Bleacher Report - Articles by Sheiban Shakeri

The Flying Matador Speaks About a Tough 2009

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:14:44 -0400

Arguably one of the most charismatic pilots in the paddock, Alejandro (or simply Alex) Maclean is a seasoned Red Bull Air Race pilot with an experienced team. Sometimes though, just having these two cards on hand is not good enough for winning in the top-flight of aerial motorsports.

Maclean—whose name comes from his Scottish grandfather—has had a very tough 2009 starting with a sponsorship deal that didn't go through with Research In Motion and their Blackberry branch.

To add insult to injury, the Spaniard was always receiving the short end of the stick when it came to his time in the track. This would result in pylon hits, penalty points and other small things that pushed him down the rankings with a seventh place in Porto being his best result of the year.

Had he not pulled an over-G, and Maclean might have been a little higher in the rankings for that race and not classified as DSQ for the Super Eight round.

"Obviously my worst season ever and paradoxically the one that I have spend more time, money and effort in improving both the whole team and the results," says Maclean in an e-mail. "It...has been a really frustrating season but on the other side I have learned a lot" he goes on pragmatically.

Many areas could be blamed for his lack of results in 2009. One of the issues that Maclean has alluded to is the power plant of his MXS. Being one of only five of the 15 pilots in 2009 to have the newest race-specific aircraft in his hangar, and the second one after Nigel Lamb in 2008 to take delivery of it, Maclean was in an unenviable position.

"I can really blame my 2009 results mostly to the engine which is a 2007/8 engine and up to a smaller degree the plane handling" says Maclean and when asked about why he didn't upgrade, "I just could not afford a new engine like other teams with maybe better finances or help.

"I strongly believe on the MX performance and reliability and that much more than the EDGE 540 which in fact is proving or has proved not to be as reliable, however next year there will be a new EDGE 540 and this could mean that we will need to update our MX quite a lot."

Going into the offseason and looking ahead, Maclean tells Bleacher Report "next season we will have a new plane...and we will try our best to have it ready, be ready and get some help from sponsors, since...spending more will lead into a better result..."

The final thoughts after this interview is that for the No. 36 team, it appears like the offseason is going to be another challenge as the team regroups to get themselves in shape for 2010—both technically and financially—and be at least one step over the competition.

The off-season is going to be very interesting to see how Maclean and the others improve...

Arch Catches Up to Bonhomme in Barcelona Qualifying

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:27:09 -0400

Hannes Arch (AUT) appears to have found his mojo again! The Austrian flew a very disciplined qualifying round to take pole position, take a crucial championship point, and narrow the gap to Paul Bonhomme (GBR) to three points. Arch has a grand total of 52 points against Bonhomme's 55.

The best case scenario is that Arch wins and Bonhomme not take a position higher than fourth if the Austrian has any hope of defending his championship. Basically, Arch needs to stay four points ahead of Bonhomme since if they tie, the Brit will take the championship on countback since he's been on the podium more often.

The complicated Barcelona track is a fitting finale for the 2009 season of the Red Bull Air Race and with two gates being in close proximity to each other, a lot of mistakes were bound to happen - with a grand total of five gate touches happening and many more incorrect knife flying (IKF).

This being Alejandro Maclean's home race, the Spaniard wasn't able to capitalize too well and qualified 10th overall in his MXS. This will be the last time he is flying this MXS and will be acquiring a new one for next season - according to an interview that will be published next week.

The Wild card round will feature Glen Dell (RSA), Yoshi Muroya (JPN), Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS), Pete McLeod (CAN) and Mike Mangold (USA).

McLeod believed earlier this week that he would be able to get at least one more championship point to his name, but now he's going to have to fight to make it into the Top 12 and see what will happen from there.

Further up the field, Matthias Dolderer (GER) has kept himself in fifth place while Red Bull duo Kirby Chambliss (USA) and Peter Besenyei (HUN) qualified in ninth and eighth places respectively.

Matt Hall of Australia is impressing everyone and has been able to qualify in third place just behind Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) and ahead of Bonhomme, but the final ranking will be what counts.

The rankings for tomorrow is as follows:

Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540: 1:21.06
Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540: +1.10
Matt Hall (AUS) - MXS: +1.43
Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540: +1.69
Matthias Dolderer (GER) - Edge 540: +2.01
Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS: +2.33
Michael Goulian (USA) - Edge 540: +2.73
Peter Besenyei (HUN) - MXS: +3.51
Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540: +3.94
Alejandro Maclean (ESP) - MXS: +4.08
Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540: +4.38
Pete McLeod (CAN) - Edge 540: +5.39
Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS: +5.39
Yoshi Muroya (JPN) - Edge 540: +7.86
Glen Dell (RSA) - Edge 540: +16.19

In less than 24 hours, a new champion will be crowned or a defending one will retain it. Who can win it in the end?

Bonhomme Wins Porto As Hall Takes First Podium

Sheiban Shakeri — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:55:05 -0400

2009 Could be Paul Bonhomme's (GBR) year, but the season isn't over, so let us not jump to conclusions too quickly!

The Portuguese stop in the 2009 edition of the Red Bull Air Race saw both a return to form for the defending champion Hannes Arch (AUT) but an even bigger return for Bonhomme who not only won the race, but took the qualifying point just 24 hours earlier to build up a cushy four point lead over his rival with only one round left to go.

However, overshadowing these two men in the fight for the title was rookie Matt Hall (AUS) who only in his fifth Red Bull Air Race was able to step onto the podium and take home some hardware!

Rookie Matthias Dolderer (GER) looked like a contender for the Final Four, but two two-second penalties in the Super Eight round cost him dearly and left him in sixth.

Kirby Chambliss (USA) had a technical issue with his Edge 540 in the Super Eight round and couldn't compete at all. The fastest man in practice had to settle in eighth place with a DNS.

In the technical areas, the track in Porto seemed to have been giving the pilots of the MXS aircraft the most trouble. Overall, it appeared that two-second penalties for incorrect level flying (ILF) at various gates hurt them.

One of the reasons for this, and one that former Red Bull Air Race pilot and commentator Steve Jones alluded to was the 420 degrees per second roll rate. Since it is a pretty sensitive aircraft, the pilot might turn within the gate unconsciously.

Wild Card

Four pilots, as opposed to five, took part in this round. Absent was Glen Dell (RSA) for having an unsafe aircraft. Pete McLeod (CAN) was hoping to not make any errors but an unfortunate penalty left him down.

Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) also had some trouble and couldn't improve in the Wild Card either.

The two experienced hands of Mike Mangold (USA) and Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) both went through as both put in disciplined races, but the latter took on a penalty.

Top 12

An eventful round, the old order got shaken up again but this time with Michael Goulian (USA), Yoshi Muroya (JPN), Nigel Lamb (GBR), and Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) falling to the wayside. Muroya, Lamb and Ivanoff each took an ILF penalty of two seconds thus ending their races that day.

Further up, Kirby Chambliss broke into the 1:08 area by posting the fastest time of the day: a 1:08.88, just a hair faster than Bonhomme.

Matthias Dolderer wowed everyone by taking third overall in the Top 12 round with many betting that he would be a force to be reckoned with in the Final Four.

Hannes Arch however was too slow and came in behind Dolderer by just over a second while Hall, Alejandro Maclean (ESP), Peter Besenyei (HUN), and Mike Mangold rounded out the contenders for the Super Eight round.

Super Eight

This round looked to be a very tight one since the gap between first and eighth was just under three seconds in the previous round.

Chambliss had to drop out of this round because of technical difficulties and thus came in eighth of eight pilots.

The biggest loss had to be that of Maclean who went over-G in the second Vertical Turning Manoeuvre and was subsequently disqualified. Pull over 12 G's and you're disqualified. Maclean came seventh.

Matthias Dolderer looked to have been a contender for the next round because he just kept getting faster and faster but two ILF penalties of two seconds each ended his campaign and the German had to settle for sixth.

Mangold and Besenyei had their best results of the season so far, even with penalties attached to their names. Besenyei moved into fourth place and the Final Four while Mangold took fifth place with a weak engine. The American was happy with his result.

The top three came out as Arch, Bonhomme, and Hall. Besenyei would join them for the Final Four.

Final Four

Three experienced hands and a rookie. What's more is that the two men battling it out for the championship would be going neck and neck, with whoever being more cautious here losing.

Arch was the first man in and appeared to have put in a decent time of 1:10.17 with no penalties. A slight scare during the race as the Austrian was under investigation for a possible ILF.

Next up was Besenyei and with a two-second penalty from the start for an ILF, it was all over for the Hungarian unless Hall or Bonhomme would falter. He put in a 1:14.10.

Hall was gunning to go and not only did he manage to beat out Besenyei, he was able to do it cleanly! A 1:11.23 sealed his podium position!

Finally, it was all down to Bonhomme. If he wins, four points over Arch; if he takes second, he'd only be one point ahead. The Brit started off and by the first split, was 0.07 of a second behind but not only was he able to close it at the second, but actually come out ahead a full 0.94 of a second ahead of his Austrian rival by the time he passed the Breitling gates at the end of his run!

The final result of the fifth round of the Red Bull Air Race in Porto goes as such:

1. Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540

2. Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540

3. Matt Hall (AUS) - MXS

4. Peter Besenyei (HUN) - MXS

5. Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540

6. Matthias Dolderer (GER) - Edge 540

7. Alejandro Maclean (ESP) - MXS

8. Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540

9. Michael Goulian (USA) - Edge 540

10. Yoshi Muroya (JPN) - Edge 540

11. Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS

12. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540

13. Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS

14. Pete McLeod (CAN) - Edge 540

With one more round in Barcelona on a tight and twisty track, will Paul Bonhomme hang onto his lead to take his first championship or will Hannes Arch snatch it in the 11th hour? Stay tuned for Oct. 4!

Bonhomme Takes Point as Qualifying Turns Upside Down in Porto

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:42:46 -0400

This was a week to behold for the Red Bull Air Race as fog bestowed the very beautiful and historical section of the Douro River thereby resulting in the 15 pilots involved not being able to put a lot of time in track training this previous week.

This could probably be why the results are as they are!

Porto seems to be the place where reversals of fortunes occur. In 2008, we all remember what happened to Paul Bonhomme (GBR) last year at this same location and that result turned the tide to lead Hannes Arch to becoming champion.

In 2009, Bonhomme is riding a wave in making the third time a charm for getting his Red Bull Air Race championship.

Defending champion Hannes Arch (AUT) has had to fare for ninth place - just outside the Wild Card, but he needs to put in a more cautious flight if he wants to win and narrow down or even overtake the Brit in the points standings.

Three rookies took positions in the top five with Matt Hall (AUS), Yoshi Muroya (JPN), and Matthias Dolderer (GER) coming in third, fourth, and fifth respectively. Kirby Chambliss (USA) missed out on a third consecutive qualifying point and starts second.

To complete the top 10 are Alejandro Maclean (ESP) in sixth, Nigel Lamb (GBR) in seventh, Peter Besenyei (HUN) in eighth, Hannes Arch in ninth, and Budapest winner Michael Goulian (USA) in 10th.

Pulling over-G's in this track is quite easy and many of the pilots were cautious about this issue. Lamb was an unfortunate victim as he pulled a record 12.8 G's of force on his and the plane's body. However, that was only Q1 and with a second round, the Englishman was able to put in a decent but "mediocre," according to him, time which was enough to put him in eighth position and a spot in the Top 12.

Most notably missing from the action this weekend is Glen Dell (RSA). His Edge 540 raceplane failed its technical compliance inspection and Technical Director Adrian Judd suspended the team from the weekend's race.

Further down the field, two of the most experienced pilots will have to compete in the Wild Card: Mike Mangold (USA) in 12th and Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) in 11th after the former took a minor penalty in the second run coupled with a slow engine while the latter hit a pylon and took on too many penalties in both his runs.

They will join Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) who is sitting in 13th and rookie Pete McLeod (CAN) who has the last place spot. Rakhmanin was just plain slow while McLeod just took on penalty after penalty (A whopping 12 seconds in his first run alone!).

The final tally and times for tomorrow's race are looking as such:

Rank	Name	Nation	Int. 1	Int. 2	Int. 3	Rnd.	Time	Diff.	Pen
1	Bonhomme Paul	GBR	12.82	31.97	50.25	Q1	1:10.03		0
2	Chambliss Kirby	USA	13.01	32.59	50.67	Q2	1:10.26	+ 0.23	0
3	Hall Matt	AUS	12.91	32.79	50.75	Q2	1:10.78	+ 0.75	0
4	Muroya Yoshihide	JPN	13.00	32.70	50.84	Q1	1:10.97	+ 0.94	0
5	Dolderer Matthias	GER	13.46	33.25	51.41	Q1	1:11.09	+ 1.06	0
6	Maclean Alejandro	ESP	12.76	32.37	51.15	Q2	1:11.23	+ 1.20	0
7	Lamb Nigel	GBR	13.14	32.95	51.57	Q2	1:11.53	+ 1.50	0
8	Besenyei Peter	HUN	13.04	32.85	51.63	Q2	1:11.61	+ 1.58	0
9	Arch Hannes	AUT	13.01	33.04	51.64	Q1	1:12.12	+ 2.09	0
10	Goulian Michael	USA	12.96	32.29	50.67	Q2	1:12.43	+ 2.40	2
11	Ivanoff Nicolas	FRA	12.85	35.13	53.07	Q1	1:13.07	+ 3.04	2
12	Mangold Mike	USA	13.75	34.36	52.97	Q1	1:13.45	+ 3.42	0
13	Rakhmanin Sergey	RUS	13.17	33.97	53.52	Q2	1:14.51	+ 4.48	0
14	McLeod Pete	CAN	15.47	35.91	54.91	Q2	1:17.45	+ 7.42	4

Correspondent's Thoughts: Too Many Thoughts Ahead of Porto

Sheiban Shakeri — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:20:20 -0400

Porto is another one of those beautiful and scenic races in the Red Bull Air Race World Series. The course gives more of a drag race feeling than any sort of technical track that was experienced earlier this year like Abu Dhabi, San Diego, Windsor, or Budapest.

For this edition of Correspondent's Thoughts, I have too many thoughts ahead of the upcoming race in Porto but I have taken the three most important.

Arch vs. Bonhomme at the site of where the lead changed in 2008

The first train of thought about the upcoming race concerns the championship. We have a straight fight coming up between Paul Bonhomme and Hannes Arch with the margin being only a single solitary point.

The Briton has been the most consistent pilot this season with three second places and a first while the Austrian has never been in the same position twice even though he was able to win the first two qualifying sessions of the season and a point in each.

Now, why is this being brought up? It is quite simple: everything changed in Porto in 2008. If we rewind by 12 months, Bonhomme was the man to beat while Arch was quickly learning the ropes of the sport in only his sophomore year.

In Porto, Bonhomme went over-G during qualifying, was disqualified from the Super Eight round and had to compete in the One Point round. He made an error, took a penalty and walked away pointless for the first time that season.

To rub salt into those wounds, he was previously tied in terms of points with Arch, but was ahead based on the virtue that he had won three races while Arch only had one and now that he wasn't in contention, he could not compete in the Final Four and the Austrian took the win.

Bonhomme needed a miracle to win the championship. He would have to hope that Arch could not qualify in the Top Eight in the next and final round in Australia. We all know what happened afterwards...

So, can the Brit shake off the demons of the past here in Portugal and show Arch how it is done, or will Arch give Bonhomme a run for his money? Will fortune go the other way for Arch here?

What's Up With the MXS?

Nigel Lamb had one of the best starts to his season but it all went for nought. Alejandro Maclean wasn't doing too badly in Abu Dhabi and was even optimistic of his aircraft. Sergey Rakhmanin was consistently in the points with his new equipment but slipped down to last in Budapest.

Matt Hall still is the top-performing rookie but has slipped in the past two races from fifth place in the first two rounds down to seventh in the last two. Peter Besenyei was only able to once make it into the Final Four in San Diego but has had to languish the rest of the season.

So what do all these pilots have in common? Their MXS aircraft appear to have been letting them down.

Now, could this be because of human errors such as gate-touches or could it be that the other pilots and their Edge 540 aircraft have an advantage in terms of agility for "river" courses?

Is the MXS perhaps too advanced for the European tracks? Is the development of the Edge easier because it is more tried and true whereas the MXS is more experimental since it has only been in the Air Race for a season?

I would like to hear your comments on this matter.

This is said because the MXS was in the Final Four twice in the first three races and I suspect had Lamb not need to SCO in Windsor, he might have even been able to participate in the final round of the race.

Can Nicolas Ivanoff Bounce Back?

His passion is flying and the first two races this season, he looked like a sure candidate for the championship and could mix things up with Bonhomme and Arch. With a brand new and competitive Edge 540—an upgrade from his old Extra 300.

He was in third place at the season opener in Abu Dhabi and won in San Diego—proof that the podium in the Emirates was no fluke.

However, that went to the wayside as the Frenchman had a bit of a hiccup in Windsor as he hit a pylon and just couldn't recover in Budapest either.

The Frenchman has been categorized as a bit of an enigma since he's blindingly quick in one race, but then nowhere to be found in the next and all with the same equipment.

Ivanoff doesn't have much of a chance at taking the championship in 2009, but if he is anything like the first two rounds, he does have the potential of influencing it between the two top men right now.

Can Ivanoff bounce back? Use the comments to express your views!

Correspondent's Thoughts is an opinion piece written by Sheiban Shakeri for Bleacher Report ahead of each Red Bull Air Race.

Red Bull Air Race: Porto Preview

Sheiban Shakeri — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:30:50 -0400

Hello everybody! We are reaching the final races of the 2009 Red Bull Air Race season and the championship is still wide open for the taking, with Paul Bonhomme and Hannes Arch neck-and-neck. Only one point divides the two pilots with two rounds left.

The Briton has a narrow one-point lead over his Austrian rival for the first time this season after a sensational second-place in Budapest, Hungary.

The winner of course was American Michael Goulian, who has been waiting for a long time to stand on the top-step of the podium.

Behind him came Paul Bonhomme who has stood on the second step three of the four times this season; and Kirby Chambliss who is having a bit of a resurgence with winning the qualifying round twice this season.

Most notably absent from the podium was Arch who took a penalty in his final run and came fourth overall; a first-time absence for the defending Austrian world champion.

The biggest improvement in Budapest was German rookie Matthias Dolderer who not only kept himself out of the Wild Card round, but was able to make it through the Top 12 and into the Super Eight round. He finished with a strong fifth place to his name.

The break appeared to hamper who took 15th and last place overall. This is the first time all season that the Russian wasn't able to take a single point.

Porto is a regular stop on the Red Bull Air Race circuit and can have surprises occur at any point.

The track is essentially a drag-race type with the pilot flying in from the direction of the Atlantic Ocean through the start/finish gate, flies through the level (blue) gate two, navigates his way through the chicane, through two more level gates where he will make a vertical turning manoeuvre, fly the track in reverse fashion and do it all again once more!

The Red Bull Air Race website has provided a very nifty Google Map of the location.

In 2008, Hannes Arch won the race in style but this is the site where Paul Bonhomme really lost the championship. After an over-G moment in qualifying and making a mistake in the Point One round, the Briton left Portugal with no points to his name.

To add insult to injury, he was level on points with Arch previously and with the Austrian winning the full complement on race day, Bonhomme needed a miracle that never transpired.

