Pepinster International F2C Event – August 1^st/2^nd 1998

Good fine weather (24 degrees) greeted the 17 teams that turned out in Belgium for this event which takes place on the old Verviers flying site.

After official training the first round started at 3:00 p.m. and the Metkemeijer brothers led the way with a 3:25.3. Only two other pairs got inside 3:30 – the Austrians Nitsche/Nitsche with 3:27.5 followed closely by the British team of Fitzgerald Thomason with a 3:27.7. Heaton/Broadhead looked like putting a quick one in and were rotating at around 17.5/10 but retired at 78 laps with no one sure as to why.

A good banquet was held on the Saturday evening with over 70 people present – a fondue affair which gave everybody time for a good natter and an open bar for beer and wine giving the do a great atmosphere.

An early start was made on the Sunday with official training at 9:00 and the second round at 10:00. Notable improvements in this round were a 3:27.0 from Bondarenko/Lerner and a 3:30.7 from Surugue/Surugue the cut of time for the semis being 3:40.7.

The first round of semis saw the Metkemeijer brothers again set the pace with a 3:23.2 in the first race flying against Fitzgerald/Thomason and Bondarenko/Lerner. Unfortunately the remaining races did not give any fast times with the only other team breaking 3:30 being Nitsche/Nitsche with 3:28.1.

So many of the teams had it all to do in the second round of semis. Vendel/Van Gemert had a chance to fly due to the withdrawal of the Metkemeijer brothers from the second round but disaster struck when Ivanko/Ivanko let go of the handle taking out the Dutch team in the process. Third team in this race were Langworth/Campbell and they were able to put in a 3:26.9 as a result. The third race saw the fastest time of the meeting put in by Fitzgerald/Thomason – a superb 3:18.8. This round became a farce when a number of reflies caused teams down to 15^th place to be called in to make up the numbers (this rule gets stupid and the CIAM should consider the situation again !)

After the second round of semis finally finished (1.75 hours it took !) the finalists were to be Fitzgerald/Thomason, Metkemeijer/Metkemeijer and Langworth/Campbell and the final proved to be a close affair. A good race ensued with all teams going well until the Dutch pair had starting problems towards the end of the race and Langworth/Campbell missed a catch. These problems were just enough to give Fitzgerald/Thomason the victory with a 7:03.5, Langworth/Campbell coming in second with 7:15.7 followed very closely by Metkemeijer/Metkemeijer with 7:16.8.

A magnificent array of trophies were presented at the prizegiving with the Brits taking the honours in Team Race and also Dick MacGladdery gaining 3^rd place in Speed - Pity we don’t see any Aerobatics support from over here !

(info received from Dave Rudd who was president of the FAI Jury)

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