The Standard and Intermediate Nationals - 2008

CD's Report
Once again we've arrived at that late point in the season when the championships kick-in to settle the pecking order in in each class. The first of these - for Standard and Intermediate pilots - has been at Peterborough Conington since 1998, this 11'th running of the event thus continuing to underline the strength of determination and passion that provides the foundation for our sport. In the upper classes you probably won't get far without a monoplane - and preferably a plastic one at that, whilst at this event the ubiquitous Pitts still leads the longest queue of types by a good margin ... we lined-up fourteen as a Saturday morning "what shall we do while the weather is being English" exercise, which amazingly could have been seventeen on the opening day before a wedding and some other non-aerobatic calls took hold .....

The weather was forecast to start "iffy" and improve toward a fine Saturday. The usual fens clag at well under 2,800ft dutifully waylaid the first briefing, various pessimistic calls from southern airfields showing however that we had it better than some. An early lunch for us led to an equally early afternoon start, and by close of play we had one sequence at each level in the bag - Phil Burgess showing us all how a well-flown S1C can put it over the rest at Standard, whilst Randal Hockey's EA300L found a measly nine more points than the Jenkins Z200 to head the Intermediate queue. Early days still, lots of time yet for unusually good flying!

Day-two looked brilliant at 0500, less so by the 0900 kick-off point. The first Standard unknown went with style, but it couldn't last. Ah well, when in doubt have something to eat. In the end it was a three-sequence day, so when we left the incumbents of Holme to enjoy their quiet Friday evening around the barbie we had most of the Standard and half of the Intermediate job in the bag .... and forty or so energetically noisy aerobatic souls could with clear conscience raid the local Indian restaurant in preparation for the Saturday show-down.

Then ... oh, so much for the meteo's prediction for the 'best day of three'. Instead Saturday started with almost no wind, a couple of miles viz, a fair helping of gloom and lots of Conington restaurant babble. The clearance, when it came, was slow and initially a tease, but before long the show was in full swing and shorts definitely the order of the day. By 5:45pm, with all four Standard and three of the four Intermediate sequences in the bag, we  had gone as far as we could. By dint of two superb 80% plus efforts after an indifferent start Charlie Kimbell had clawed his way to the top of the Standard queue, whilst having allowed David Jenkins to creep ahead during the Intermediate class Free's Randal Hockey put it all back out of reach again with a fine result in the unknown.

As is so often the case at this event the easy going camaraderie between such a wide variety of pilots and aeroplanes camouflages the intense rivalry and determination that fuels the better performances, and probably most of the other ones too. Once again there is little doubt that some very talented pilots will be moving up a level for the next season, leaving more space perhaps for others to shine. From this CD's viewpoint at least, another very satisfying championship.

Nick Buckenham
Contest Director