who flew a tight course had to endure the wait while Carl our west end cut judge came down give the bad news to SteveM that he was cutting the corners a little too close. With that news his ownership of the “better luck next time” medal was within his grasp.
Jim ran into some propeller problems which resulted in his breaking a prop per flight—a new record. Jim has now carried out the T28 air “Worthiness Directive” (AD) along with a change to a more durable APC prop to avoid future problems. Steve Manganelli managed to again capture the coveted “better luck next time” award du to his relentless quest to shorten the course to the minimum possible resulting in three unnecessary cuts. Quan ran a close second with 2 cuts.
The medals were handed out to the group winners and we had a raffle of various electric flight goodies for the pilots and helpers that made the racing possible. Our next race is on the calendar for July 10th—come fly or watch—it is a lot of fun!
If there is interest in a “how to setup and fly a T28 for racing” clinic I would be willing so schedule something for a Saturday or Sunday at the field. This would be a informal thing with sharing of tips and tricks to make your plane go fast AND be easy to fly. If interested let me know by email “sneu@mac.com” and we will arrange something.
See the photos here.
