Air Race report for Wednesday had two changes due to late qualifying and everyone at Stead Airport had to deal with a windy and cool to cold day.

STEAD – Competitors, crews, volunteers and spectators were greeted by blustery, cool to cold weather today. Still the day went on with some revisions as the National Championship Air Races got underway.

First up in the morning was the final time for racers to qualify or post better times. And this caused an upset in one class while another pilot improved his times over the one set Monday.

Sean Cushing has posted the fastest time in the Jet class when he flew his L-39, Fast Company, to a speed of 490.904 mph. Then this morning Richard Vandam flew his L-39, American Spirit, to a speed of 491.036 and claimed the fastest time.

Coming in third was Pete Zaccagnino flying DH115 Vampire and he posted a 487.858 time.

“We got the top three fastest racers in Reno and it might come down to who gets a jump on the start to win the gold,” Vandam said.

While all three of the fastest Unlimiteds took to the air Hoot Gibson, flying Strega, was the only one that worked on improving his time. At the end of his qualifying run he wound up second fastest at 475.043 mph while Steven Hinton stood on his qualifying speed of 464.246 mph.

It got a bit exciting for Stewart Dawson after he took off in Rare Bear. There was some kind of gear problem after take off and he called a Mayday.

Hinton, who flies Voodo joined up with Dawson to take a good look at the Bear’s landing gear. Fortunately the problem wasn’t serious and Dawson brought it in for a safe landing.

Now the fields are set and some pilots got their first taste of racing. However the winds scrubbed the Biplane heat. This means the schedule will be revised for tomorrow so things will be a bit scrambled at first.

However on Wednesday three races were run with Skylor Piper winning Heat 1D for the Sport class with a speed of 211.407 mph. When the checkered waved on the T-6 heat 1C the winner was Chris LeFare, who posted a speed of 216.670 mph and Larry Lee won the Jet heat 1C with a speed of 412.825.

The crowd was also treated with a F-16 practice show. It was a display of speed and thunder. The winds also canceled practice for the USAFA Wings of Blue jump team.

After qualifying third Pete Zaccagnino brings his Vampire back in

John Dowd Jr. takes off for a late qualifying run.

Mark Watt takes off in Argonaut.

Hoot Gibson gets ready to strap into Strega and try for a better qualifying time.

John Penney helps Stewart Dawson get ready to fly the Bear.

Strega taxies out for its qualifyig run.

Gibson in Strega takes off.

Dawson in the Bear heads out.

Steven Hinton takes off in Voodo.

Strega returns after improving its qualifying time..

Voodo returns.

While it was on the cold side today the weather is slated to improve all through the weekend. In fact Thursday should be 10 degrees warmer with light winds for the first full day of racing.

For the full results please go to, www.report.airrace.org.

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