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The North American P-51 Mustang
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P-51 Mustang at Reno 2015
Biplane Class
story and photos by Curtis Fowles

Biplanes run on the Continental 0-360 and are mostly comprised on modified Pitts Specials, but also include the Mong, Smith Miniplane and a MB-360 Climax. They fly the same course as the Formula One class and have reached speeds over 260 mph. The course is just over 3 miles in length. This year Tom Aberle broke the biplane qualifying record (again!) with a blistering 284 mph lap - topping last years reacord-breaking 274mph! The biplanes have a rougher time with visibility with two wings. You can spot pilots looking over and under the top wing as needed to see their race traffic.

Like F1, the biplanes use a horse-race start where they take off in position of qualifying along the home stretch on runway 08 and head straight onto the course. If the wind is not cooperating they use Runway 26 or 14/32 to start.

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Tom Aberle in his #62 Phantom is almost impossible to beat, unless they beat themselves. He usually laps everyone during the race at least once. That Phantom is crazy fast.

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Biplane Qualifying:

  1 -  #62 Phantom, Tom Aberle - 284 mph *NEW Record
  2 -  #10 Bad MoJo, Jake Stewart - 237
  3 -  #23 Reno Rabbit, Jeff Rose - 218
  4 -   #3 She Wants Revenge, Casey Erickson - 195
  5 -  #31 Tango Tango, Tony Higa - 194
  6 -  #84 Panther, Alan Hoover - 193
  7 -   #6 Miss Diane, Jeffrey Lo - 190
  8 -   #8 Gone Batty, Phillip Ensley - 190
  9 -   #4 Ruby, Marilyn Dash - 186
 10 -  #32 The Whip, Brian Hoover - 186
 11 -  #33 Black Hawk, Anthony Oshinuaga - 178
 12 -  #77 Meus Tempus, Carl Robinson - 174
 13 - #711 Joey, Birch Entriken - 162
 14 -   #7 Richard Anderson - 156 
Biplane Gold Final Results:
  1 -  #62 Phantom, Tom Aberle - 245 - cuts + 24sec
  2 -  #10 Bad MoJo, Jake Stewart - 220
  3 -  #23 Reno Rabbit, Jeff Rose - 200 - cut + 12sec
  4 -   #3 She Wants Revenge, Casey Erickson - 187
  5 -   #6 Miss Diane, Jeffrey Lo - 185
  6 -  #84 Panther, Alan Hoover - 182
  7 -   #8 Gone Batty, Phillip Ensley - 178
  8 -  #31 Tango Tango, Tony Higa - DQ Low Flying
Biplane Silver Final Results:
  1 - #711 Joey, Birch Entriken - 199
  2 -  #33 Black Hawk, Anthony Oshinuaga - 185
  3 -  #32 The Whip, Brian Hoover - 185
  4 -   #4 Ruby, Marilyn Dash - 180
  5 -  #77 Meus Tempus, Carl Robinson - 177
  6 -   #7 Richard Anderson - 149 

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