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Rocket 100, 2010 race results

Bob Axsom

Well Known Member
This just came up on www.sportairrace.org and the listing by class is not available yet. I'll try to copy the entry list below but the P-51D race number was 210 and the T-28 is Race #13. It is interesting to look at the elapsed times for the 5 RVs starting with RV Blue winner Jason Rovey.

Bob Axsom



Race # Name Class Elapsed time Speed MPH Speed Kts

Race 35 Mike Smith Sport 0:33:10 308.52 268.10
Race 89 Stan Musick Sport 0:33:43 303.49 263.73
Race 66 Ernie Sutter Sport 0:33:57 301.41 261.91
Race 210 Claude Hendrickson Unlimited 0:34:20 298.04 258.99
Race 109 Tom Martin Sport FX 0:36:54 277.31 240.98
Race 91 Bruce Hammer FX Blue 0:38:19 267.06 232.07
Race DG1 Dick Gossen Sport 0:38:37 264.98 230.26
Race 22 Greg Nelson Sport FX 0:38:59 262.49 228.10
Race 13 Robert Johnson Unlimited 0:39:00 262.38 228.00
Race 14 Wayne Hadath Sport FX 0:39:13 260.93 226.74
Race 43 Bob Mills Sport FX 0:40:41 251.52 218.57
Race 58 Mark Frederick Sport FX 0:40:48 250.80 217.94
Race 84 Russell & Rhea Sherwood Sprint 0:41:47 244.90 212.81
Race 18 John Huft RV Gold 0:42:52 238.71 207.43
Race GF George Fisher Sport FX 0:43:23 235.87 204.96
Race 888 Deene Ogden RV Gold 0:44:43 228.83 198.85
Race 391 Jason Rovey RV Blue 0:45:03 227.14 197.38
Race 390 Jerry Hajek RV Gold 0:45:17 225.97 196.36
Race 57 Gary Wilcox RV Blue 0:45:27 225.14 195.64
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV Blue 0:45:40 224.07 194.72
Race 569 Nick Nafsinger RV Gold 0:45:59 222.53 193.37
Race 729 Chester Jurskis FAC1RG 0:46:39 219.35 190.61
Race 737 David Grover RV Blue 0:46:59 217.79 189.26
Race 83 Dave Adams Sprint 0:48:07 212.66 184.80
Race 1 No Name RV-8 0:48:59 208.90 181.53
Race 26 Mike Thompson RV Blue 0:49:19 207.49 180.30
Race B4U Seth Baker RV Red 0:49:20 207.42 180.24
Race 08 Bryan Jones RV Red 0:49:40 206.03 179.03
Race 193 Bobby Bennet FAC1RG 0:50:07 204.18 177.43
Race 96 Tim Hardage FX Red 0:50:50 201.30 174.92
Race 117 Greg Bordelon FX Red 0:53:05 192.77 167.51
Race 483 Jim Hard RV Blue 0:54:31 187.70 163.11
Race 76N Walter Kuhnel FAC3RG 1:01:15 167.06 145.18
Race 448 Jim Porter FAC3FX 1:01:37 166.07 144.31
Race 456 Ann Elise Bennett FAC3FX 1:03:27 161.27 140.14
Race 55 Team Ely FAC5 1:10:35 144.97 125.98
Race YY Charlie Sisk FAC3FX 1:16:52 133.12 115.68
Race 80U Rich Caponigro FAC6 0:49:06 113.91 98.98
Race 308 Massimo Troiani FAC6 DNF
Race 311 Robert Faubion RV Red DNF
Race 111 Jeff Bertsch FAC2RG DNF

The entry list:

The following racers have registered for the
Rocket 100 Air Race as of 18 November, 2010:

Race # Name Aircraft Class
Race 13 Robert Johnson North American T28B "Trojan" Unlimited
Race 210 Claude Hendrickson North American P-51D Mustang "Sarah Jean" Unlimited
Race 241 Dave White Evo Rocket "Happy Hour" Sport FX-T
Race DG1 Dick Gossen Glasair III Sport
Race 2 Alan Crawford Lancair Legacy "Spirit of America" Sport
Race 35 Mike Smith SX300 Sport
Race 66 Ernie Sutter Lancair Legacy "Jus Passin' Through" Sport
Race 74 Duncan Sutherland SX300 "Shadow" Sport
Race 89 Stan Musick SX300 Sport
Race GF George Fisher F1 Rocket "Midnight Mistress" Sport FX
Race 14 Wayne Hadath F1 Rocket "Little Bit" Sport FX
Race 22 Greg Nelson F1 Rocket "X-Ray" Sport FX
Race 43 Bob Mills RV-Super 6 "Rocket Six" Sport FX
Race 58 Mark Frederick EVO Rocket "Pesky!" Sport FX
Race 109 Tom Martin EVO Rocket "Evo One" Sport FX
Race 91 Bruce Hammer Glasair I TD "Red Dog" FX Blue
Race 911 Burrall Sanders Cozy III "Stinger" FX Blue
Race 96 Tim Hardage Tailwind W-10 FX Red
Race 117 Greg Bordelon Mustang II "Green Machine" FX Red
Race 18 John Huft RV-8 "Nuisance" RV Gold
Race 390 Jerry Hajek RV-8 RV Gold
Race 569 Nick Nafsinger RV-10 RV Gold
Race 888 Deene Ogden RV-8 "Kermit" RV Gold
Race 26 Mike Thompson RV-6 "El Lento" RV Blue
Race 57 Gary Wilcox RV-7 "Heinz 57" RV Blue
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV-6A "Blue Bird" RV Blue
Race 391 Jason Rovey RV-8 RV Blue
Race 483 Jim Hard RV-7A "Pegleg's Paintless Predator" RV Blue
Race 737 David Grover RV-8 RV Blue
Race B4U Seth Baker RV-7 RV Red
Race 08 Bryan Jones RV-8 RV Red
Race 83 Dave Adams Long EZ "Lawn Dart" Sprint
Race 84 Russell & Rhea Sherwood Glasair 1RG "Marilyn" Sprint
Race 795 Brett Gerber Long EZ Sprint
Race 66S Paul Bordelon Bonanza V-35B FAC1RG-T
Race 60 Jeffery Johnson Bonanza S35 FAC1RG
Race 193 Bobby Bennet Bonanza S35 FAC1RG
Race 729 Chester Jurskis Bonanza S35 "Trixie" FAC1RG
Race 997 Chris McKeown Bonanza G36 "Yertle" FAC1RG
Race 111 Jeff Bertsch Bonanza P35 "Beecha" FAC2RG
Race 77 Jim Huff Bonanza 35 "Whatabeech" FAC2RG
Race 76N Walter Kuhnel Mooney M20J FAC3RG
Race 448 Jim Porter Cirrus SR20 "Plane Jane" FAC3FX
Race 456 Ann Elise Bennett C-182 "X Ray" FAC3FX
Race YY Charlie Sisk C-182 FAC3FX
Race 55 Team Ely Grumman AA5A "Cheetah" FAC5
Race 80U Rich Caponigro C-150 FAC6
Race 308 Massimo Troiani Diamond DA20 "Dragonfly" FAC6
 
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Bob, nicely done. A question for those of us completely clueless about how these races are done: Can you give us a general sense of the flying part, particularly altitudes and power settings? Was this race a closed circuit, flying start one?

Thanks -
 
Here is my view of it

Bob, nicely done. A question for those of us completely clueless about how these races are done: Can you give us a general sense of the flying part, particularly altitudes and power settings? Was this race a closed circuit, flying start one?

Thanks -

Rocket100-1.jpg


I wrote a long response that was lost in the timeout processing so this will be more brief.

The flying is all out maximum power, maximum speed, best altitude based on forecast winds. Other than the wind analysis there is nothing subtle about it. The race follows a course defined by the organizer.

The Rocket 100 that was flown yesterday at Taylor is still defined under Calendar of Events at www.sportairrace.org. You can go there and see the course which started and ended at the same location with 140+ miles in between. I also added a copy of the larked up sectional in this post. Here is a description of my experience there:


The night before the race I studied the wind charts and planned my race strategy. The wind charts I used were those on-line at the aviation weather center for 1500Z, surface, 3,000 feet and 6,000 feet. I had developed a race leg spread sheet where I could plug in independent variable like leg length, climb speed, descend speed, cruise speed, relative wind angle & speed, altitude change. The functions were imbedded in other cells of the spreadsheet to automatically calculate intermediate values and the time and speed results for my selected choices. I spent hours in my motel room Friday night running options for the 9 race legs. In the end I settled on a climb to 1,600 ft after take-off then descend to the start for speed and maintain minimum altitude (500 ft agl) to turn 1. In the very short leg between turn 1 and 2 I would start my 500 fpm climb toward 3000 ft and continue the rest of the climb on the way to turn 3. I would maintain the 3,000 ft altitude until turn 5 then descent rapidly to 500 ft agl in the less than a mile to turn 6 and on the initial part of the long leg to turn 7. From there on to turn 8 and the finish line I would remain at minimum altitude. My work showed that if the winds were as forecast I could average 217 mph for the race.

After we were launched for the race on Saturday I flew as planned except the low clouds prevented me from reaching 3,000 feet. Just before the first turn I was passed by and unpainted RV-8 and he was going away as we rounded turn 1. I started my climb and he stayed low so I thought to myself, I may be able to catch him if he stays low for the whole race. I did pass him and stayed ahead until shortly before turn 7 at the radome. I saw him creeping by off to the left and by the finish I was about 1 mile behind Race #390. Back at the airport in the refueling line I learned that the RV-8 has a 390 cu. in. engine so I felt a little better.

Bob Axsom
RV-6A, Race #71
 
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