MultiGP 2019 Sports Champs Recap – Part II

Top 16. Top 16? TOP 16! I was in the Top 16 at the 2019 RDQ MultiGP Sports Class Championship in Daytona, Florida. This mean that I would be racing under the lights in the stadium. Holy. Cow.

I reflected back on how I got here. Since the summer, I had really stepped up my game.

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Even if I could only get in a 3 packs, I tried to fly outside each day. I also began practicing on the simulator at night. As Daytona was approaching, it was only light outside after work for an hour. That is, until daylight saving time. Then there was no daylight after work.

I began flying the simulator more and more. Previously, I had found the simulators too difficult to control. I had received advice to drastically lower my rates. I was pleasantly surprised to find that with the lower rates, the simulators were flyable. Not only that, but they were FUN!

We have DRL, LiftOff and Velocidrone, but I found myself using Velocidrone the most. Between outdoor flying and time on the sim, I was able to put in 15-20 hours per week. I wondered if it would pay off.

MultiGP had a great new race format for 2019. The Top 8 pilots from qualifying were automatically placed in the Top 16. Then the next 16-40 battled it out to determine which 8 pilots would join them under the lights. (That was me!) Meanwhile, pilots who qualified 41-80 competed on Track 2 to determine their Top 8. Those Top 8 then got to compete on the stadium track for the title of best of the rest.

And in an attempt to make it as fair as possible, the Top 8 qualifiers were given “catch-up” packs, so that they would have flown as many pics as the pilots they would be competing against later.

This meant that I had a long break before I would be flying again, which was great. I had time to go get something to eat and relax.

We headed out to get some food, and then returned to watch the Best of the Rest compete for their own title. I loved watching their battles on the screen. Meanwhile, we had some guest judges from the Pro Class! It was great to see Enginair, who had ranked 3rd in the world in regional qualifying. I had the privilege of watching him run his qualifying lap. He flies so fast, it looks like watching someone else’s video in fast forward.

We had a great time meeting other pilots, talking with folks like Chris Thomas, and visiting with the sponsors at the race. I met Kevin Turner, the father of Evan “HeadsUp” Turner, and had the opportunity to see the new Five33 frame that would be coming out. Kevin is about the nicest person you could ever meet.

Every time I passed him, he asked me with a smile how I was doing. It was fun to keep cheering each other on. His kindness reminds me of my own father, who unfortunately passed away before I took up drone racing.

Any time I see a woman in the pits, I talked to her about drone racing. I encouraged the women to keep trying and gave them the link to my website.

There were also a few daughters of pilots at the race! I gave them one of my “Roo” stickers and talked to them about flying one day. Chris Thomas sat with his young daughters watching the pilots fly. Chris said to me, “Roo, maybe you can answer this. My daughter wanted to know if pilots give their quads a name.”

When I first began flying, I took care in giving each of my quads a name. My very first racing drone was Pinky. Pinky had a special place in my heart. She was virtually indestructible, and I flew her exclusively.

At the 2018 MultiGP International Open, one of the pilots on the Rookie track made fun of Pinky. “Why are you flying THAT?!?”

It’s true-she wasn’t a traditional drone. She had a heavy canopy. The motors were overly powerful. But she could take the beating if I missed a gate going all-out. I took 2nd place at the Rookie race with her.

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Since then, I hadn’t given much thought to naming my drones. But I wanted to help Chris’s daughter foster a love of drone racing.

“Yes!” I told her. “I name all of my drones. See this blue drone? This is …,” I quickly tried to think of a name. “This is Blue Thunder! This is the drone I’ve been flying all day and she keeps winning races.”

I hold out my drone to her so she can get a better look. I watch as she raises her tiny hand and begins lovingly petting the top of my drone like it’s the family dog who just sat down next to her and put his head on her lap. Her child voice says, “good drone!”

My heart melts. I miss our kids.

She looks up at me and asks hopefully, “Do you have any other drones with names?”

Oh boy. I have to think of more names. “Definitely! Um…” I pick up my yellow drone. “This is… Yellow Lightning!”

Her eyes get wide. She says, “Cool! Do you have any more?”

Quick, think of another name! “I have two more drones,” I say. I pick up my two drones that have ladybug canopies on them. One is a 5-inch yellow ladybug, and one is a 4-inch red ladybug. She’ll love these!