The optimal time here last year was a 1:07 set by race winner Hannes Arch so expect slightly faster times. Of course, that is only if we get beautiful and sunny days for the next weekend.

For Porto, the big question now is whether Paul Bonhomme can keep his cool against his Austrian rival and finally make some headway into the championship. In Porto, we shall find out!

America Dominates the Danube as Michael Goulian Wins in Budapest.

Sheiban Shakeri — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:59:31 -0400

Four races in and four different pilots have stood on the top step of the podium this year in the Red Bull Air Race.

This was a weekend for the Americans. Michael Goulian clinched his first and long-awaited career win and in Budapest of all places. Kirby Chambliss won the qualifying round on Wednesday.

Championship contenders Paul Bonhomme and Hannes Arch fell to the wayside but it was ultimately the Briton who overcame the Austrian and now has the championship lead by a single point and with two more rounds in Porto and Barcelona, anything's bound to happen.

The summer break appeared to have improved a few pilots, but at the same time has hindered others.

Most notably absent from the podium was defending world-champion Hannes Arch. This is the first time that Arch has not made it onto the podium.

Other pilots whose performances went down were Peter Besenyei who only managed a 10th place in his MXS, Nigel Lamb with a ninth place finish, Alejandro Maclean with an 11th place finish and Sergey Rakhmanin who was a shoe-in for points, but was too slow in qualifying and disqualified in the Wild Card round for going 1 km/h over the maximum start speed of 370 km/h finishing 15th and last.

South African Glen Dell suffered the same fate as his Russian colleague, but was 10 km/h over the start speed. He finished 14th overall.

Another speeder was Nicolas Ivanoff of France who was clocked at 375 km/h entering the track during the Super Eight round. He finished in eighth overall - not the result envisaged for the resurgent Frenchman.

On the side of improvement was Matthias Dolderer who usually had a struggle getting out of the Wild Card or Top 12, but managed to make it into fifth place overall and just out of the Final Four and the chance to compete for the win.

The German qualified in fourth place one day earlier much to the delight of his fans.

Further down, Australian Matt Hall has slipped recently but is still the strongest rookie on the field. He was able to clinch a solid seventh place in the race while American Mike Mangold was not able to emulate his fourth-place performance in Windsor and was only good for sixth.

Yoshi Muroya of Japan and Pete McLeod of Canada were not able to get past the Wild Card as they ended up in 12th and 13th, respectively.

The final four consisted of Hannes Arch, Paul Bonhomme, Kirby Chambliss, and Michael Goulian.

Goulian was the first to go and put in a very respectable time of 1:12.51. This was good for at least a podium position, but there were three other pilots.

Bonhomme took his stab at the track, but was strangely slower than Goulian with a 1:13.13. Goulian was guaranteed a spot on the podium now, but the win?

Up next was Hannes Arch and was flying beautifully until he suffered an Incorrect Level Flying (ILF) penalty. Two seconds were added to his time and he finished with a 1:13.83.

The ILF penalty was a very slight deviation as Arch was exiting gate five to do his first vertical manoeuvre. Needless to say, the Austrian was quite puzzled with the result.

The last performance of the day went to the winner of qualifying, Kirby Chambliss. The other American put his best in it, but just couldn't manage as he was a little slow and finished with a 1:13.53 and a third place on the podium - the second time in a row that this has happened to him.

The final result of the race went:

Michael Goulian (USA) - Edge 540
Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540
Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540
Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540
Matthias Dolderer (GER) - Edge 540
Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540
Matt Hall (AUS) - MXS
Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540
Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS
Peter Besenyei (HUN) - MXS
Alejandro Maclean (ESP) - MXS
Yoshi Muroya (JPN) - Edge 540
Pete McLeod (CAN) - Edge 540
Glen Dell (RSA) - Edge 540

Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS

With that, the current standings in the world championship are:

Rank	Name	Nation	Points
1	Bonhomme, Paul	GBR	42
2	Arch, Hannes	AUT	41
3	Ivanoff, Nicolas	FRA	28
4	Mangold, Mike	USA	24
5	Hall, Matt	AUS	24
6	Chambliss, Kirby	USA	22
7	Lamb, Nigel	GBR	21
8	Goulian, Michael	USA	18
9	Rakhmanin, Sergey	RUS	17
10	Besenyei, Peter	HUN	12
11	Maclean, Alejandro	ESP	9
12	Dolderer, Matthias	GER	8
13	Dell, Glen	RSA	3
14	Muroya, Yoshihide	JPN	1
15	McLeod, Pete	CAN	1

Red Bull Air Race: Paul Bonhomme on Paul Bonhomme's 2009!

Sheiban Shakeri — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0400

Competitive, quick, smooth, and witty can all easily describe the British ace who has a monkey on his back: two second-places in the championship in a row and this happening when it was looking certain that he would win it all.

Still, Paul Bonhomme does have an interesting paradox: he has won more races—a very impressive nine—in his career than his current rival, Hannes Arch, who only has three races under his belt. He has an equal number of wins with his 2007 rival Mike Mangold and is a legend-in-the-making in the Red Bull Air Race.

2007 was supposed to be Bonhomme's finest hour.

The Brit was on the verge of ending the American domination which Mike Mangold and Kirby Chambliss had over the rest of the field, and it was won by the former over Bonhomme on equal points, but countback favoured the American.

With the mistakes of 2007 behind him and ready to win it this time, Bonhomme in 2008 had a very dominant first half to the season, winning three of the first four races—his lowest position being a second place at the third round in Detroit. Bonhomme looked untouchable and it seemed like he would run away with the season and a well-deserved first championship.

However, once the Air Race returned to his home turf in London, the 2008 season fell apart. Bonhomme, who was often very smooth and cool in his flying made some errors in the race including a pylon hit and had to pull out. The home crowd was devastated to see their man out.

The next round in Budapest was a small consolation as he took a third place but his rival, Hannes Arch, took his maiden win.

Porto could have been Bonhomme's, but an over-G moment disqualified him from the Super Eight round in the race and an incorrect level added insult to injury as the Briton left Portugal with no points to his name, and a full complement for Arch as he took his second career win.

In the final round in Australia, Bonhomme returned to form but it was too little, too late as Arch took his first championship and the Briton had to settle for second place—again!

In 2009, Bonhomme appears to be playing the consistency card and it shows as he is only one point behind Arch, even though the Austrian has won the qualifying round twice. Still, with Budapest up ahead, the Briton has never won it, but has stood on the podium four times. Will he win it this time?

As Bonhomme talked with Bleacher Report in the run-up to Budapest, he reveals that its going to be more of the same from Team 55 but I'll let him do the talking!

