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The first days of the racing week are for training and qualifying. In the morning a time window is reserved for the biplanes. Here the participants wait for the departure on Runway 08. |
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Jeffrey Lo taxies to Runway 26 with his fast Pitts LR-1 “Miss Gianna”. 26 is used when de wind comes from the west. This year Jeffrey finished second in the Biplane Gold - with 231,685 mph. |
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Processions of biplanes to Runway 26, where this year due to the quite strong and cold west wind, some races were started. |
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Frank Jerant flies a modified Mong Sport with the #16. With a speed of 178,558 mph Frank reached sixth place in Biplane Gold. |
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Jim Smith with the red Pitts S-1C #50 and Richard Beardsley with his blue-yellow Smith Miniplane DSA-1 #77 prepare for the race. |
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Jeff Watkins with his Pitts S-1S #17 “Devil In Da Skies”. 173,755 mph was sufficient for the seventh place in Biplane Gold. |
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Larry Teuber with the #18 “Wiley Cock” and Stephen Brown with #00 “Tonopah Low II”. Stephen Brown was able to finish in front of Larry Teuber. |
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The Pitts with the smiling face: Jonathan Gourley was 170.345 mph fast in the last race and finished third in the Biplane Bronze. |
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The Pitts S-1S #21 “Son of Galloping Goat”, flown by J.P. Thibodeau. J.P. was 189,200 Mph fast and reached thereby place four in Biplane Gold. |
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Dan O'Marro flew the red lantern in the biplane Class this year. After five years abstinence he participated with his Smith Miniplane in the races. 142,426 mph was Dan’s speed. |
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Marilyn Dash with her Pitts S-1S #4 “Ruby” doing an engine test. A crew member holds the tail. |
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“Bottoms Up” is for this airplane a fitting name, Michael Langston's Pitts S-1S with the #4. Michael participated for the first time and reached with 179,126 mph place 2 in Biplane Bronze. |
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Last year Marilyn finished last in the Biplane Class. This year with 155,282 Mph she came in second last in the Bronze Class with her #4 “Ruby”. |
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Jim Smith already participated many times in the Air Races. This year he could secure the fifth place in the Gold Group with his Pitts S-1C #50 “Humm baby”. He was 181.612 mph fast. |
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The winner of this year was Tom Aberle with the extremely modified Mong Sport #62 “Phantom”. Tom brought the fast Racer again to victory lane with 251,958 Mph. |
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Jason Somes, who participates beside the Biplane Class also in the Formula One and in the T-6 Class, won the Bronze Class with 183,175 mph. |
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This picture clearly shows the partial extreme modifications. Remarkably is the chassis construction, the fuselage form and the four-bladed propeller. |
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Kirk Murphy is a racing pilot since 2004 and tried three different racing classes. This year he became eight in Biplane Gold with his Pitts S-1S #7X “Lady Luck”. This was with a speed of 173,689 mph. |
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Mark Barbers Pitts S-1S #86 “Shortcut” carries a racing design instead of the classical red aerobatics Pitts design. For Mark it was his third year of participation and 165.310 Mph brought him into place 5 in the Bronze Group.
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2006 was Erica Hoaglands rookie year. With her blue Pitts S-1C #9 “Bittersweet” she flew 167.285 mph fast and landed thereby at place four in Biplane Bronze. |
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Frank Jerant with the #16 “Mongstrosity” overtakes Jeff Watkins with #17 “Devil In Da Skies”. |
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Since 1990 Stephen Brown participated each year with his Pitts #00 “Tonopah Low”. 212,237 mph was sufficient in this year’s race for place three behind Tom Aberle and Jeffrey Lo. |
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It was the women year in the Biplane Class. In the cockpit of the Pitts S-1S #10 “Blue Skies”, Leah Sommer flew her first race and finished at place 6 in the Bronze Group with 165,178 mph. |
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