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“This is Yellow Ladybug and Red Ladybug. The yellow one is the mommy, and the red one is the baby.” I let her touch the canopy and then put the drones down. I think about how much time Chris Thomas spends away from his family, and how thankful we are for his sacrifice.

Chris asks if I’m nervous. “I know what you have to be thinking,” he says. But, surprisingly, I’m not nervous. I know I’ll be shaking when it’s my first heat, but I’m really proud to have made it this far. I’m also not expecting to win, which takes the pressure off of me.

I just feel lucky. Drone racing is a combination of speed and luck. JuneBug is faster than I am, but she had bad luck and didn’t make it. I had my share of mistakes, and ended up in the Top 16.

This means that Safety Third has two pilots in the Top 16: Me and Reap3r. I put the finishing touches on my drone before we begin racing again. New props? Check. Props facing the correct direction? Check. Props tight? Check. Screws tight? Check. Batteries charged? Check.

I am ready to go.

They bring the Top 16 onto the field for a photo opportunity. I look around, and I feel proud to be the only woman in the group but I’m not intimidated. Drone pilots are some of the kindest, most helpful people you could meet.

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After the photos, Chris Thomas gave us a pep talk. He told us that this was a special race – and that he knew many of us had never flown in such a big event before. He advised us to take our time and enjoy the experience. It was very touching. Thank you, Coach Chris!

Finally, it was time to race.

I was in Heat 1 – so at least there was no more waiting. I was in a heat with some pretty fast pilots including Mattylite. At this point, it had been some time since we had flown, and I felt rusty. Unfortunately, I had a number of mistakes. I came in last in this heat and moved down to the consolation brackets.

My teammate Reap3r was flying well, though! He won his first heat – which was Heat 4.

I was up next in Heat 5. I didn’t have much experience flying at this level, and I tried to focus on the track. I had my teammates surrounding me: Smitty, JimmyProton, and Reap3r. I finish lap one, and I hear Scully announcing that I am trailing. Jimmy tells me quietly, calmly, that I need to pick it up. I try to speed up but I’m not able to do it. I crash through the start gate.

Smitty tells me that I was on my third lap when I crashed out, and we ask to review the results. They play back the DVR, and no – I had crashed out on my second lap. My day in Daytona is over.

But Reap3r was still racing! I turned my attention to cheering on my teammate. I spotted his heats and prepared to give him any information that would be helpful. (We may also have had a few antics along the way.)

Reap3r was doing very well – but one heat went horribly wrong. He was having video problems with his module. I had my goggles ready to put on his face, but he asked for Smitty to reset his module. Smitty did, but at the wrong time, and Reap3r crashed because he couldn’t see.

Pilots have their reasons for wanting to use their own goggle’s video instead of the ground stations that MultiGP provides. If a wire gets loose, the ground stations can be glitchy. But if you don’t use them, and have video issues, you can’t contest the results. I’ve generally used the ground stations that MultiGP provides, but Reap3r’d experience makes me vow to always use the ground stations.

He ended up placing 5th, which is an amazing achievement. Congratulations, Reap3r! You have been an inspiration to me. Great job.

Now it was time to watch the final 4: Mattylite, TBFPV, Bikeguy and Klazer. It’s always great to be able to watch pilots fly who are faster than you. You see different lines. You see how to shave precious seconds off of your laps. I watched in awe of their ability to fly faster than I can.

In the end, Bikeguy took third, TBFPV took second, and MattyLite took home the trophy for first place. After taking the win, Matty crashed his quad hard into the grandstands. I captured the damage he made to his quad. Check out the battery:

I watched their acceptance speeches and their photos under the lights.

I have one more job to do in Daytona. I approach MattyLite to ask if he would participate in my Night Before Race Day video. He was very gracious and said yes. His shot turned out great! I would be editing this video over the next few days so that it could be posted before the Pro Class Championship.

We left Daytona having a terrific experience. The Sports Class Championship rivaled the International Open in terms of the quality of the event. MultiGP made us feel like rock stars, even though we were the slower pilots. MultiGP took care of everything for us.

We got to fly in a STADIUM UNDER THE LIGHTS. The track was terrific. There was an army of dedicated and kind volunteers helping. The vendors provided crucial replacements for broken parts. We had Scully on the microphone, and everything was live streamed. We couldn’t ask for more.

Bye, Daytona! We’re sad to leave you but we hope to return next year.