A quick start to day 2-of-2, the final day of 426 Super Sport Quickie 500. Jacob Raquet gets the jump on pushing pilot Matthew Fehling’s Q500 plane off the line.
By Tim Lampe
Day 2-of-2 for the 2026 AMA Nationals for 426 Super Sport Quickie 500 is in the books and a national champion has been crowned. In between, there was plenty of action on the course. Remember Monday’s story about how a proverbial David knocked off a Goliath when Chris Martin won the flyoff for first place against Gino Del Ponte in EF1? And remember how I said not to worry about Gino because he will win plenty more races going forward? Although Gino didn’t win the overall today, I was again a first-hand witness up close to the absolute clinic Gino and his caller/son Dominic put on in the third round (eighth round overall) this afternoon.
Due to attrition, the two other pilots were a scratch, leaving Gino and Jim Nikodem plenty of clean air to duke it out. Both got off to a clean start, but after two or three laps Gino incurred a cut, putting him a lap down, which often (but not always) hands the win to the other pilot. All Jim had to do was hang on, not make any mistakes and keep it together to get his win. However, Gino and Dominic kept the pedal to the metal and put on an absolute clinic on how get the other pilot to flinch. The team held to their guns and kept pushing.
Jim may have backed off a tad calculating he was going to get the win and four points. However, Jim is no slouch himself and knows “what’s what,” and realized he needed to keep pushing hard in order to not get lapped by Gino before getting his ten laps. I didn’t think Gino would catch Jim, and he may not have, but he kept getting closer and closer, forcing Jim to get back up to full speed. But Gino didn’t need to catch Jim, because they were closing so fast that it forced Jim into pushing too hard and making a cut. This put the shoe back on the other foot and gave the win to Gino and Dominic. The bottom line here is, Gino may not have, or probably would not have caught Jim, but he pushed so hard that it forced Jim into flying exceptionally tight, causing him to cut.
The main story for today was the tandem of Matthew Fehling and his teammate Jacob Raquet. If you look at the results, you’ll see that Matthew came out on top with 36 points. We flew a total of 9 rounds. You get four points for each heat you win. Four points times nine rounds equals 36 points. Matthew Fehling was perfect for the day, winning all nine rounds in which he competed. Matthew is one of the few elite pilots on the circuit and wins “fast time” almost everywhere he goes. Today, with the stone-cold guidance of his caller Jacob, he also flew perfectly and unquestionably deserved the win. You’ll also see that Matthew took fast time and his teammate Jacob took second place. Look for Matthew and Jacob on the world FAI circuit in the very near future.
Now that 426 is in the books, it’s time to put the Quickies away and bust out the Quarter 40s for two more days of competition.
Your podium finishers (front row L to R) Jason Duda - 5th place, Dominic Del Ponte - Best Junior, Annabelle Doe - Best Senior, Pilot A.J. Seaholm and caller Lonnie Smith - 4th place. (Back row L to R) caller Ray Brown and pilot Dean Stone - 3rd place, Matthew Fehling and caller Jacob Raquet - 1st place and 2nd place, respectively.
A couple of classic Formula 1 planes and the smaller Quarter Midget .15s in the background.
Zack Paine launches his father, Corey Paine’s, Formula 1 plane.
One more picture of your AMA 426 Super Sport Quickie 500 National Champion and runner up, Mathew Fehling (L) and Jacob Raquet (R) with trophy donated and made by Marcus Blanchard.
