CHAMPIONSHIP DAY AT THE AIR RACES

 

STEAD AIRPORT (Sept. 14) – For the 51st year the sky north of Reno was filled with the sound of planes racing each other. The Reno National Championship Air Races is, with one exception, the only place on the planet where pilots race each other around a course.

 

And Sunday is when all the class champions are crowned after their individual Gold races.

This year’s event appeared to have the potential of being an epic race but in the end a young lion won the Breitling Gold Unlimited event and notched his sixth championship. It wasn’t exactly easy as another pilot tried to be the spoiler.

Once back on the ground Steven Hinton again hoisted the trophy to the cheers of spectators as well as his owner and crew.

“It was a little bit bumpy out there with the wind but we got a good start and after the unfortunate mayday with Rare Bear we went into preservation mode and backed it down,” he said. “But Sherman in that Yak is always chasing and keeping everyone honest. Today we wanted to save the power for reserve so we bumped it up for the final result, it’s not the fasted result but that what we wanted.”

Later at a post race interview on Live Airshow TV, Hinton added that the team would start preparing for next year right away. He mentioned that every they win the bull’s eye on their back gets larger and larger.

Four of the six classes that race at Reno use an air start, that is the field lines up abreast off a pace plane. Since they are so fast the unlimited class uses a T-33 with Hinton’s father, a two-time champion, at the controls.

Coming down the chute, when the elder Hinton is satisfied everyone is in proper alignment and headed toward a guide pylon he give the command, “Gentleman you have a race,” and pulls up as the field races full throttle toward the course.

Leading the charge was the P-51 Voodoo piloted by young Hinton with Rare Bear a highly modified F8F-2 Bearcat with Stewart Dawson at the controls.

Unfortunately the Bear had to mayday out of the event within the first two laps. While this seemed to have handed Hinton an easy win it was not to be.

Moving up to second was Sherman Smoot flying a modified Yak-11. At that time he was 12 seconds behind the leader but cut that down to only a second.

Another races, Argonaut flown by Mark Watt also had to mayday out and he, like Dawson, made it safely back to the field.

After his crew told him Smoot was gaining Hinton added power and picked up another 20 mph in each of the next two laps. Behind them Thom Richard, flying Precious Metal was having the best run ever for that plane, which uses counter rotating props, and further back was Dennis Sanders in Dreadnought.

At the finish, in front of the home pylon and across from the grandstands, Hinton took the victory with Smoot having to settle for second.

The course has what is called a show line and the pilots can’t to further out than that as they rip around turning laps. And each turn is marked by a pylon manned by a crew of judges making sure the aircraft are not too low and don’t cut the corner.

Unfortunately official said that Thom crossed the show line and disqualified him. The effect was to drop him to last boosting Sanders to a third place finish ahead of former space shuttle commander Curt Brown flying Sawbones.

As is usual Hinton arrived back on the ramp to a wild victory celebration.

Voodoo’s crew chief Bill Kerchenfaut said, “We’re lucky guys to have a good time and a good pilot. Yesterday’s race was probably the most exciting in the history of air racing.”

Then owner Bob Button said, “The victory’s always great and Tier did a great job yesterday. I’m telling you this our 19th event and now we’re back to back, I got a great crew and we almost made it look easy but it’s not.”

And Hinton’s father, Steve said, “It’s special to see your boy out there and it makes me feel great.”

Even thought Sunday was championship day many were still buzzing over Saturday’s Gold Heat race. That’s the one setting the pole position, closest to the pace plane, and where everyone starts in line.

In air racing winning the pole position means the pilot will start closest to the pylons and have the shortest route around the course.

On Saturday when the Gold heat race began Hinton took off with Rare Bear giving chase. Starting on the outside was many time champion Bill “Tiger” Destefani, who actually put Hinton in Strega where he won his first four championships.

Tiger didn’t go completely down to the course but stayed high and passed most of the field then dove down to take second place. After that the chase was on as the master closed in on his one time student.

And Tiber also proved that five years out of the cockpit hadn’t slowed him down one bit.

On the final lap Tiger made his move and began to dive, which increased his speed, as both he and Hinton were heading to the finish line. It was a photo finish with Hinton winning by the narrowest of margins.

Unfortunately Destefani broke the rule on flying high while in a race and was disqualified. This meant that he would have to start on the outside in Sunday’s Gold race.

