SWAMBC Fast Electric Championship 2008 Round 1 - Exeter MBC, 20th April

By Russ Chilcott and Mark Shipman

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SWAMBC'S 2008 Fast Electric Championship got off to a flying start at our host's Exeter Model Boat Club's Dragonfly Lake. Some of the keener types began setting up from 8:45 and by 10:30 we had 61 boats booked in over the 6 classes, this was confirmed as new SWAMBC FE record!

We welcomed 3 new entries on the day - Phil Jenkins (Plymouth MBC), new to FE racing (entering F2, F4 and Mono 1 - very brave!) Paul Williams (also Plymouth MBC) back after a 10 year break from FE racing at top level (entering F4 and Hydro 1) The third new entry was Graham Fright (Sedgemoor MBC) recently moved from Southend to Sedgemoor MBC area who was a regular FE racer in the south east (entering F2 and F3). In addition Allan Shillitto (aka "The Stig") made a welcomed return to racing having not raced in SWAMBC the series for a couple of years.

Sadly on the day 2 boats sank - one belonged to Mark Sutton who was racing his F3 in a SWAMBC FE round for first time! He crashed into Gordon Tiley at the first buoy in the first race, the top came off and both parts sank! The buoyancy stayed afloat and drifted across the course during the race. A short break in the racing allowed Dave Aylott (Exeter MBC) to make a serious attempt to locate it, but sadly without success, he hopes to recover it this week - thanks Dave and good luck. Allan's F4 Hydro (2 years in the building) crashed during the Race 1 Mill Start, loosing a sponson, water eventually got to the electrics and after acrobatically leaping into the air it powered itself into the bottom at a point which is about 6 or 7ft deep. So that one may never get recovered!

R2R had lower numbers than previous years with 8 boats entered on the day where 16-18 had been the norm before, this might reflect that drivers are moving "up" to other classes. The current champion Aran Bond put in 3 consistent high scores to pick up where he finished last year, with for R2R anyway a good margin of victory. There was a good 2nd for Mark Sutton (Sedgemoor MBC) as he scored consistently well to finish 2nd. A very good result as he's still a newbie having only raced twice in 2007. Michael Hickman's two consistent runs were enough to earn him 3rd, although he didn't know it on the day as the late heavy downpour made the score sheets virtually unreadable. As a result of the rain this class was cut to 3 races not the usual 4, with the best 2 counting. Other results of note were the only local club member Paul Ashton's good 4th place, and Mark Tiley's final run of the day.

F2 had the largest entry for 4 years with 11 boats entered. This bodes well for a class which is only 2 years old for SWAMBC. The 4 Torbay MBC members took the top 4 places, having done some productive testing this winter. Defending champion Mark Shipman had a good scrap with the similar Joker of Aran Bond, Marks boat is a little faster but a bit on the wild side or is Aran just a neater driver? In the end Marks Lehner powered version allowed him to take the win, with Aran 2nd. Jim Bond was a close 3rd setting the second highest lap score on the day with his H&M Zip Wizard, while Alan Shipman with another Joker had a consistent run to finish in 4th place. Newbie Phil Jenkins had a great first meeting with a 5th on the day scoring 21 laps in race 2 shows he's on the pace. Mechanical failures for the Team Hickman unconventional new Ares hulls kept them down the score sheet, but a 20 lap score for Bill in Race 1 shows they won't be there for long. It was nice to Allan Shillitto out racing again with another new Ares hull, he was the last boat running in Race 3 heat 2 and received a round of applause for his efforts (7th on day). Newbie Graham Fright's speedo would not arm - DNS race 1, then RTD for day! Better luck next time Graham.

F3 had a slightly smaller field than usual, with 12 boats, but as ever they produced some close racing, notably between defending champ Russ Chilcott and Alex James in heat 1 and between newbie Graham Fright and Roger Clark in heat 2. In the end Graham Fright took the class win ahead by 3 laps by virtue of a strong 20 lap score in the second race (that's near F2 pace) A great result in his first SWAMBC FE meeting. 2nd - 4th places were very close, Russ finished in 2nd, closely followed by Alex James (just 23 seconds behind) in a strong 3rd place. (Alex is a junior member from Yate & Sodbury) Roger had a good showing in 4th, also doing well was Bob Bryant in 5th place (Sedgemoor) racing in F3 for the first time having moved from R2R.

