LOOP News

7 SEP 07: MEDAL HAUL AT WORLD MICROLIGHT CHAMPS

WORLD MICROLIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS 18-25 August

MEDAL HAUL!
British team dominate World Microlight Championships

THE British team returned triumphant from the World Microlight Championships held in the Czech Republic in late August.

After a week of intensive flying and some extremely close competition, the British team of 16 pilots and co-pilots dominated the competition with 4 gold medals, 2 silvers and 1 bronze medal.

Held at Usti Nad Orlici, a large gliding airfield 100 miles south-west of Prague, 71 competitors from 15 countries competed over the whole week flying 11 tasks comprised of precision, economy and navigation.
The Czech organisers worked hard to put on a good competition, and facilities and task scoring were second to none. 'See You' GPS analysis software enabled the organisers to score accurately and quickly. Virtual 250-metre gates were placed around the courses to measure track accuracy and predicted ground speed.

The British nationals series, which has taken place all year is an excellent springboard to the World Championships, and the tasks set in the UK, meant the team was well prepared. The competition director, however, placed a heavy emphasis on ground speed and a precision landing for almost every task.

SINGLE-SEAT THREE AXIS (AL1)
The British team had a single representative in this small but competitive class. David Broom flying the venerable Shadow had impressed locals with his innovative spot landing technique during practice and he was most disappointed to hear stopping distance would not be measured.

Once the competition started, David's main rival was Jan Lukas, a Czech pilot flying in his local area in a TST Junior, a small motor glider which was difficult to spot land. However, in any fuel economy task he would offer stiff opposition.

David led the class until mid-week and had established a commanding lead with strong performance in the early navigation tasks. In the duration task in light thermic conditions, David could only watch as Jan stayed up for an additional 1 hour and 20 mins and passed him. With two nav tasks cancelled through weather, opportunities for re-taking the lead disappeared and David was awarded Silver, 72 points behind Jan.

DUAL-SEAT THREE AXIS (AL2)
You had to be a brave man to bet against current World, European and British Champion Paul Dewhurst. He was joined this year by Paul Welsh. Flying a Skyranger, 'the Pauls' dominated this class with a crushing margin of 473 points, the largest in any class, winning two navigation tasks and never finishing lower than 6th in each individual task.
Chris and Claire Wills flew well to just finish outside the top ten in their Escapade.

SINGLE-SEAT WEIGHT-SHIFT (WL1)
Much was expected of local pilots Lukas Hynek and Pavel Cerny in this category and the ever-consistent Richard Rawes faced tough opposition if he was to build upon his gold medal at last year's Europeans.
The single-seat weight-shift pilots faced the biggest challenge with such accurate flying, plotting and changing map board configurations increasing pilot workload considerably.

Before the duration task, the top three pilots were inseparable and Richard held a narrow lead. With 9kg of fuel, Richard flew well to squeeze three hours from his Chaser.

All eyes were on Lukas at this point, and he and Polish pilot Alojzy Dernbach were still in the air. The longer they stayed up the bigger their lead. But Lukas made a huge mistake. When his engine stopped he started his glide to the airfield too low and missed the threshold by 25 metres thus scoring zero - and his medal hopes evaporated.

Richard continued to fly exceptionally consistently the rest of the week and cemented his gold medal in the last task. Cerny was second and the 2005 world champion Dernbach third. Owain Johns and David Hadley contributed to the weight-shift team prize with 7th and 8th respectively.

DUAL-SEAT WEIGHT-SHIFT (WL2)
This was the most fiercely contested class with 28 pilots and several current and former medallists. Rob Grimwood and Chris Saysell were looking to defend their 2005 gold and were be pushed all the way by strong performances from South African father and son duo, 'the Gregsons', and the British father and son pair, Rob and Reece Keene.

Former single-seat gold medal winner, Endre Thuroczy, and French European champion, Samir Elari, further reinforced this immensely strong field.

As the week passed, a mere 50 points separated the first six pilots. A missed photo or marker could mean dropping out of contention and on Task 9, in blustery conditions, the engine-off spot landing proved decisive.

Before the task, Thuroczy held a narrow lead from Grimwood and Gregson but he landed one metre short of the box thus scoring zero and dropping out of contention.

Going into the last task, the pressure on Grimwood was immense. The organisers decided to put one final twist into this 150km task giving crews only 30 minutes to plan and prepare. Grimwood achieved a phenomenal ground speed which cemented his gold, closely followed by the Gregson and Keene teams.

TEAM PRIDE
The British team had an exceptional competition. The team prize was awarded to the Czech team mainly because of their large team. The World Championships underlined the strength of the British system and must have left several countries wondering what they have to do to achieve a medal.

W: www.czechinfo.aero
W: www.britishteam.org

RESULTS
World Microlight Championships
Usti nad Orlici, Czech Republic
18-25 August 2007

RAL1
1 Jan Luke (CZE) TST-9 Junior 5916
2 David Broom (GB) Shadow 5844
3 Walter Wolfram (GER) Stratos 4760

RAL2
1 Paul Dewhurst/Paul Welsh (GB) Skyranger 6423
2 Yuriy Yakovlyev/Igor Pugach (UKR) A-30 5950
3 Pavel Kapusník/Petr Kapusník (CZE) Rans S6 5638
11 Chris Wills/Claire Wills (GB) Escapade 4022

RWL1
1 Richard Rawes (GB) Chaser 6375
2 Cerny Pavel (CZE) 1/XP 6160
3 Alojzy Dernbach (POL) Aircraft tbc 5943
7 Owain Johns (GB) Chaser 4670
8 David Hadley (GB) Chaser 4544

RWL2
1 Rob Grimwood/Chris Saysell (GB) Tanarg 6392
2 Marc Gregson/Roy Gregson (SA) Raptor 6293
3 Rob Keene/Rees Keene (GB) Quik GT450 6250
9 Simon Baker/Anita Holmes (GB) Quik GT450 5461
17 Frank Hodgson/Brad Wagenhauser (GB) Quantum 912 4852

Teams
1 Czech Republic 58,706
2 United Kingdom 50,437
3 France 37,043
4 Poland 29,834
5 South Africa 29,540
6 Hungary 15,791
7 Germany 15,173
8 Ukraine 10,229
9 Russia 9733
10 Israel 7675
11 Slovakia 5763
12 Belgium 5404
13 Spain 2767
14 Lithuania 2513
15 United States 719

WORDS & PHOTOS Owain Johns

Register for LOOP

Find a school/club

Book Flying Lesson

Buy an aircraft

Sell an aircraft

LOOP News

7 SEP 07: MEDAL HAUL AT WORLD MICROLIGHT CHAMPS