Sheiban Shakeri: The qualifying round appears to have been your biggest weakness so far this season. Was there any sort of training on your part or modification done on the Edge in order to make it able to get maximum points for Budapest?

Paul Bonhomme: It’s interesting that you describe my three second places in qualifying as a weakness…if that is all I have to be worried about then I reckon I should be happy. I was pleased that the one point in the Q round went to Kirby (Chambliss) in Windsor and not Hannes (Arch) or Nicolas (Ivanoff) but it would have been better if we’d nabbed it ourselves! As for improvements, we’ve been looking at the engine with a view to improve it in the future but apart from general maintenance we have not done any major work.

SS: You have been on the podium in Budapest four times but never once have you stood on the top step. Does the track not suit your style or has it been a case of bad luck?

PB: So far we have had no bad luck in Budapest and in fact as Hannes (Arch) proved last year, you don’t need to be on the top step all the time to do well overall. As for the track, it’s right up my street and it’s a privilege to fly in the centre of Budapest city.

SS: Finally, given the talk of technical modifications, weight, and engine power from almost all the teams, how would you rate your chances of making the third time a charm for the championship? Is there an ace up your sleeve?

PB: We’re taking each race as it comes and we’ve been gently tweaking as the year has progressed…we have no major plans or big changes planned.

With a lot invested this time around, will the Bonhomme finally make it onto the top step of the podium in Budapest? Can he become the first Englishman to win the championship? Only time will tell as the Red Bull Air Race makes it triumphant return to Europe.

Special thanks to Nigel Warren, Team 55, and Paul Bonhomme for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk with us.

Red Bull Air Race Budapest Preview

Sheiban Shakeri — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:24:48 -0400

The Red Bull Air Race is a sport in change all the time, but one thing that never changes is the fact that Budapest hosts a round.

Budapest has often been equated to the Monaco Grand Prix of the Red Bull Air Race. Like the uniqueness of Monaco in Formula One, Budapest does have a unique feature that no other Air Race has: the start/finish gate, which is not a pair of pylons but instead the Chain Bridge in which the pilot has to fly from underneath to enter the track.

Of course, water level is an issue and if it is deemed too high, then Gate One will be the start/finish gate.

Windsor Recap

To recap, the Red Bull Air Race made its Canadian debut by returning to the border but this time on the Windsor side as opposed to Detroit.

Paul Bonhomme won the race in style, taking it back from Kirby Chambliss who had squeaked by last year against the Briton; the American was only good for third place after a two-second penalty in the final round but he did take one point in qualifying and the track record.

Defending World Champion Hannes Arch took second spot completing his tour of the podium!

The race in Windsor was full of thrills and spills with pylon hits galore, and was witness to Australian rookie sensation Matt Hall making two rare mistakes—hitting the start/finish gate and slamming into a quadro, which required him to perform a Safety Climb Out (SCO).

Windsor was also the home race of Canadian rookie Pete McLeod and the crowds were out in full force to meet the youngest ever pilot to take part in the Red Bull Air Race. While the Canuck has had some terrible luck in his first season, he was able to put the jitters aside and took his first point of the season.

Most notably absent from the race were Japanese rookie Yoshi Muroya and Hungarian ace Peter Besenyei. Muroya was not allowed to race because of a safety issue on his Edge 540 after hitting a pylon in compensation training while Besenyei had to withdraw from the race before it even began because of a forced-landing in a wheat field near London, Ontario put too much damage on his MXS earlier that week. Besenyei walked away and will be ready to race in Budapest.

Budapest Track Information

The track in Budapest is another technical track and, as mentioned earlier, an element of danger is added with the entry to the track achieved from passing underneath the Chain Bridge.

A very scenic location on the Danube River, pilots will be flying in front of the Hungarian parliament building and Budapest receives the largest crowds of any Red Bull Air Race.

It has no quadros because of the tight space on the Danube but instead will have three vertical turning manoeuvres at either end of the track.

The pilot will have to fly from underneath the Chain Bridge, water levels permitting, and go through the first blue gate directly ahead. From there, he has to make a slight left turn going through another blue gate, and then a hard right to enter the first knife-edge gate closest to the Parliament.

Two more blue gates up ahead of him where he'll have to make a vertical turning manoeuvre and enter the track through a pair of blue gates again. The last few gates in the first lap are a set of red gates and blue gates which are closest to the race control tower and the final set of blue gates where the pilot has to execute a second vertical turning manoeuvre and do the track once more!

For a map of the track in Budapest, a very nifty Google map has been posted on the Red Bull Air Race website to show the positions of the air gates, the viewing stands and more.

View Red Bull Air Race Budapest in a larger map

Will Hannes Arch make it two in a row in Budapest? Will Peter Besenyei finally hit the top step at his home race or will Paul Bonhomme finally win it here? We shall find out this week!

Red Bull Air Race: 2009 According to Michael Goulian

Sheiban Shakeri — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:07:24 -0400

One of the unluckiest pilots in the Red Bull Air Race this season is undoubtedly American Michael Goulian.

As well, the man from Boston is one of the nicest guys on the field, but he has had to languish behind his American colleagues, Mike Mangold and Kirby Chambliss, who have both been Red Bull Air Race Champions in 2005 and 2007 for the former, and 2006 for the latter.

An experienced airshow pilot and aviator, Goulian has had a hard time of late in making it into the points and the podium in 2009.

It all started at the season opener in Abu Dhabi with an improperly connected antenna on his Edge 540 which didn't deliver live results to the race control tower during qualifying. As a result, he was disqualified from the second qualifying and had to fly in the Wild Card round on race day, but he wasn't quick enough so he left the Emirates with no points to his name.

Getting on home turf in San Diego wasn't much of a consolation either for Goulian as he was too slow in qualifying and only making it into the Wild Card round again. Taking four seconds worth of penalties in the race did not help his cause and this resulted in him taking an early bath again.

By this point, Goulian was one of two pilots who hadn't registered a single point yet—the other being rookie Pete McLeod.

Things changed when the Air Race made its Canadian debut at the Cross-Border Classic in Windsor with Goulian putting in a decent time in qualifying and finally not having to compete in the Wild Card round. He made it as far as the Super 8 round, but he hit a pylon in the quadro in windy conditions and had to perform a Safety Climb Out (SCO).

Regardless, the American took six points to his name with a season-best sixth place. While not the result envisaged, he was able to take at least something—a positive note ahead of the two-month summer break before Budapest and the European rounds.

During the summer break and run-up to Budapest this season, Goulian has been attending various airshows and fly-ins such as the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Still though, it's not all fun and games for the Bostonian as he spoke with Bleacher Report about his summer, his goals, and his training.

Sheiban Shakeri: Over the course of the summer break this season, you were very busy with various fly-ins and airshows. Was anything done to the Edge 540 in terms of modifications to make it competitive in Budapest?

Michael Goulian: Even though the plane was en-route to Europe from North America during our break, the No. 99 Team still made modifications to our aircraft. Installed for the Budapest race will be some engine cowling modifications that will hopefully give us some more speed in the upcoming "river" tracks in Budapest and Porto.

SS: To keep yourself fit and ready for the European rounds of the Red Bull Air Race, did you undertake any sort of training or was it strictly fly-ins and airshows?

MG: I am constantly training physically to keep in top shape for the racing season. In addition to that, flying airshows keeps my "G" tolerance up.

SS: You have had bad luck this season right from the start in Abu Dhabi but made up for it with a decent sixth place and points in Windsor. What did you learn in the first two rounds when you just weren't making it through the Wild Card round?

MG: The first two races were simply frustrating for us. The lack of horsepower just left our plane a lot slower than the rest. I tried to make up for it with aggressive flying but that just increases the risk of penalties. In Windsor, we installed new engine parts which made us much more competitive.

SS: Finally, what's the goal for Budapest and beyond in 2009?

MG: I hope we can challenge for the podium in Budapest and the rest of the season. We definitely want to be one of the front runners.

Team 99 is an experienced team after debuting in the Red Bull Air Race in 2004 in Reno, Nevada. Still, after having gone through so much, the only way they can go is up and with all that's said and done, Budapest will be a race to watch to see if they can improve on their form.

Special thanks to Team 99 and Karin and Michael Goulian for taking time out of their schedules to speak with Bleacher Report.

Red Bull Air Race Budapest: Perspectives of a Hometown Hero

Sheiban Shakeri — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:50:35 -0400

The European rounds of the Red Bull Air Race will begin in a fortnight with Budapest being the first of the final three rounds followed by Porto, Portugal and Barcelona, Spain.

The Hungarian capital is the proverbial home to the sport and has hosted it ever since the inception of the Red Bull Air Race in 2003. For that, it has become the most prestigious race on the calendar.

Budapest is also home to the grandfather of the Red Bull Air Race, Peter Besenyei.

Besenyei is a world-renowned airshow pilot and was approached by Red Bull in 2001 to help develop a sport that would eventually become what is the Air Race today.

He has played an integral role in the development of the sport, such as helping out in developing the rules, help out with picking the most promising rookies for the next season, as well as being a competitor.

However, when it comes to the sport itself, Besenyei has not had an easy time of late. With new equipment under him—an MXS for 2009—Besenyei has had some bad luck, including a very close call before the last round in Windsor when the Hungarian's aircraft lost oil pressure while en route to a photo shoot over Niagara Falls. Besenyei had to make a forced-landing in a wheat field near a local airport in rural Ontario, and while the aircraft was too damaged for the Hungarian to take part in the third round in Windsor, Besenyei was lucky and walked away.

In the run-up to Budapest, Besenyei talked to Bleacher Report about his prospects for the next round, his MXS, and about the modifications made to his aircraft:

Sheiban Shakeri: How is your MXS after your close call in Canada? Have any modifications been done to it during the repairs?

Peter Besenyei: The plane is just about to arrive to Salzburg (Austria) this week, and it will be reassembled over there. The branding has to be done, and it will be ready for the race. The plane is really good and all the weak points are fixed and the modifications are all about power. As the aircraft has a new engine with not more than 10 hours in it, it has to be (broken) in and I just hope that we will have enough time for it.

SS: How optimistic are you ahead of Budapest now that you have an aircraft that appears to be competitive?

PB: I'm always optimistic, but realistic as well. The plane is really good but (it) all depends on the engine, and as long as I haven't (flown) it I do not know how powerful it is. Of course, I'll try to do my best and fulfill the expectations of the Hungarian supporters and my own as well.

SS: You've never won your home race since the Air Race became a world series. Will you be doing anything different this time around to make it to the top step of the podium?

PB: The Budapest race is always special and harder than any other because of the more pressure and the huge number of media stuff. On the other hand, it is definitely the most exciting thing to fly in front of homeland crowd and probably the most beautiful scene. But as told before, the main point is always the engine, so I do it like I do it always, no tricks it just has to be a nice and safe flight...to the podium.

Indeed, Besenyei's last victory was in Monument Valley, Utah, in 2007. With his recent spat of bad luck and a close call behind him, Besenyei has the potential to bring in a good result as was seen with him taking a fourth place finish in San Diego, the last race he participated in.

Achieving the Fastest Time Possible: A Real 'Weighting' Game!

Sheiban Shakeri — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:11:47 -0400

In 2008, the Red Bull Air Race grew into a serious sport with aerodynamic modifications galore made with the most notable being Hannes Arch's new canopy at Rotterdam last year. To add to that, Paul Bonhomme was disqualified in Porto for pulling more G forces on his plane than what was required which brought safety into the spotlight as well.

Indeed, the sport has matured and as part of the natural evolution in trying to win, the issue of aircraft weight has come to light.

2009 was the first time that all aircraft in the Red Bull Air Race had been weighed. For the most part, there have been no surprises here with logic dictating that the fastest plane is also the lightest.

One notable exception to this was Paul Bonhomme, who not only is the heaviest pilot, but has the heaviest plane as well. He did however invest a lot into aerodynamics which made him a front-runner the previous year.

One pilot who has had issues dealing with new aircraft and new technologies is Nigel Lamb of the Breitling team. In the second race of the year in San Diego in 2008, Lamb acquired some new technology in the form of the MXS—an aircraft that hopefully would propel him to podiums, wins, and the championship.

Unfortunately, nothing with so many moving parts comes perfect when you bring it out of the box, and the MXS was no exception to that rule.

For Lamb and team Breitling, the 2008 season was spent modifying the aircraft and the moment of truth came at the season finale in Perth when Lamb took a career-best second place. This was certainly motivation to continue working on the aircraft and making the MXS competitive at every race for 2009.

"We totally stripped and re-built the plane" says Lamb in an e-mail. "We simply weighed all the components and replaced whatever we could with lighter components and removed anything and everything that was not necessary for racing or safety."

Many pilots are taking the same approach to make their aircraft lighter and nimbler to get the fastest time possible. This results in closer sector times and as a result, has created a slight rule change in how penalties are administered—six seconds (as opposed to 10 last year) when touching a gate (TAG) and two seconds (as opposed to three) when flying too high (FTH) or an incorrect knife flying (IKF).

