With only a stock Lycoming TIO540-NXT, Sharp took first place in the Gold Championship air race at Reno this year with a speed of 360 mph.

As luck would have it, along with smart flying by Sharp throughout the week, it was a pylon cut by Rod Von Grote flying in the first position that gave Sharp the win.

At the beginning of the Gold Race, Sharp was flying in 3rd place closely behind the battle for first between John Parker in his Thunder Mustang and Rod Von Grote in his Lancair Legacy. On lap 1 of the 6 lap race, Von Grote was passing Parker when he cut a pylon, which Sharp clearly saw. It was at that point Sharp knew that he had to pass Parker and keep his speed up in order to win the Gold.

On lap 4, with the Lycoming Thunderbolt howling, Sharp swept pass Parker. At that point, Sharp was in second, with the knowledge of the pylon cut by Von Grote, he knew he had first. All Sharp had to do from then on to the checkered flag was to keep flying a fast, clean race. He did it !!!

The penalty for a pylon cut is 2 seconds off each lap (2 seconds x 6 laps), a 12 second total penalty.

Many spectators questioned why Sharp decided to race with a stock Lycoming TIO-540- NXT.

Because he can.

The goal for Team Nemesis was to see what the combination of the NXT airframe and a stock Lycoming TIO-540-NXT could do. Nemesis raced without the use of ADI (Anti- Detonation Injection) or supplemental cooling water. As the team has stated from the beginning, racing should demonstrate what can be done, not what has been done.

Team Nemesis demonstrated that the right airframe with a stock Lycoming Thunderbolt engine can not only be competitive but win! So, the team now knows what they have, and from here, they will engineer the speeds they desire. The team can’t wait!

With system and airframe issues solved and with the smooth, powerful, and effortless performance of the Lycoming Thunderbolt TIO-540-NXT engine, the Team (Jon, Patricia, the 3 Steves, Darren, Kevin, Elliott, Eric, the 2 Mikes,Tony, Angela, Lilly, Angie, Lana, Bob, Randy, Phil, Dennis, Larry, Ken W., Cory, Patti, Roger, Ian, Ken K., Mirco, Paul and Hope) was able to be operate at a relatively easy pace throughout the week.

Data from each flight was collected from the JPI EDM 930 and analyzed by Team members. Operating limitations for each race were expanded based on data from the previous successful flight. Only minor adjustments were made along with routine inspections.

This win puts Sharp second in the total number of Reno Gold National Championship Titles. Ray Cote currently leads the tally with 13 Gold Wins, followed by Sharp with 12 and Darryl Greenameyer with a total of 11.

Team Nemesis believes that the luck mentioned above is partly due to the Team’s Web and Graphic Designer, Mirco Percorari of Aircraft Studio Design. He sent the team a lucky email stating “in bocca al lupo”, an Italian good luck wish. In addition, he designed a lucky logo for the team. It all seemed to work!

As one can imagine, the whole team was elated and still are! On the flight home, Jon and Patricia Sharp reached a speed of 372 mph, flying straight and level and with no tail wind. “We were just curious what cruising speed we could reach comfortably”, stated Sharp.

The average cruise speed on their flight back to Mojave, CA was 346 mph. The total flight time, wheels to wheels, including a fly by at the Mojave Airport, was 1 hour and 13 minutes.

Third year on the race course, racer 3X did it!


What a week!


The Team would love to thank the following sponsors:

- Red Line Oil
- Lycoming Engines
- Aircraft Spruce
- Aircraft Studio Design
- 3M
- Hartzell Propeller
- JP Instruments
- Twisted Composites
- Grove Aircraft
- Click Bond

In addition, the team is very thankful for all the blessings that God has given them.

Photo credits by:
Jim Koepnick (EAA)
Mike Rosales (team member)
Daren Kimura (team member)