Five in a Row for N. Donner in Longview

by Joe Zvada     photos by Stacie Carroll

More articles from Longview 

Leaving Longview, TX at 1pm on Sunday and driving a thousand miles home to be at work by 8am Monday morning really knocks you out for a couple days.  So it's Wednesday and we are just now getting to the final update from the Great Texas Balloon Race:

OVERALL STANDINGS

 The biggest money event of the season concluded with some last lap drama on Sunday.  Event Director Jim Birk called a four part task, FIN, GBM, HWZ, JDG.  The FIN and GBM were both at the airport requiring pilots to throw two baggies in just a matter of a few seconds.  The excellent measuring team volunteers of the GTBR laid out four triangles which pilots had to throw their GBM markers in, the best result being the closest marker inside a triangle to the X.  As always in Longview there were a ton of very good scores, and many who got to greedy and were just outside the triangle and relegated some ten spots lower in the standings......this author.

The HWZ was about 2km away from the airport and pilots had to stay low to get as much left as possible to reach the goal.  The target was set in a tight retention basin behind a school building with trees and lightpoles all around.  Maneuvering around the obstacles, many were able to drop their balloon into the small opening and achieve excellent results.

The final JDG was set nearly 10k away on the same wind line.  It was obvious that the low left was going to be too slow to get to the target before it closed.  The only option was to ascend to altitude and track away from the goal to get back in line and use a fast mid layer wind to speed back to hopefully throw a marker before the target closed.  A task too challenging to complete for all but one pilot.....

Holding a lead on Sunday is difficult no matter who you are or where you are at, but when you are in Longview and the guy who has won the event four years running is just a few hundred points behind it seems to be nearly impossible.  As we sat in briefing Sunday morning, current World Champion John Petrehn had a nearly 700pt lead over fourth place Nick Donner.  

Petrehn was first in the air followed closely by Donner.  The wind was the standard for Longview.  Low left of about 40 degrees and 70-75 degrees around 1500-2000ft.  All four tasks closed at 8:30am so pilots were in a hurry to get in the air early, creating hella congestion coming into the airport targets.  Petrehn was in this early group, but stalled in the low left just prior to the airport, seemingly waiting for an open spot in the line of balloons.

Petrehn found his opening and made his approach to the field.  As he came across the field he found himself well left of the targets, only managing a total of just over 700pts on the two tasks.  Donner saw this play out in front of him and knew the door had been left open.  His approach took him over the closest point in the triangle and just to the right of the X, for a point total of 1650pts.  Giving Donner a 271pt lead over Petrehn going into the HWZ task.

Petrehn knew he had ground to make up and made a good approach into the HWZ for a 844pt score.  Donner's approach left him slightly left of the target for a 615pt score, but still held a 42 pt lead.  The final task of the event lay some 10k away and both pilots knew that if they got a baggie in that scoring area they would be in the best position to win.  

Everybody was hanging in the low slow left, nobody wanting to be the first to climb to altitude and test the higher winds.  It was John's brother Paul Petrehn who first went up to test the winds.  For the pilots on the deck it was hard to see if he was getting a favorable track.  However, everyone knew that he was in radio contact with John, and when John launched for the moon, it was like in Terminator on Judgement Day when all the missles launch skyward at once.  Roughly half the field rocketed skyward, not wanting to miss an opportunity to score. 

The wind at 5000ft was not tracking toward the target, but actually back toward the airport.  Pilots were struggling to find a small band of wind that would take them just slightly to the north to get on a 70 degree bearing to the target and ride the 1500ft 70 degree wind back to the target at about 45-50km/h.  

Donner played it better than anyone, constantly on the radio with his fellow pilots geting wind speed and direction at lower altitudes, calculating when he needed to come down to ride the fast winds back to the target.  He flew backwards to 12km from the target before descending.  The fast winds held true and carried Donner all the way to the target with less than 4 min to spare before the target closed.  A remarkable feat and one of the best single task performances given the variables and the pressures that I have ever seen to close the book on his 5th consecutive victory in Longview, TX.  

 Other notable finishes from the weekend include a 22 place jump by Joe Heartsill to get into the top ten, a 20 place jump for Cheri White to get into 10th, and a very good weekend by Gary Heavin, spending most of the three days in the top ten.  David Hoover rang the pole on Saturday morning only to watch his plunder get reduced on Sunday when Will Lapointe and Richard James each claimed a portion of the $5000 pot.  

The event is extremely excited to be hosting the Nationals next year.  The local volunteer staff is as passionate and dedicated as any in the country, the transition to the Nationals will be seamless.  The BFA scoring program and loggers were used for the first time in Longview this year, and other than a few minor hiccups, all seemed to work well.  The biggest money event of the year will also be the most imporant competition of the year in 2012..... the excitement is already building.  

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