"What makes it more important this year is that the performance of the planes is closer so all teams are obsessed by getting rid of any unnecessary grams" and logically, the planes get faster and will go through the track much quicker than before. This means that team engineers and mechanics are trying to find ways to bring down the weight of the aircraft to the minimum allowable weight of 1,190 pounds (541 kg).

Some components cannot be taken out altogether, so looking for lighter alternatives is one way to go in order to sacrifice weight and optimize performance.

There is however one necessary part of the aircraft that cannot be replaced, and that is the pilot himself.

The pilot is the single heaviest component of a racing plane and is also the most irreplaceable!

They do partake in various fitness regimes to make themselves more tolerant of the high G-forces put against their bodies and also to make themselves lighter "because you want the engine pulling the least amount of weight around the track" as Lamb puts it. By "least amount of weight," Lamb meant the components of his MXS, the pilot, and all his equipment, which can add significantly more weight, but is necessary in order to ensure safety.

The issue of weight in the Red Bull Air Race is a pretty straight-forward notion. Basically, the lighter you and your plane are, the better a time you will put on the board. Still, with that notion, there is also a lot of in-between issues that complicate the matter such as the Centre of Gravity limits (CG).

There is a CG limit in the fore (front) and in the aft (back) of airplanes. "If you try to fly with the CG outside the limits you can have problems controlling the machine so it's imperative to be inside the envelope," says Lamb.

As the weight aircraft decreases, the CG limits change. When talking about how he and the Breitling team managed to work that issue on the MXS, Lamb remarks "as weight was reduced, we did track the CG movement...A change in the CG changes the feel of the plane in the pitching axis. Once you have the CG right, you want to keep it constant so the plane feels the same each time you are in the track."

Overall, Team Breitling has been through a lot in order to become competitive, but reaching for the top—and staying there—is a job that never ends.

When asked how he evaluates his MXS right now in terms of weight, Lamb says, "thanks to the hard work of our engineer 'Hux' (Nigel Huxtable), the Breitling MXS is at the perfect weight. What we are focused on now are other aspects like more power and less drag (aerodynamics)".

Testing of the new components will begin at the end of this week for Team Breitling as they prepare for the most prestigious event on the Red Bull Air Race calendar—Budapest—on the 19th and 20th of August.

Special thanks to Becci Allan, Nigel Lamb, and all of Team Breitling for talking to Bleacher Report.

Is Formula One Becoming Formula "What" Across the Pond?

Sheiban Shakeri — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:29:02 -0400

It is an international sport with a lot of glitz and glamour, but there isn't a whole lot of talk about it across the pond anymore.

One of the obvious reasons behind this is simply the fact that there is no Grand Prix in North America anymore, with Montreal being the last city in North America to get the boot.

Even in Toronto, there would have been a quick word on the Sunday evening news about the results of the latest Grand Prix, but even now it has become just a show of results with very few, if any, highlights used.

We could add that the dominance of Brawn this season is a factor, but that is just one of many.

If anyone remembers the 2004 season, we pretty much had a frontrunner whom nobody could catch and the sport became boring as ever because the end result was all too predictable. With the Red Bull upsurge in the last two races though, there might be a chance for reprieve, but only time will tell.

But there is another issue here that has made this writer wonder why Formula One is losing its luster here in North America: the reputation of this sport coupled with the current financial crisis.

The newest trend here is to be frugal. Formula One has paid lip-service to this crisis by attempting to cut costs and other things but it seems like they shot themselves in the foot here.

By cutting costs, they have banned in-season testing—a prime opportunity for the not so well-off fan to catch a glimpse of their heroes—and have gone against their mantra of being the most expensive as well as the pinnacle of motorsport. Basically, they were damned if they did, or damned if they didn't.

In-season testing was also a good way to see what improvements were being made to the cars since they were out there in plain sight and fans could speculate that the season will go one way or the other with improvement x on team y.

Any improvements these days tend to be seen in a newswire thus severing the last connection that fans would have had to the sport.

As well, Formula One's absence in North America has paved the way for other extreme sports to establish a name for themselves here.

Until last year, the Red Bull Air Race, a sport likened to the Formula One of the skies, was an unknown sport in Canada as well as many parts of the United States and was oftentimes confused with the Red Bull Flugtag—a competition of building a man-powered aircraft and seeing how far it goes off a pier.

With a strong and fan-inclusive base, the sport is making inroads. Even for the fans not making it to the race, there is an official presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—the three main suspects of Web 2.0.

Unfortunately, Formula One does not have this level of interaction with fans and will lose out in the long run by not utilizing this cheap and very important method. Now, many of the teams do have official channels on YouTube or pages on Facebook, but you rarely get to see race footage since that is controlled by FOM.

From what is gathered by just logging onto American-based websites, the users like the interactivity and that is what keeps them coming back.

To close off, the absence of Formula One in North America is felt primarily because of the other options we have been shown which result in the loss of interest in this sport. The culture that North Americans have of being frugal during tough times just does not seem to reflect in this sport and has turned them off from it.

A race in North America would be nice, but if that cannot be done, then work on reaching out to the fans since according to myself and many other fans, it's no longer Formula One, it's Formula "what?"

Red Bull Air Race 2009 Mid-Season Review

Sheiban Shakeri — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:54:29 -0400

Three races down, three to go, and three different winners so far—Hannes Arch, Nicolas Ivanoff and Paul Bonhomme! The championship is as wide open as it was at the beginning of the season.

As well, seven different pilots have challenged for the win this season—Hannes Arch, Paul Bonhomme, Peter Besenyei, Kirby Chambliss, Nicolas Ivanoff, Nigel Lamb and Mike Mangold.

Abu Dhabi

The season opener of the Red Bull Air Race started off in Abu Dhabi, and the biggest news came before the race when it was announced that the Emirate will get the privilege of hosting the opening round of the world championship until 2011.

To add to that, 2008 world series champion Hannes Arch received sponsorship from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority. He is now carrying "Abu Dhabi" on his wings, his flight suit, and in his hangar. He has become known as "Air Abu Dhabi!"

The race itself was a spectacle to watch. With a newly designed track, second place man Paul Bonhomme commented that it was very well-designed track compared to the previous year's track since different lines and angles could be taken, whereas last year it was a waiting game of getting through the gates.

Hannes Arch was the winner of that race with Bonhomme and Ivanoff right behind him. Nigel Lamb was the unlucky fourth, but his MXS keeps improving by the day. To add to that, Arch also won the qualifying round and took one crucial championship point as well as setting the fastest time thus making an air racing hat trick for the Austrian.

