Haverfordwest: Kicking 2026 Off

Royal Aero Club RRRA
3 days ago
4 min read

May Update – Ginger Lacy & Beverly Snook Cup

The Welsh coast is one of the most beautiful places in the UK… when it’s sunny.

Thankfully, Haverfordwest gave us just enough of that this weekend to get the 2026 season properly underway.

Pilots made the journey from all over the country — east, south, midlands, north... even some home grown talent from Swansea! Once again proving how brilliantly unique these race weekends are at bringing people together. Better still, we saw the return of some familiar names and seasoned racers, with 10 aircraft making the trip down to West Wales.

Weekend Entrants

Race No	Pilot	Navigator	Aircraft
Race 5	Tony		G-CIFL
Race 7	Catherine Ruddick	Kate	G-BUAO
Race 9	Bob Johnson	Alan	G-CISZ
Race 22	David Moorman	Adam	G-DAVM
Race 23	Jonathan Willis	Gary	G-TNGO
Race 25	Martin Gosling		G-GOSL
Race 26	Matthew Summers		G-RVPL
Race 42	Gavin Johns		G-GBVX
Race 82	Gordon Bellerby	David Lee	G-GORD
Race 200	Cliff Hawkins		G-OTRV

Course Information

5 Laps
5 Turns per lap
Lap Distance: 18NM
Total Distance: 90NM

Ginger Lacey Trophy – Saturday

The forecast did not look promising. In fact, most of us were fully expecting to spend Saturday staring out of hangar doors drinking coffee and discussing weather apps like seasoned meteorologists.

Matt took on scouting duties in Race 26 flying a couple of recon laps to help determine whether the course was workable. Thankfully, forecast and reality were slightly different. The rain and low cloud held off just long enough for us to sneak some practice in.

Given the green light... While slightly delayed, most competitors managed a few sighting laps and some touch-and-goes to help with the scatter start practice — which, as it turned out, was pretty tricky.

SC2 appeared very quickly, SC3 was buried behind trees, and if you blinked you were probably already late. Thankfully SC4 was a large farmhouse sitting proudly on top of a hill, making it much kinder on the eyes and stress levels.

TP1 sat on the edge of what quickly became known as “the silver field” — or more accurately, the polytunnel landmark. From there it became: “Farmhouse, farmhouse, three brown fields, two green fields… TP2"

Sounds ridiculous on paper. Makes perfect sense at 150kts.

TP3 gave us a lovely left turn using a reflective farmer’s water pool as a rollout point leading towards the coast, while the leadup to TP4 was arguably one of the most scenic sections of the race. The Welsh coastline off the right wing, Roch Castle standing proudly on the hill… not a bad office view.

TP5 — the airfield itself — blended in more than expected while eyeing it towards TP4, but thankfully three bright yellow fields lined up perfectly like a giant Welsh arrow pointing home.

Unfortunately, Welsh weather eventually remembered it was Welsh weather. As start time approached, so did the dark clouds, followed shortly after by a thorough aircraft wash for everyone on the apron.

Washout. Racing cancelled for Saturday.

Beverley Snook Trophy – Sunday

Sunday morning arrived looking completely different. Bright sunshine, scattered cloud, and a far more optimistic atmosphere than the forecasts had suggested only 48 hours earlier.

With heavier weather expected later in the day, the decision was made to race early. Game on.

A couple of competitors understandably decided the safer option was to depart before conditions changed, meaning Catherine and Cliff were scratched from the grid. That left eight aircraft ready to go.

With our RAT scheduled for 10:45, and the earlier departures also gifted the remaining field an earlier start slot. No complaints there.

The reverse-grid taxi-out worked beautifully, allowing everyone to line up neatly after a quick 180 on the runway. Then came the wait.

Flag up.

10…9…8…

Flag down — GO.

SC1, spotted.

SC2, spotted.

SC3… possibly fictional.

SC4, farmhouse dead ahead.

Memory intact. Mostly.

With no practice laps on Sunday, everyone relied heavily on Saturday’s reference points. Before long racers were back over the silver field and settling into the rhythm of lap one.

The handicap spread meant the field stayed impressively tight throughout the race. Everyone knew overtakes were likely to happen late, which only added to the pressure lap by lap as the gaps visibly shrank.

Then came Lap 4.

Race 23 — came charging through the field at remarkable pace, overtaking aircraft as if they’d accidentally selected idle power. Jon and Gary managed the traffic brilliantly, taking wider, cleaner turns where needed while somehow still carrying enormous speed.

By the final sector approaching TP4, most of the field was arriving almost together. It became a proper drag race to the finish line.

With the geography around Haverfordwest allowing for a low finish, most crews dipped lower while others opted to stay nearer 500ft for comfort. Race 22 managed to close rapidly on Race 42 in the closing moments, while Race 9 — despite a 12-second delayed start — came storming through with impressive speed across the line, hot on the heels of Race 22.

And as always… the order over the line is only part of the story.

Final Results & Penalties

This season introduces the updated corner-cutting penalty system, designed to penalise cutting without instantly destroying someone’s weekend — unless you cut more than 60 metres… in which case, honestly, what were you doing?

After adjustments: