Barkston F2C Centralised Event - July 18th 1999

    This event was run as part of the "Mini Nats" but unfortunately clashed with the European Championships in Spain - thus three of the top teams were not present as they were competing in Spain.The weather however was kind to us and 9 teams turned out for the F2C Event.

    Racing got underway at 11:30 and some good performances came immediately. In the first heat Heaton/Broadhead recorded a 3:22.5 with super airspeed but a slight delay on starting. Also in this heat were Fry/Whorton whose motor was far to cold, never warming up throughout the race, but putting in a 3:38.0 due to first flick starts. Fitzgerald/Thomason then put in a superb 3:19.9 despite a delay on the first start. Also in this round was a personal best by Catlow Jephcott who put in a 3:41.6 gaining themselves 2 league points for the achievement.

    The first round proved to be the fastest overall with Tribe/Bollen being the only team to improve their position in later rounds with a 3:39.8 for 4th slot. Fry/Whorton managed to improve to a 3:35.0 in the final round but with no change of positions as a result.

    Fry/Whorton elected not to fly in the final so Tribe/Bollen took their place but, unfortunately, they took out the wires of Fitzgerald/Thomason at the first take off and the first attempt had to be abandoned. In the second attempt Fitzgerald/Thomason had to fly a reserve model following the previous incident and did not have the same airspeed as shown in the heats. Tribe/Bollen retired at 90 laps with motor problems but Heaton/Broadhead had a smooth race to finish in 7:07.3 - 26 secs ahead of Fitzgerald/Thomason and thus hold on to the Cotswold Trophy.

    Thanks again to Dave Rudd for running the racing and for the provision of engraved plates for the three finalists.

League Points awarded for the day were as follows :-

Fry/Whorton get the 3rd place points but Tribe/Bollen gain the point for flying in the final.