Two things are becoming constants during the 2011 Pylon Racing season. 1) We race under gray skies more often than blue. 2) I'm an early bird compared to the rest of the racers!
The October 16th race day started off under the threat of light rains and just became gloomy after that. Blue skies could be seen around the fringes, but never made it over the field. It did not dampen the spirits of the racers though, as everyone seemed keyed up by the fact that this was the 2nd to last race of the season.
Myself, I showed up early (again). Waited outside the gate patiently and finally sent a text to Red for the gate combo to let myself in. At 9:00am I was seriously wondering if I had the wrong day, or if the races had been canceled? But, thankfully, the guys started showing up and the race day was on.
Both the active classes had ties for first place going into this round of racing, making things very exciting and putting some extra pressure on the racers. In the Reno 450 class, Adam Clemente and Steve Cole were tied for first. In the T-28 / Corsair class, Anthony McDonald and Jake Rosen were tied for first. The racing in both classes was taken up a notch all day. Game faces were on as the pilots concentrated on their planes. But in the pits, jokes and laughter was the norm.
Reno 450 was exciting, with 5 planes entered and all racing in the same heat. Pilots were forcing each other into mistakes and course cutting. Points were on the line each round as the Adam and Steve raced heads up for 3 rounds. In one heat everyone either cut out or cut once, except last place who then got the heat win! Luckily no planes were wrecked, except for a hard landing for Anthony McDonald, a high speed touch and go for Jake Rosen and a horizontal stab failure for Steve Cole. All the planes were quickly repaired and raced again.
In the T-28 / Corsair class, 11 entries showed up to enjoy the day's racing. Everyone was trying very hard to gain whatever points they could. Some too hard, as first Bryan Young, and then Jeff Penner, had pylon strikes. Jake McDonald came away the winner, having 3 heat wins to his credit. Points leaders Anthony and Jake were marking each other and taking no unnecessary chances, just racking up as many points as they could.
So, one more round to go for the season! I've got no idea what the standings are, so please keep an eye on www.wcflyers.com I'm sure the official results will be posted soon! The final race is November 20th and it should be a great day of racing. Hope to see you there!
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