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The Gunpowder Trophy - 2010 |
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CD's Report Don't you just love a good plan when it comes together? For our second visit to Leicester's lovely airfield this year the weather really had to be kinder to us than it managed for our earlier drizzled-off Loop Beginners  Event, but whoever pulls the strings up there kept us on
tenterhooks for quite a while ... I finally thought we just might get going late on Saturday
afternoon, at which point the nice big blue hole was quickly chased away by
an even bigger black and rainy one, so  one of the Sunday's
variable forecasts had to be a better option. To those who vainly spent much of
Saturday holed-up at other airfields around the country .... sorry guys, better luck
next time!Early (very) on Sunday it
was CAVOK, and even at 0915 when Phil Massetti started up the Gunpowder
trail it wasn't bad ... but inevitably the left-over Saturday moisture found
that around 1,500ft was where it really wanted to be, and we ground to a
halt. The sun eventually did it's thing as required however, and by mid-day
we were running again and the cloud-dodging
Well - Chris's flight was generally error free, but not good enough ... a first class effort by the ever improving Andy Hill saw the One-Design to within a smidgeon of 81%, and strong performances from Adrian Mardlin and Phil the Builder (0.12 marks or 0.01% apart!) re-arranged the order so that Andy bagged the trophy with Phil and Chris close behind. At intermediate David Thompson was just determined to Do the Right Thing ... in the event helped just a tad by Phil's first and last figures spoiling things sufficiently to let the Laser by - but not Charlie's Pitts. A fitting end to a pretty good day, and a
tribute to those who survived the transit and got themselves properly
switched-on when it mattered. Leicester airfield is a bustling place with a
great team, and with a box location that lets everyone see exactly the same
as the judges - it would be hard to imagine a better setting. |
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became no longer part of the
required skill-set. New man Chris Sills put in a fantastic first flight to
top the standard class Gunpowder list, with Phil Massetti and Andy Hill
snapping along close
behind. At intermediate Phil Burgess was again on top form, chased this time
by Charlie Kimbell (even without the usual cold!) and David Thompson. As
always, could the top pilots keep their act together for the
afternoon
sessions?
