It will be par for the course for Red Bull Air Race world champion Matt Hall when the Belmont Golf Club celebrates an important milestone this weekend.
The former Royal Australian Air Force top gun fighter pilot is scheduled to perform aerobatic displays as part of the sporting organisation’s 70th anniversary festivities on Sunday 20 November.
The free event kicks off from 11am, with Hall taking to the skies between 1pm and 2pm.
He’ll showcase jaw-dropping formation moves alongside emerging talent Emma McDonald, as well as his signature solo manoeuvres.
Belmont Golf Club general manager Glenn Philips said it was an honour to welcome Hall to the “party”.
“We’ve been blown away by the response to the event,” he stated.
“We’re staging our 70th birthday celebrations all week and we thought ‘what better finale than an open-house air show with Matt Hall?’
“We didn’t know if we were going to get hundreds or thousands of registrations, via social media… but it scaled up extremely quickly.
“The trajectory was looking to be north of 10,000 people, so we elected to cap it early.
“This is a great opportunity for the community to enjoy a free afternoon out courtesy of Belmont Golf and Bowls.
“We’ve got the pristine golf course on the coast as the backdrop and Matt’s got the serious skills in the sky, we’re really excited.”
The event also promises lots of kids’ activities, live music, barbecue and Tooheys trailer, as well as the world-class aviation spectacle.
Purely by chance, the airshow coincides with what was meant to be a weekend of international racing action over Lake Macquarie.
The region won its bid to host the final race of the Air Race World Championship, however the London-based organisers cancelled the 2022 series in August, citing financial reasons.
So, Hall’s weekend performance is an unexpected consolation to locals and fans, who wanted to see the Merewether sportsman defend his title.
As a result, he’ll dazzle them instead by flying as low as 100 feet off the ground and at speeds of up to 400km/hr.
“This is a great occasion for Belmont Golf Club,” he said.
“It’s a highly patronised club, an icon of the area and so generous to open the event up to the public.
“We don’t often do displays at home because we are on the road so much.
“But, I’m really looking forward to it.”
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