Cain Madere had just one thought as he embarked on the final lap of an intense race.“I was screaming in my head, ‘Don’t screw this up! Don’t screw this up!,’” Madere said.
The 19-year-old Hahnville resident didn’t “screw up” in any way, shape or form last week, as he captured first place in the Sebring Drone Race during the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla. — and with that championship, a $10,000 grand prize.
“It was pure adrenaline,” said Madere. “I don’t remember much about that race besides the final lap. It was definitely the most intense race I’ve been to.”
A rising star in the world of drone racing, he’s with competitors who control drones (small radio-controlled aircraft or quadcopters) equipped with cameras. Each pilot wears a head-mounted display showing a live camera viewpoint.
Drone races began gaining popularity in Australia in 2014 and jumped continents. Madere is one of 14,000 registered pilots worldwide with the MultiGP Drone Racing league.
It wasn’t Madere’s first championship win in the world of drone racing, but the $10,000 prize money for the Sebring event represented his largest prize so far. He competed with roughly 120 competitors for an overall $20,000 prize, and finished sixth.
Among Madere’s opponents was the reigning Drone Racing World Champion, Shawn “Nytfury” Taylor, who captured that title in October of last year in Hawaii.
This time, Madere bested the champion, something he hopes is a hint of what is to come later this year. His involvement in drone racing stems from his interest in flying remote control aircraft, a hobby he took up alongside his grandfather at the age of 6. He started with airplanes, then progressed to helicopters, and, finally, to drones.
“Drones got fairly popular about two years ago, so I had to at least try it,” said Madere, who goes by the nickname “Mad Air” in competition. “My dad and I bought quads and started racing each other, then started moving up on a grander and grander scale. Eventually, I started racing out of state and winning competitions.”
His success didn’t go unnoticed.
Madere eventually got sponsors and is paid to race around the country. He has won races in Florida, Virginia and New Jersey, the latter netting him his previous prize money high of $2,500.
“Mentally, it’s hard to really prepare for a race at such high stakes, because you’re not generally going to have many opportunities to make that much money at once,” he said. “The fact I’ve been going to these big races recently and racing for higher stakes for 15 races or so, I have a bit of stressful time under my belt.”
While his sponsor provides parts for the drones, he builds each virtually from the ground up and upgrades them as needed. That, Madere says, never ends, though he said he enjoys the process greatly.
“It’s crazy … the world we’re in with technology,” he said. “Drones evolve daily.”
That said, he stops short of giving all the credit to his creations.
“Not to toot my own horn, but it’s the pilot as well,” Madere said with a laugh.
He credited his rapid acclimation to drone racing, not only to his experiences flying things as a youth, but also to another longtime hobby – video gaming. It helped him develop hand-eye coordination to excel as a racer.
“We grew up in a day and age where video games are a really big thing,” Madere said. “It comes down to that repetition and ability to control something on screen with your fingers without looking at them. I think that’s definitely a big factor. You tell your hands to do something while your eyes are doing something else.”
He plans on attempting to qualify for and enter the World Championship competition later this year, and already having posted a win over last year’s champion, Madere has designs on taking the crown for himself this year. Already, he has established himself as one the top names in the evolving sport, and if it continues to blossom, perhaps he’ll be looked upon one day as one of its pioneers.
“It’s absolutely something I’m proud of,” Madere said. “To have this kind of success at the forefront of a sport and find yourself as a dominant competitor, it’s something I can tell my kids one day. It’s pretty cool.”
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