From a Sport Class air racing perspective the Las Cruces Air and Space Expo held last weekend was a great success. Unfortunately the event was marred by the loss of the experienced Chuck Coleman while flying an Extra 300 in a tumbling aerobatic display during the air show portion of the event. This lead to Las Cruces authorities terminating the LCA&SE after the crash so the final Sport Gold race was not held and results awarded on the basis of Saturday’s heat race.
Prior to the aerobatic accident the racing went very well. All three of the scheduled heat races were run Saturday, thankfully with far less of the gusty winds characterizing Friday qualifying and there were some remarkable close finishes.
In Saturday’s Bronze heat race Kevin Eldredge had everyone covered in his 274 mph Glasair III (previously the Robbie Grove/Jim Rust mount), but a three-way dogfight erupted among Bijan Maleki, Chris McMillian and Dee Child for second place. The three were clustered at 245 mph until the trio came up to lap Sean Van Hatten (uncharacteristically piloting Joe Coraggio’s LongEZ) and Skylor Piper in an RV-8 right at the finish line. Luckily the Las Cruces race course offers generous width, resulting in an unprecedented five-abreast finish(!). Maleki took second, McMillian third and Child fourth.
Eldredge’s Bronze win moved him into the Silver where he appeared to take third and thus portended his moving up to the Gold, but a pylon cut and resulting 12-second penalty limited him to fourth. Joe Coraggio took the win at a personal best 284 mph in his naturally-aspirated Lancair Legacy, while sparring partner Tim Slater spooled up 278 mph for second place in the Saturday heat. Doug Glover was third in yet another Legacy (the dominant airframe at Las Cruces) with a 269 mph posting.
Order prevailed in Saturday’s Gold heat and to no one’s surprise Andrew Findlay made a show of it with Tom McNerney before dialing in a little more power to trot off with the win at a relaxed 335 mph. McNerney was throttled as well, posting 325 mph for second place. Third went to Peter Balmer of Switzerland in Race 44, an airplane Tom McNerney sweated bullets finishing up for Peter the week prior to the races.
The Gold field was something of a Lancair Legacy benefit with seven of the eight competitors fielding some version of the plastic fantastic. Given the absence of perennial Sport Gold champion Jeff LaVelle only Slater was mounted in a Glasair III. As it turned out, Saturday’s heat was the last the Gold field would run this weekend, so Findlay emerged as the fastest of the first-ever post-Reno air race.
Sunday brought light wind and broken cumulus for the best conditions of the event.
In the Bronze final the front of the pack was open as Eldredge had moved up to Silver and some of the competitors had found a little more of that overnight speed that comes with a good night’s rest and familiarity on the course. Making the best of this was Colleen Sterling who whipped the family Lancair Legacy to a race-winning 259 mph average. A touch behind at 255 mph Chris McMIllian was getting amazing speed from his F1 Rocket, which was just barely enough to keep Dee Child’s Glasair III in third, also at 255 mph. From there the field slowly notched down to Skylor Piper in eight place with a 201 mph average.
Sunday’s Silver final also saw an upset as Joe Coraggio was favored but in the first lap shuffle and still hunting for the elusive pylons Joe cut pylon 3. That was just enough to let Tim Slater by for the win once the penalty was assessed; Slater prevailing 277 mph to Coraggio’s 276 mph. Behind the leading pair a four-way fur ball saw McMillian (251 mph), Child (251 mph), Sterling (up from Bronze at 250 mph), Bijan Maleki (250 mph) and Doug Glover (249 mph) discuss third through seventh places, finishing in that order. As for Kevin Eldredge who had walked off with the Bronze heat on Saturday to race the Silver final… he posted the only DNF of the weekend in the final.
While the event ended tragically on the aerobatic side, the Sport Class racers put up a safe, competitive show. The class organization ran professionally, the FAA inspectors on site could make a positive report, the state of New Mexico and city of Las Cruces had to be pleased with the competency of the racers and the die is now set for additional racing. While not an inked deal expect another fall race at Las Cruces in 2025, and rest assured the Sport Class is ready to build on this well-run first race.
Both the State of New Mexico and City of Las Cruces played out-sized roles in making the Las Cruces Air & Space Expo happen in their jurisdictions, to the point their support was critical in bringing the event to fruition. Their positive experience with the Sport Class as part of the LCA&SE can only portend good things for sport aviation as New Mexico draws the spotlight on itself as a place to fly, and fly fast.
