SATURDAY morning exploded with the second edition of the Sky Grand Prix of Aerobatics dazzling the skies, weaving and winding, pumping and grinding aviators performing death defying and seemingly unnatural manoeuvres while the crowds looked on awestruck and totally enthralled by the men and one woman competing in their fantastic flying machines.
The Durban weather did not disappoint as it was a beautiful cloudless and windless day at Greyville racecourse with approximately 4 000 people filtering into the venue from sunrise. The event will leave an indelible imprint on the people of Durban who can now claim they witnessed history in the making and saw the worlds best up close and personal.
The action included impressive formation flying displays from the Flying Falcons and the RV Raptors and the proceedings were completed by extremely informative and professional commentating from Mike Gallaway (USA) who is himself and accomplished aerobatic champion and a member of Team USA Aerobatics.
The çompetition side of the event took the form of three heats in which the pilots competed against each other, the clock and the scrutinising judges.The three heats comprised the Known sequence, Unknown sequence and the Freestyle section, and points from each discipline were added together to decide an overall winner.
The top three pilots in the Known Sequence were first place Rob Holland (USA), second place Nigel Hopkins (PTA) and Patrick Davidson (PE).Results of the Unknown sequence, in first place Patrick Davidson (PE), Aude Lemordant (France) in second place and in third place Rob Holland (USA).
In the Freestyle section the winner was Rob Holland (USA), with Aude Lemordant (France) in second place and Nigel Hopkins (PTA) in third.The overall winner of this very closely contested event was Patrick Davidson (PE) with 84.93%, followed by Rob Holland (USA) with 84.24% and in third place, Nigel Hopkins (PTA) with 83.26%.
Davidson said: “The event was a great success and at this moment I find the whole experience quite surreal. I had little problems with near perfect flying conditions, the sky was a little hazy due to the Durban heat which I am not used to. It was an awesome day and I hope the public on the ground enjoyed the event as much as we did flying for them.”
Roger Deare, CEO of Sky Grand Prix, said:“Thanks to all the people that supported the event from around the country and the great media response to the event and the Sky Grand Prix team. As a new concept event we would like to build on this edition and create a legacy event for Sky Grand Prix of Aerobatics in Durban. This year we had a fair crowd and we look forward to Durban embracing the event more robustly going forward.”
