Paul Bonhomme has never had an easy time in second place. He was second overall in 2007, second overall in 2008, and second in the first two races of 2009. The Brit just couldn't add that extra amount of stamina to propel him to number one.
Wild Card
The first round of the Red Bull Air Race in Windsor involved only three pilots as opposed to five. Yoshi Muroya and Peter Besenyei did not race this past weekend due to safety issues with the former and an emergency landing in a wheat field with the latter earlier this week.
It was down to Matthias Dolderer, Glen Dell, and Sergey Rakhmanin. Dell was first to go and put in all he had to book himself a spot. Up next was Dolderer and what looked like it could be a respectable time, albeit with a two second penalty, the German got disqualified because of unsafe flying. This disqualification guaranteed a spot for Dell and Rakhmanin in the next round of the Top 12.
Times In The Wild Card Round (Italicized advance to the Top 12):
- Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS: 1:12.32
- Glen Dell (RSA) - Edge 540: 1:14.73
- Matthias Dolderer (GER) - Edge 540: DSQ
Top 12
The Top 12 was an interesting round as it featured Canadian Pete McLeod take his first championship point after two dismal rounds where he ended up 15th and last. With this round, McLeod was able to get himself into 11th, second to last, and take the final world championship point available. I've never heard so much cheering for someone who got a second-to-last place finish!
Further up the field, Nicolas Ivanoff appeared to make a Safey Climb Out (SCO) after the quadro, but pulled back into the track. He received four seconds in penalties which also included a two-second penalty for flying too high (FTH).
Championship rivals Hannes Arch and Paul Bonhomme were at it again as they took the top two spots with qualifying session winner Kirby Chambliss close on their heels.
A short scare for the American as he was investigated for what appeared to be flying over the speed limit when entering the track. Eventually, Chambliss was cleared and flew in the next round.
Michael Goulian finally got out of a points funk after putting in a disciplined flight and ending up fourth in the Top 12.
Top 12 Times (Italicized move into the Super Eight)
- Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540: 1:09.31 (no penalties)
- Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540: 1:09.47 (no penalties)
- Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540: 1:10.11 (no penalties)
- Michael Goulian (USA) - Edge 540: 1:11.06 (no penalties)
- Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540: 1:11.25 (no penalties)
- Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS: 1:12.09 (+ 2 sec. IKF)
- Matt Hall (AUS) - MXS: 1:12.35 (no penalties)
- Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS: 1:13.77 (no penalties)
- Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540: 1:14.45 (+2 sec. IKF, +2 sec. FTH)
- Alejandro Maclean (ESP) - MXS: 1:15.59 (+2 sec. FTH, +2 sec. IKF)
- Pete McLeod (CAN) - Edge 540: 1:16.48 (+2 sec. IKF)
- Glen Dell (RSA) - Edge 540: 1:18.87 (+2 sec. FTH, +2 sec. FTH)
Super Eight Round
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