Pál Takáts and Riley Ferré triumph at SRS Ager

Pál Takáts and Riley Ferré have won their respective classes at SRS BGD Edition Ager to win the overall season title of the EN-C series. Hungarian star pilot Pál secured his win after scoring maximum points on the final task to win SRS Ager and with it, the season title.

Pál was overjoyed on landing, sharing a video in which he couldn’t contain his joy. “Last task I smashed it, literally! Also I smashed my ass on landing a little bit. I think that’s a task win to finish up the 2025 SRS season!”

The Iranian pilot Soheil Barikani came second, while the Czech pilot Milos Divis finished third. Second and third place in the season rankings went to Luke Nicol and João Pinheiro. They finished 27th and 22nd respectively in Ager.

In the female category it was the US pilot Riley Ferré who triumphed, finishing sixth overall in the event. (In issue 259 Riley describes her unorthodox path to pilot, having previously been a volleyball player, sheep farmer and rodeo rider.)

“I managed to win the series female category and place 10th overall in the series after competing in all but one of the season events,” she posted. “These races are so much fun, both in the air and on the ground. Competition is strong and there’s nothing better than racing with close friends and an amazing community for seven days. I’m proud of my performance and the progress I have made throughout this season.”

Julie Bouchard-Roussin came second while the former PWC champion Yuki Sato Colombé, came third. In the season rankings, Magdalena Janaway, who didn’t compete in Ager, held onto second place while the American pilot Summer Barham, also not in Ager, took third.

Both Magdalena and Summer had consistently impressive seasons with Magdalena winning the Skywalk edition in Gemona. She finished second in Ozone edition, Colombia and was third in the Gin edition in Poggio Bustone. Summer also podiumed at both Colombia and Gemona.

The week was beset by strong winds with several tasks cancelled. But in the end organisers managed to put on three tasks, including the longest in SRS history, a 117km task all the way to Organya which 44 pilots managed to complete. The second task was a 74km task finishing with a run along the cliffs towards Vilanova and interestingly the number of pilots who made goal was also 74. The final task was 58.7km and started ominously under leaden skies before the day improved, finishing by the shores of the Sant Antoni reservoir. As high cloud came in, it was a day that forced pilots to take any available lift.

In total 132 pilots took part, including 13 women. Among the competitors was Andrea Cecchetto, who arrived directly after winning the Paramotoring World Championships. He finished 16th overall.

Event sponsors BGD gave away a wing, with Bruce Goldsmith on hand to pull the lucky winner’s competition ID out of the bucket. 16 year-old Isaac Michel from Venezuela was very excited to hear his name announced.

Sports-Class Racing Series is a series of international high-level FAI Cat 2 competitions for EN-C and EN-B pilots who have outgrown fun and national competitions. EN-D and competition wings are not permitted. Ager is a well known competition site, offering the perfect combination of long rocky ridges, turquoise lakes, deep river gorges and flatland flying, with the Pyrenees just behind.

RESULTS

BGD Edition, Ager

Overall
1. Pál Takáts, Photon / Submarine, 2916.3
2. Soheil barikani, GTO3 / Genie Race 5, 2871.4
3 Milos Divis, Merlin / Genie Race 4, 2840.6

Women
1. Riley Ferre, GTO3 / Genie Race 5, 2715.1
2. Julie Bouchard-Roussin Photon / Genie Lite 2554.5
3. Yuki Sato Colombé Lyght / X-Rated 6, 2371.8

Team
1. Gin
2. Airtribune
3. Team Terror

SRS Series Winners

Overall
1. Pál Takáts
2. Luke Nicol
3. João Pinheiro

Women
1. Riley Ferré
2. Magdalena Janaway
3. Summer Barham

Team
1. Gin
2. Ozone
3. Team Terror

Full results including weight classes at srs.live