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SAHPA 2016 Year Book Page 22
Nenad Stojakovic - Deniliquin
In 1964 every week-end I cleaned top
Hampstead Club flyer Wally Mathews lofts
and at the end of the flying season he lent me
eight pair of stock birds for me to start with.
From these I bred one cock bird SA66 7115
BCC that won 7 of 7 starts on the south line.
We would ride our bikes around to senior
flyers of the club and go down to the old
Mile-End Hall with Wally and listen to all the
old flyers talking about the race. I have raced
from the same location since 1972.
The main bloodlines are John Pryor, A
Richardson, D Green and Leo Duits and
imports.
My winner in 2016 from Deniliquin was bred
from BCC 2
nd
SAHPA Marla 2007. He is a
Richardson x Janssen and the dam, a BCH
was 33
rd
Glendambo 2012 and 24
th
Terang
10-bird - all John Pryor’s 21
st
Century and
Morundah lines.
I have had help from flyers in the past – W
Thiele, Leo Duits, L Monk, R Male, the late Curly Maricic – and they still would. My wife
helps also if I ask her to let the birds out for a fly in the afternoon if I am working late.
My favourite bird has to be the brother to my 2
nd
Marla cock. He has bred 16 SAHPA
placings and grand-sire to 42 SAHPA placings.
My best results include:
1
st
SAHPA Young (only 5 birds on the day) in 1979. In this race I took 6 SAHPA
placings.
1
st
SAHPA Benalla, only two birds clocked in the dark. I won by one and a half hours
clocking at 8.30 pm.
2
nd
Marla – a cock bird with only three clocked in the dark.
2
nd
Coober Pedy 3-bird Special - only three birds homed in the dark with two at
Gawler. I saw the pigeon coming out of the north-east at approx. 8.30 p.m.
Winning pigeon races has been a very satisfying experience for me. Inspiration has been from
John Pryor. My ultimate goal is to win Temora.
My best memories are of winning the points in the Hampstead Club when John Pryor was
there (John won the points that year). I finished third and also won the SAHPA points in
2011.
Opinions and advice
I was against buying the new unit but don’t mind the pre-paid system however I would rather
pay as you go. We need to keep the sport simple to improve it.
The “hobby” has become too expensive for new flyers to start and compete against the big
flyers – new loft, electronic clock, rings joining fees etc. The money man is killing the sport.
It pleases me when others have success with my birds but if they have success and don’t let
me know I’m not happy with that.
Make sure you enjoy the sport and don’t let it take over your life.