However the effort also damaged Strega’s engine and Tiger had to bow out of Sunday’s Gold race.

One Nevada pilot notched his fifth championship and that is Dennis Buehn that flies the T-6 Midnight Miss III. The T-6 class is very heavily regulated and is one of the most competitive and usually has some of the closest races.

After the pace/safety plane turned the field loose they headed down to the front straight where T-6 races begin. Buehn had a slight lead over John Lohmar until they reached Pylon 1 then he began to pull away.

For the remainder of the race Buehn extended his gave over Lohmar and at the checkered flag had over a three second lead.

After being sprayed with champagne by his delighted crew Buehn said, “This is my 43rd year at Reno, I started way back in the early 1970’s. You get wind over the mountain so afternoon flying out there can be rather bouncy. It’s pretty rough out there and we pulled over 4 G’s in some turns.

He did know how close Lohmar was at the start but added that having the pole gives a pilot an extra edge.

“We were really looking for some calm, thin dry air for maybe a race record so you know what, we’re coming back in 2015 so look out for that record,” he said.

Then Buehn gave thanks to sponsors Alsco Linen Supply, Cam Guard, ASI Industries, Ameritech Industries, and American Propeller.

The fastest race of the day was in the Jet Class where Phil Fogg bested Reno pilot Rick Vandam for the victory. Fogg’s speed was 495.244 mph and he flew the race in less than six minutes.

The jet class was unusual in that the pace plane was a corporate jet.

This year the Sport class had a record number of entries, in fact there were so many the slowest racers were put into a Medallion race.

When the Sport Gold began the field lost two aircraft right away. Reno pilot John Parker, who flies a Thunder Mustang didn’t even start the event and headed back to his hanger.

When the field stormed past the home pylon for the first time Andrew Findlay called a mayday and made a safe landing.

Up front Jeff LaVell was in command as he sped away from his nearest competition. Behind him however Bob Wolstenholme was in trouble and called a mayday.

Not being able to make the sharp turn to get onto a runway he apparently chose one of the many dirt roads that cross the infield.

While there was no word on the aircraft Wolstenholme was uninjured in the emergency landing.

At the finish LeVelle took the checkered with an average speed of 398.960 mph followed by Gary Mead and Peter Balmer.

Both the Formula 1 and Biplane classes use a ground start where the planes are arranged, in several lines of two or three, on the runway. Once the green flag is dropped its go time for the pilots as they gun their engines and head down the runway.

Once again Steve Senegal won the F-1 Gold but as usual he’s not in the lead when they lift off. However, after a couple of laps after chasing Justin Phillipson he zoomed into the lead.

Last year’s Gold champion, Vito Wypraechtiger started inside the second row and was able to make it to second after he got past Phillipson.

“It’s typical for all airplanes, they are designed for speed or climb. It’s not going to be the fastest off the ground so I was actually number two. Justin Phillips was ahead and I actually got on his wing when we took off so it took me a while to wind up as we went round the racecourse. He flies a fabulous line so I was able to stick with him then the speed was coming up and I was able to take the lead.”

He did mention that on a calm day it would be smoother to be up front but eventually the leader will catch the prop wash of the other racers as he catches them.

Then he thanked Ly-Con for his engine, Dave Hoover for building his aircraft named Endeavor and Mike Arnold for designing it.

The past year there was a Formula 1 race in Spain and Senegal said they’d be back for the only pylon air race in Europe. An event he hopes will grow.

In fact one lady pilot from Europe was on hand as was the promoter of that event that had some Formula 1 aircraft shipped to Spain.

Senegal also plugged the class, as it’s the most cost effective way for a person to get into air racing.

“There are a lot of great airplanes out there and we’re looking for people to come out and race with us. It’s not that expensive to get into it,” he said. “The most inexpensive way to get into air racing.”

The website is, www.if1airracing.com.

When the Biplane gold started Karl Grove led the field with pole sitter Jake Stewart close behind and off his right wing. However after a couple of laps Stewart got a head of steam and made the winning pass to claim the victory.

“This plane’s real slow off the line but the way I’ve got prop pitched it really picks up speed about the second lap,” Stewart said. “So I used that to my advantage in the height and dove in on him. I actually passed him by the home pylon. For the first two laps its smooth air but after that there’s no such thing.”

Then he thanked Donna Lake Realty and his father Mike, who gave up his own racing to crew for his son.

