Round 5 of the BMFA league ran today on Bishop Hill in near perfect conditions between 22 and 25m/s due west with a mainly overcast sky, some sunshine and a couple of brief showers.

The lift was generally huge with rapidly cycling thermal activity which meant times were very fast and the average times were exceptional. There were 25 pilots at the slope and we managed to complete 8 rounds with 135 sub 40’s out of 189 timed attempts (71.4% sub 40!). The slowest round winning time was a 33.86 in the first round.

Keith Wood was up first with his FS3 flying a 39.94 to set the tone, Martin Newnham looked very impressive flying his very heavy FS4 to a 33.86 in the EM style with Simon Thornton and Rich Bago flying 35’s, Greg Dakin flying a 36 and Mark Redsell and Mike Evans putting in good 37’s.

Round two saw another stunning time for Martin flying a 32.78 with Mike Evans close with a 33.38 and Kevin not far behind on 33.45. Paul Upton found his line and scored a 34.40, he would not fly more than 35 seconds for the rest of the day! Rich Bago also scored a 34 which started a string of sub-35s scores.

Round 3 was won with a new UK record from Martin Newnham scoring 30.70 with his FS4 beating Mark Redsell’s previous 30.90 from last year. Dave Watson scored a memorable 32.05, Rich Bago 32.33, Mark Abbots 32.43, Mark Redsell 32.76 etc. Mark Abbots was really showing the Caldera to good effect and this was the first of two 32’s back to back for him which will see him smiling until Tuesday.

Round 4 was won by Martin again with a 32.64 and this was starting to get a bit repetitive with a 4000 point score from 4 rounds. Not so many super quick times in this round but 17 out of 25 sub-40’s.

Round 5, Martin again 32.00, he was ‘owning the hill’ (Tom’s quote), all this practice appears to be paying off. John Phillips got out his Toba and flew a 32.44 in great style, Mark Redsell got an identical 32.44 and Rich Bago had a 32.94.

Round 6 saw Simon Thornton catch a really sweet thermal with his Needle 124 and break the UK record again with a 30.02, this was also FTD and an awesome sight, well done Simon! Rich Bago was quick with a 31.66 and Mark Abbots got another 32.xx.

Frank Hulton was the star of Round 7 with a beautifully flown 31.45 with his old faithful, new Sting. And Paul Upton was rewarded with a win in round 8 with a 33.62.

So all in all a very memorable day. I am happy that we got a comp in and really glad you all got to fly Bishop at its best.

Well done to Martin, you were unstoppable today and congratulations to Rich, Paul and Simon showing Needles off to good effect again. Rich will be further extending his lead in the league. Apologies if I have missed any headline times or PB’s, there were so many great times today!

All the best

Peter

Below are the results.( Horcum Members in Bold )