The British National Std & Int Championships - 2013
CD's Report
Conington 2013 proved memorable for two principal reasons, the first of which was the remarkably warm and sunny weather that prevailed during the run-up to the event and lasted throughout Thursday and Friday. This enabled all planned flying to be completed by 5pm on the second day of the contest. As a result, an additional Intermediate Unknown sequence was agreed by all and planned for Saturday morning. This, however, proved destined to fail as a sharp drop in temperature overnight encouraged a solid overcast at about 1,200 feet AAL on Saturday morning to bring proceedings to a close.

The second key factor was the unusually low number of entries, a total of 18 between the two categories, contrasting strongly with a recent high of 42 pilots during the Silverstone WAC year (2009) and numbers between 28 and 36 in the years since then. The reasons for this sharp drop are not clear; whilst the economy might have something to do with it, as well as the number of people "between aeroplanes" this summer, it certainly appears to demonstrate how important it is for the future of the Association that all members extol the virtues of competition to their friends and colleagues in aviation and try to get new people along.

In the Standard championship, a hirsute Chris Sills (Laser 200) moved into a strong lead after the Known Programme with a most creditable 79%; more than 5% ahead Marc Amey (Pitts S-2A), Neil Parkinson (Pitts S-1S) and the rest. Chris also won the first Unknown, but by a much smaller margin, this time ahead of Pete Pengilly (DR-107) and Neil. Day two brought two more Standard Unknowns and belonged to Neil Parkinson who won both sequences with scores exceeding 80%, a bench-mark reached by none of the other pilots.

The final results at Standard proved to be an astonishingly close thing, with just eleven points separating first and second places overall out of a total of over four thousand scored by each of these pilots. Once all the numbers were in, Neil Parkinson was crowned as the new Standard National Champion with an overall score of 77.53%. Chris was second, by a moustache's breadth and Marc took the bronze after a fine flight in the 3rd Unknown.

The Intermediate championship had eleven competitors yet, perhaps surprisingly, not a 6-cylinder engine to be heard. On Thursday, the Intermediate pilots flew the Known and Free Programmes. Hero of the first flight was Paul Elvidge who drove the 160hp T67 masterfully through to third place, beaten only by Chris Brook (Pitts S-2A) and Pete Rounce (Pitts S-1T). The two leaders, however, appeared to have opened up a decisive lead, both scoring over 78% to Paul's 71% at the head of the peloton.

The unpredictability of events first appeared in the Free Programme on Thursday afternoon, when Chris apparently got something out of kilter and was relegated to 9th place. Paul, Pete and John Scott (CAP-10) also had good flights in the Free but top marks went to Emily Todd (Pitts S-2A) who flew with great finesse to notch up a sequence best of 77%. The first Intermediate Unknown, on Friday morning, brought another crop of surprises, with nearly all pilots making some sort of serious error. The top two places in this clearly rather tricky challenge went to Lauren Richardson (Pitts S-1S) and Phil Massetti (Laser 200) with only Lauren besting 70% and that despite the inclusion of a 450 degree inverted turn, when the judges would have been much better pleased with just 270. Chris came third in this programme, while Pete managed just 62% for 9th place.

Thus prior to the final, second Unknown, the Intermediate contest was wide open, with only Pete standing above 70% overall and no less than five pilots in the 2.5% below that target score. Emily was in second place and Chris third. Top two places in the second Unknown again went to Lauren and Phil, this time with their order reversed. On this occasion however, however, Pete and Chris were also on the top score of 76% while Emily appeared to lack a little concentration, managing only 71%. The overall computations, thank you Jen, showed Pete to be the new Gold medallist with a 2.5% margin over Chris in Silver and Emily in Bronze, these two separated by only 60 points in 5,500.

Brain McCartney was Chief Judge and the panel of judges included Nick Buck, Rob Howarth, Pete Mac, Eric Marsh and Advanced pilot Phil Burgess, all of whom managed to do a fine job despite being grilled under the Peterborough sky like a row of sausages. Many judges' assistants were also in evidence, including some competing pilots taking a break from walking through their next sequences. Many thanks from me to all those who helped out.

