Robin Smit and Ronald Deerenberg from the Netherlands are the Standard Class joint winners of Day 9 with a lightning speed of 158 kph over the point to point task distance of 631.46 km. The two team members displayed incredible focus and discipline to muscle leader Matthew Scutter into third place on a classic Narromine day.
The launch time was moved forward to 11.30am to take advantage of the cloud base that was forecast to reach over 9,000 ft by 11am. The fleet launched into a sky of scattered cumulus in all directions. Those of us left on the ground could only look on with envy as the JWGC pilots were able to enjoy a classic cross country day from Narromine.
Standard Class pilots were set a racing task of 631.46 km. It was clear long before the start that it would be a fast day. When the first scores started to be confirmed after landing, we thought, “Ah, 140 kkh. Good result!” Then class leader Matthew Scutter uploaded his flight, with a speed of a blistering 150kph. The next time we looked, jaws dropped as we took in the 158.16 kph for Robin Smit and 158.14kph achieved by Ronald Deerenberg.
On such a strong thermal day, maintaining such close coordination displayed intense discipline. The statistics for the flight show an average climb rate of over 8kts with barely 16 thermals or 50km between climbs.
Matthew Scutter was chased into third place and a further ten plots achieved over 140 kph.
Thilo Scheffler and Sebastian Nagel of Germany came in third and fourth. Nagel was knocked into third position overall by Smit's outstanding performance.
Poles Jakub Pulawski and Mateusz Siodloczek are still well in contention for fourth and fifth places overall.
With two more competition days to come and good weather, the final results remain up for grabs.
CLUB CLASS
Today's FAI 500km triangle was deliberately chosen to give the pilots who had yet to fly their Diamond Distance - nearly 50 per cent of competitors in Club Class - the opportunity to take advantage of the great conditions.
Lucas Delobel won the day for France, flying an LS4 at 126.27 kph over the set task of 501.28 km after coming second the previous day. Daniel Sazhin from the USA put in his best performance so far, coming second at 121.12 kph and Jan Jarwornik from Poland came third for the second time in the competition.
Overall, German Philipp Schulz retains first place in Club Class by 116 points, followed by Britain Tom Arscott and Robin Diesterweg of Germany with Sam Roddie from Britain knocked into fourth place.
The weather for the next two days looks good, although perhaps not as amazing as the last two days. As we approach the end of JWGC 2015, the competitors remain enthusiastic and focused. Unlike many gliding competitions that suffer from multiple weather days, this contest is a true marathon that is testing the skill, endurance and fortitude of all the pilots. The final winners will undisputedly be true champions.
Full results at JWGC2015 Results
Sean Young