F4 had its usual strong showing with a varied mix of 12 boats including hydros, cats, surface and submerged drive monos. Some of the boats coped better than others on the tight oval course, with its virtual double hairpin layout. 2nd to 8th places were separated by just 4 laps and only 26 seconds between 2nd to 4th! Driving well and winning the class by a clear 2 laps was Adrian Hingson (Stithans MBC), well done Adrian for his first class victory and by a decent margin! It was a good day for the Cornwall boys as Dale Thompson (also Stithans MBC) was 2nd. Malcolm was 3rd with his (spare) trusty rigger having to switch boats in Race 1 as he holed a sponson, Russ Chilcott's rapid Hydro Lifter didn't like the tight course relegating him to 4th. Roger Clark was 5th on the day but changed hulls from his Hydro to a Mono for Race 3 and went on to score 22 laps, (equal best of the day) finishing just 1 sec behind the winner Adrian! Where would he have finished if he had swapped hulls sooner? New to class Alex James had a very competitive first outing, finishing 7th. Paul Williams had a big yellow own designed and built wooden Cat which was quick, but again struggled with the tight course, no self righting and hitting a few buoys didn't help - finished in 11th!

The Hydro 1 entry has remained at 5 boats as it was last year. This is probably a good entry for our fastest class, especially on the tight course at Exeter where considerable use needs to be made of the throttle stick! Bill Hickman was the clear winner on the day with his Xsess1, but Chris Osman's (Yate & Sodbury) own design and built wooden rigger was very close on the max laps and actually set the exact same score as Bill in one race. Defending champ Chris Locke also showed competitive pace but only for one race. Nice to see a new name Paul Williams in this class with so many quick boats, it should be a good show on the bigger water at Yeovil!

Mono 1 was surprisingly the largest class on the day with 13 boats entered, nearly double the highest entry from last year. Chris Osman was the clear winner, racing his Gozilla which is blindingly fast in a straight line. Adrian Hingston completed a good day with a solid 2nd place. 3rd to 5th places all finished on 39 laps with just 14 sec between them, with Keith Hickman taking the 3rd spot at his first attempt at Mono 1! Phil Jenkins crashed on the 1st lap of race 2 and almost sank, but Malcolm was just quick enough in the rescue boat to grab it just as it went under the surface! But not before Alan Shipman hit it - and was DSQ! This was one of only 2 DSQ's on the day, quite a surprise with many "newbies", a small lake and loads of boats! With so many boats on a tight course this class produced many close races - some the best of the day.

Unfortunately the rain came at 3.45pm during the final Hydro 1 race. At that time there were only 3 heat races to go, so we would have finished by 4.15/4.30pm at the latest if it hadn't rained! This would have been quite a good time considering the record entry. Well done to everybody for their efforts, keep up the good work. After a 20 minute break with no signs of the rain stopping, it was decided to race the final two Mono 1 heats, but since R2R had already run 3 times the 4th race was dropped. Prize giving took place in very cramped conditions under Russ's mission control gazebo. That just left a lot of very soggy packing up to do, hopefully everybody has dried out by now!

Thanks go to Dave Aylott and the Exeter club for use of their water and their organization, also to Russ Chilcott for keeping everything on track throughout the day. Considering this was our first race meeting with our new (to us) timed finishing system, everything seemed to worked very well.

Don't forget round 2 has been moved from Warminster to Yeovil (Sutton Bingham Res.) on 18th May, see you all there.

Results

R2R

(Ready to Run complete boat, original or SWAMBC listed motor, 6 cell 3300 max, 5 mins, clockwise triangle course)

		Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Score		Discard		Total
Boat No	Name	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	place
1	Aran Bond	20	17	19	14	20	26	59	57	19	14	40	43	1
10	Mark Sutton	18	10	18	4	19	14	55	28	18	10	37	18	2
6	Michael Hickman	17	17	17	16	4	0	38	33	4	0	34	33	3
3	Paul Ashton	13	5	14	15	17	10	44	30	13	5	31	25	4
8	Mark Tiley	1	0	11	27	18	25	30	52	1	0	29	52	5
15	Roger Fuge	12	2	12	11	16	30	40	43	12	11	28	32	6
7	Monty Chappell	4	0	14	42	12	10	30	52	4	0	26	52	7
12	John Browning	8	0	8	9	13	18	29	27	8	9	21	18	8

Formula 2

(Mono hull, brush/brushless, 7 cell unlimited amp, 6 mins, anti-clockwise M course)

		Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Score		Discard		Total
Boat No	Name	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	place
1	Mark Shipman	24	13	23	13	17	29	64	55	17	29	47	26	1
6	Aran Bond	23	21	23	25	23	17	69	63	23	25	46	38	2
3	James Bond	19	4	18	1	24	26	61	31	18	1	43	30	3
5	Alan Shipman	1	0	19	32	19	38	39	70	1	0	38	70	4
17	Phil Jenkins	14	0	21	32	0	0	35	32	0	0	35	32	5
11	Tony Pearce	17	36	16	25	1	11	34	72	1	11	33	61	6
12	Allan Shillitto	15	10	6	0	17	12	38	22	6	0	32	22	7
2	Will Hickman	20	2	8	0	0	0	28	2	0	0	28	2	8
10	Ivan Skinner	10	0	14	20	0	0	24	20	0	0	24	20	9
4	Keith Hickman	4	0	2	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	6	0	10
13	Graham Fright	DNS	0	RTD	0	RTD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Formula 3