Lastly, my most grateful thanks to Julie, Gavin, Frank, Sarah and all the other Conington staff who made us so welcome and dealt so patiently with the occasional noise complaint. To anyone reading this who thinks they might come along to the next Standard or Intermediate contest I can only say: "Yes, do make the effort." Come and swell the ranks of those having such fun in the sun.
 The Nigel Arthur Trophy for Standard Champion
 Junior Nationals 2013, Conington, 18th - 20th July

Ranked by scores    

 Rank Pilot Aeroplane Reg'n Known  Unk'n #1  Unk'n #2  Unk'n #3  Totals O/all %
 1 Neil Parkinson Pitts S1S G-FORZ 991.94 892.90 1074.81 1072.04 4031.69 77.532
 2 Chris Sills Laser 200 G-CBHR 1073.13 913.51 1036.96 996.72 4020.32 77.314
 3 Marc Amey Pitts S-2A G-BTTR 995.64 709.44 1025.99 1031.19 3762.24 72.351
 4 Stephen Evans Christen Eagle G-EEGL 823.10 883.22 1062.06 980.23 3748.62 72.089
 5 Pete Pengilly DR-107 G-CEPZ 964.87 895.73 1020.67 856.25 3737.52 71.875
 6 Aidan Smith Slingsby T-67M G-BUUK 912.69 817.44 976.91 958.69 3665.73 70.495
 7 Alex Cartwright Slingsby T-67M G-BUUK 886.96 755.52 895.74 896.51 3434.73 66.052
Contest Director: Alan Cassidy, Contest Chief Judge: Brian McCartney, Scoring Director: Jen B. Judges: Brian McCartney, Nick Buckenham, Rob Howarth, Phil Burgess, Eric Marsh, Peter Macintosh. Judges Assistants: Julie Lawley, John Royce, Rich Goodwin, David Kean, Emma Sik, Adrian Read, and lots of others.
 FairPlay System

Aerobatic Contest Results Organiser, Version 3.2 Build 14-07-13, with FairPlay Scoring System 
 BAeA Intermediate Champions Plate
 Junior Nationals 2013, Conington, 18th - 20th July

Ranked by scores    

 Rank Pilot Aeroplane Registration Known  Free  Unk'n #1  Unk'n #2  Totals O/all %
 1 Peter Rounce Pitts S-1T N-697RB 1554.85 1525.31 1148.28 1529.24 5757.68 73.534
 2 Chris Brook Pitts S-2A G-BTTR 1561.31 1235.93 1234.30 1520.34 5551.87 70.905
 3 Emily Todd Pitts S-2A G-ODDS 1398.03 1542.46 1128.93 1421.75 5491.18 70.130
 4 John Scott CAP-10B G-BXRA 1286.86 1500.31 1233.74 1443.08 5463.99 69.783
 5 Phil Massetti Laser 200 G-CBHR 1395.85 1225.33 1282.46 1538.65 5442.29 69.506
 6 Paul Elvidge T-67M G-BKTZ 1408.27 1485.27 1067.77 1459.26 5420.56 69.228
 7 Lauren Richardson Pitts S-1S G-BKDR 1131.91 1374.11 1304.28 1529.90 5340.20 68.202
 8 David Nichols Edge 360 G-CDDP 1225.56 1423.58 1087.69 1494.99 5231.82 66.818
 9 Stephen Hipwell Extra 230 G-ROMP 1313.37 1420.84 1206.68 1132.57 5073.47 64.795
 10 David Cowden Extra 230 G-ROMP 1282.47 1180.42 1225.75 1014.19 4702.82 60.062
 11 Graeme Fudge Pitts S-2A G-ODDS 1168.67 1247.18 938.60 1240.82 4595.27 58.688
Contest Director: Alan Cassidy, Contest Chief Judge: Brian McCartney, Scoring Director: Jen B. Judges: Brian McCartney, Nick Buckenham, Rob Howarth, Phil Burgess, Eric Marsh, Peter Macintosh. Judges Assistants: Julie Lawley, John Royce, Rich Goodwin, David Kean, Emma Sik, Adrian Read, and lots of others.
 FairPlay System

Aerobatic Contest Results Organiser, Version 3.2 Build 14-07-13, with FairPlay Scoring System 
 

 

 
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