Thursday Races VERY Hot Despite Lowering Temps

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Thursday dawned as a cloudy and what would turn out to be a VERY windy day at the Reno Stead Airport, home of the National Championship Air Races and Air Show.

Lighting and wind would prove to be challenging for photographers and pilots alike. As the day progressed pilots fought the wind and poor visibility with two major race outcome changing cuts and one low flying penalty marring the days race results. Photographers only had to deal with the wind and light without flying at the same time!

Some major battles are shaping up in several of the racing Divisions and today was but act one in the drama that will continue throughout the weekend at Reno, Nevada's high desert race course.

Sport Division's John Parker looked doubtful early in the week despite having added a gob of additional power to his 3/4 scale P-51 Mustang as he fought systems problems. Erasing all doubt as to how well things can work when they work, Parker handily defeated Darryl Greenamyer's Lancair entry... only to have the difficult conditions contribute to a pylon cut and a mandatory time penalty which saw him placed back to third.

More information within the picture blow-ups, click on any small image for an enlargement and caption.

Report by: Wayne Sagar
Results courtesy Reno Air Race Association and
The National Air Racing Group
Via Naomi West

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