(Mono hull, 540 motor 19T stock, fixed timing, 6 cell max 3300, 5 mins, anti-clockwise M course)

		Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Score		Discard		Total
Boat No	Name	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	place
12	Graham Fright	17	7	20	28	16	9	53	44	16	9	37	35	1
1	Russ Chilcott	16	5	18	3	16	0	50	8	16	5	34	3	2
7	Alex James	17	11	16	10	17	15	50	36	16	10	34	26	3
18	Roger Clark	16	20	16	0	16	0	48	20	16	20	32	0	4
8	Bob Bryant	13	7	16	21	14	24	43	52	13	7	30	45	5
13	Mike Cooper	14	12	12	0	13	0	39	12	12	0	27	12	6
5	Tony Pearce	12	0	12	0	15	25	39	25	12	0	27	25	7
6	Gordon Tiley	0	0	17	0	8	0	25	0	0	0	25	0	8
11	George Bowkett	12	23	5	0	10	5	27	28	5	0	22	28	9
17	Adam Hicks	8	18	8	0	8	0	24	18	8	0	16	18	10
10	Ivan Skinner	2	0	DNS	0	RTD	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	11
4	Mark Sutton	sank!	0	RTD	0	RTD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Formula 4

(Any hull, 700 type motor, 12 cell max 3800, 5 mins 15 sec + 10sec mill start, clockwise oval course)

		Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Score		Discard		Total
Boat No	Name	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	place
9	Adrian Hingson	20	25	19	6	22	6	61	37	19	6	42	31	1
6	Dale Thompson	20	5	20	0	2	9	42	14	2	9	40	5	2
2	Malcolm Franks	20	4	20	10	8	0	48	14	8	0	40	14	3
1	Russ Chilcott	12	0	19	31	21	0	52	31	12	0	40	31	4
5	Roger Clark	17	9	11	0	22	7	50	16	11	0	39	16	5
4	Chris Locke	19	3	10	0	19	26	48	29	10	0	38	29	6
14	Alex James	18	10	19	12	3	0	40	22	3	0	37	22	7
17	Phil Jenkins	18	17	?	?	18	23	36	40	0	0	36	40	8
10	Gordon Tiley	15	5	12	11	3	0	30	16	3	0	27	16	9
16	Mike Cooper	19	13	2	0	1	0	22	13	1	0	21	13	10
15	Paul Williams	4	0	10	0	10	24	24	24	4	0	20	24	11
13	Allan Shillitto	sank!	0	RTD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Hydro 1

(Hydro/multi hull only, brushless only, 7 cell unlimited amps, 5 mins + 10sec mill start, clockwise oval course)

		Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Score		Discard		Total
Boat No	Name	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	place
6	Bill Hickman	23	5	23	15	24	2	70	22	23	15	47	7	1
2	Chris Osman	10	0	24	2	18	2	52	4	10	0	42	4	2
1	Chris Locke	18	10	23	3	14	0	55	13	14	0	41	13	3
5	Paul Williams	3	0	4	0	5	0	12	0	3	0	9	0	4
3	Malcolm Franks	2	0	RTD	0	RTD	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	5

Mono 1

(Mono hull only, brushless only, 7 cell unlimited amps, 6 mins + 10sec mill start, clockwise oval course)

		Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Score		Discard		Total
Boat No	Name	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	Laps	Time	place
1	Chris Osman	23	5	24	23	25	18	72	46	23	5	49	41	1
6	Adrian Hingston	23	8	21	2	7	0	51	10	7	0	44	10	2
9	Kieth Hickman	18	3	2	0	21	4	41	7	2	0	39	7	3
7	Dale Thompson	20	10	0	0	19	0	39	10	0	0	39	10	4
3	James Bond	19	11	20	10	9	0	48	21	9	0	39	21	5
13	Bob Bryant	18	0	19	0	19	0	56	0	18	0	38	0	6
4	Aran Bond	18	24	19	0	11	0	48	24	11	0	37	24	7
12	Chris Locke	4	0	23	45	0	0	27	45	0	0	27	45	8
5	Roger Clark	16	0	RTD	0	0	0	16	0	0	0	16	0	9
8	Alan Shipman	DSQ	0	3	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	0	10
17	Phil Jenkins	2	0	RTD	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	11
2	Mark Shipman	1	0	RTD	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	12
11	George Bowkett	DNS	0	DNS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0