The Queensland State Championships was the first of two back to back contests at Kingaroy, ahead of the Club and Sports Class Nationals taking place the following week.
This championships was the first of this soaring season's competitions. For Australian team members Bruce Taylor, Greg Beecroft and Adam Woolley, these two contests are a warm-up for WGC Narromine in December. Makoto Ichikawa, who took 2nd place in Sport 15 Class, will be flying for Japan at Narromine.
The spring weather at Kingaroy lived up to its reputation with six good racing days.
Bruce Taylor wrote, 'I’ve had a fantastic week and have been so pleased with my results so far. I’m back in my favourite glider from the past 40 years and having a ball. I flew out of the start gate today and steamed off track slightly to line up with a promising street. First stop was a really solid 8kts to cloudbase, followed by a blistering run for the next 40km… nobody was going to catch me today.
"The State comps were a lot of fun, great flying and the usual cameraderie that exists when we fly at Kingaroy."
Adam Woolley noted, '...this week and the following week are the only chance I now have to tune and practice for the upcoming WGC, so I'm trying lots of different things for training purposes. "Next week at the Nationals won't be any different, though I will put more emphasis on being consistent, flying more like the WGC and practicing team flying with my amazing team mate, Tobias Geiger."
CLUB CLASS
This competition was held using Grand Prix rules in which all pilots in each class start at the same time and the first across the finish line takes the top points, subject to penalties. Bernie Sizer is Club Class Champion after crossing the line first on three days.
David Jansen won two days in Sports Class helping him to beat Ray Stewart into 2nd place by just one point.
In Sport 15 Class - which included five LS8 unflapped gliders in 15m configuration and Adam Woolley's Ventus 3 - Bruce Taylor took 1st place with a more comfortable five point lead over Mak Ichikawa.
QLD STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023
30 September - 7 October 2023
CLUB class
1 Bernie Sizer PIK-20D 38
2 Kim Houghton LS3 33
3 Todd Edwards LS3 32
SPORT class
1 David Jansen Ventus 3 18m 46
2 Ray Stewart JS3 18m 45
3 Andrew Georgeson Nimbus 4DM 39
SPORT 15 class
1 Bruce Taylor LS8 15m 27
2 Mak Ichikawa LS8 15m 22
3 Greg Beecroft LS8 15m 20
Full results at livegliding.com