Stewart’s victory broke the string of wins by Tom Aberle, who is virtually untouchable in his biplane named Phantom. On Saturday night Aberle suffered from dehydration and wasn’t fully cleared to race on Sunday so, for the first time in seven years there was a new winner.

Now the Reno/Stead airport is quiet again and goes back to being a general aviation, and now drone testing, airport. But come next September 16-20 it will again echo with the sound of racing aircraft.

Those wishing to relive the races or if they couldn’t attend there is a place they can be viewed. It’s www.liveairshowtv.com and they covered each day of racing as well as extra reports and interviews.

RESULTS

National Championship Air Races

RENO/STEAD Airport – Sept. 14

Unlimiteds:

Breitling Gold – 1. Steven Hinton, 462.962, 2. Sherman Smoot, 3. Dennis Sanders, 4. Curt Brown, 5. Korey Wells, 6. Mark Watt*, 7. Stewart Dawson*, 8. Thom Richard**

Silver – Bump. Korey Wells, 369.988 mph, 1. Stewart Dawson, 2. Doug Matthews, 3. Brant Seghetti, 4. Jim Tobul, 5. Brant Seghetti

Jets:

Gold – 1. Phil Fogg, 495.244 mph, 2. Rick Vandam, 3. Mark Pracy, 4. Pete Zaccagnino, 5. Sean Cushing, 6. Jeff Turney, 7. Mike Mangold, 8. Vicky Benzing

Silver – 1. Mike Mangold, 426.437 mph, 2. Larry Labroila, 3. Lachlan Onslow, 4. Charlie Camilleri, 5. Mike Steiger, 6. Ted Stuckey**

T-6:

Gold – 1. Dennis Buehn 239.163 mph, 2. John Lohmar, 3. Chris Rishing, 4. Nick Macy, 5. Gene McNeely

Silver – 1. Joey Sanders, 229. 367 mph, 2. Greg McNeely, 3. Thomas Baber, 4. Chris LeFave, 5. Terry Adams, 6. Kevin Sutterfield

Bronze – 1. Ralph Rina, 204.166 mph, 2. Michael Pfleger, 3. Rick Siegfried, 4. Rick Oman, 5. Thomas Baber, 6. Chris LeFave**

Sport:

Gold – 1. Jeff LaVelle, 398.960 mph, 2. Gary Mead, 3. Peter Balmer, 4. Vince Walker, 5. Ernie Sutter, 6. Bob Wolstenholme*, 7. Andrew Findlay*, 8. John Parker (DNS)

Silver – 1. Vicky Benzing, 291.392, 2. Alan Crawford, 3. Colleen Keller, 4. David Robinson, 5. Pete Zaccagnino, 6. Dave Morss, 7. Tom McNerney, 8. John Ryan Moran

Bronze – 1. Klaus Savier, 262.835 mph, 2. Bill Beaton, 3. Mark Frederick, 4. Rick Vandam, 5. Bob Mills, 6. Chris Schalch, 7. Benjamin Fouts, 8. Kevin Eldredge

Medallion – Kirk Murphy, 229.487, 2. Charlie Greer, 3. Stan Sutterfield, 4. James F. Wilson Jr., 5. Scott Prewitt, 6. Jessy Panzer, 7. Scott Farnsworth**

Formula 1:

Gold – 1. Steve Senegal, 252.090 mph, 2. Vito  Wypraechtiger, 3. Justin Phillipson, 4. Elliot Sgeuin, 5.  Jay Jones, 6. Kevin Anderson, 7. Matt Conklin, 8. Steve Temple

Silver – 1. Stephen Partridge-Hicks, 221.850 mph, 2. Michael Mundell, 3. Ken Cassels, 4. Phillip Goforth, 5. David Holmgren

Biplanes:

Gold – 1. Jake Stewart, 225.022 mph, 2. Karl Grove, 3. Jeff  Rose, 4. David Roelofs, 5. Marilyn Dash, 6. Tom  Aberle (DNS), 7. Casey Erickson**, 8. Tony Higa**

Silver – 1. Birch Entriken, 198.442 mph 2. Jeffrey Lo, 3.   Brian Hoover, 4. W. Byron Roberts, 5. Aaron Burhoe,  6. John D’Alessandri

* *- Did Not Finish

* ** – Disqualified for rules infraction