Abu Dhabi also was the debut ground for four new pilots to the series: Matthias Dolderer of Germany, Matt Hall of Australia, Pete McLeod of Canada and Yoshi Muroya of Japan.

Hall was the most profitable rookie in this round with him taking fifth place and just a hair out of the final four. Dolderer was the second-most profitable rookie in the Emirates with an 11th place finish and one point to his name in his first race.

The unluckiest pilots in Abu Dhabi was a tie with Michael Goulian and Pete McLeod.

Goulian, the amicable Bostonian, did not have an antenna properly connected, which would broadcast all sorts of information to the race stewards in the tower as a way to ensure that he flies properly. His time was upheld, but he wasn't allowed to compete in the second round of qualifying. With the race, he was too slow and didn't make it past the Wild Card.

McLeod on the other hand put two clean albeit slow times during qualifying but when it came to the race, the Canadian hit a pylon and had to perform an SCO (Safety Climb Out) because of some fabric stuck to the wings of his Edge 540 aircraft. He came in last place.

San Diego

The Red Bull Air Race moved to San Diego and home race for the three American pilots—Mike Mangold, Kirby Chambliss and Michael Goulian.

Goulian just wasn't able to capitalize and ended up out of the points while Matt Hall put in a second fifth place finish in a row.

Hannes Arch was able to win the qualifying again, but came short in the Final Four round after hitting a bird. His aircraft survived, but there was plenty of organic matter on the aircraft and the tailplane was pretty damaged. Arch came third in the second round of the race but had an extra point added because of his winning the qualifying round.

Nicolas Ivanoff was able to set the course record and take the win while Paul Bonhomme came second for the second time this year.

Peter Besenyei was the unlucky fourth man in his MXS.

The Americans didn't fare very well in San Diego with Goulian again out of the Top 12 round and Chambliss getting disqualified for going over-g. Mike Mangold was the most successful of the three but still wasn't able to make it into the Final Four round. He ended up taking an early bath as well with his two countrymen with his seventh place finish.

The South African sophomore, Glen Dell, was able to finally get into the points by taking a ninth place and three points here thus ending his points drought.

Overall, San Diego was an interesting race with a Saturday qualifying filled with pylon hits and a Sunday filled with suspense!

Windsor, Ontario

The Red Bull Air Race returned to the world's longest undefended border and also to one of the busiest points—Windsor, Ontario. Across the river is Detroit, where the third round was hosted in 2008. This was also the home race for Pete McLeod, whose base is only a two-hour drive away.

The third round was hampered by two pieces of bad news. First, Peter Besenyei would not fly in Windsor because of a crash landing in a wheat field earlier that week damaged his MXS to the point that it could not be ready in time.

As well, the safety of Yoshi Muroya's Edge 540 was compromised after hitting a pylon in compensation training on Friday and thus would not be given the green light to fly either.

All eyes might have been focused on the 25-year old Canadian, but it was American Kirby Chambliss who stole the show and denied Hannes Arch a third consecutive qualifying win on a cloudy Saturday.

"I'll take that point," said Chambliss over the radio after learning that he set the course record and had won the round.

Come Sunday though, the story would be very different. With Pete McLeod able to keep himself out of the Wild Card round and into the top 10 on Saturday. He got himself in 11th after taking a two-second penalty. The Canadian crowd went wild as their man came in second-to-last!

The race had by far the most pylon hits as Sergey Rakhmanin pipped the start/finish gate to start things off. Mike Mangold and Michael Goulian also hit pylons as the latter had to SCO because of pylon got stuck on his tail.

Matt Hall had quite possibly the most interesting round during the Super Eights as he touched the start/finish gate when entering the track and crashed head-on into the quadro and had to SCO. He later admitted that he thought he could gun for a podium place and a win foregoing the fact that he was learning.

The Final Four had two Americans - Mike Mangold, and Kirby Chambliss—up against two Europeans—Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain, and Hannes Arch of Austria.

While many believed that this round was in the bag for Chambliss, the American made a mistake, incurred a two-second penalty, and was able to hang on for third place.

Mike Mangold was just too slow and with a two-second penalty, he was effectively out of the running.

Hannes Arch couldn't keep his cool, took a penalty, and lost out but was able to come second behind Paul Bonhomme whose consistent flying all week earned him the maple leaf trophy.

Last year, the top four was Chambliss, Bonhomme, Arch and Mangold. In 2009, it was Bonhomme, Arch, Chambliss and Mangold.

Overall, with three different winners and the championship fight still going strong, Budapest on Aug. 19 and 20 will be a real test for Arch and Bonhomme, since they are only separated by one point.

Will the rookies be able to mix things up again? Will Kirby Chambliss and Mike Mangold give Hannes Arch and Paul Bonhomme a run for their money? Budapest will tell all!

First Half of the 2009 Red Bull Air Race

Sheiban Shakeri — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:09:27 -0400

Using personal photos from my own collection and that of the AP, I document the highlights of the first half of the 2009 season at the Red Bull Air Race. With more pilots than ever in the series and new and traditional locations galore, the Red Bull Air Race is expanding more than ever. Without further ado, here are the pylon hits, the close calls and the amazing shots taken at the first three races of the 2009 season. Photo courtesy of the AP.

Begin Slideshow

Bonhomme Soars to Victory in the Cross-Border Classic

Sheiban Shakeri — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:58:42 -0400

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

This round was very interesting to say the least. Everybody save for Bonhomme got a penalty in some form or another, and gate touches here were rampant!

Matt Hall appeared to be improving on his form, but his confidence must have gone into overconfidence as he not only hit the start/finish gate at the beginning of the race, but also rammed into the quadro and had to SCO.

Nigel Lamb cannot get a break on the border. After a harsh disqualification on the other side of the river in Detroit last year, the Brit appeared to have put those jitters to rest, but at the same time, he made a course deviation and was disqualified.

Michael Goulian also had a tough time after touching a gate in the quadro and with pieces of fabric clinging to the fuselage, he had to SCO as well.

Mike Mangold, even after a gate touching (TAG) penalty, was able to make it into the final four with Bonhomme, Arch, and Chambliss. This was the first time that Americans made it into the Final Four all season as well as the first time that it was dominated only by Edge 540's.

Super Eight Times (Italicized Move Forward to the Final Four)

Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540: 1:08.61 (No penalties)
Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540: 1:11.13 (+2 sec. IKF)
Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540: 1:11.33 (+2 sec. FTH)
Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540: 1:18.61 (+6 sec. TAG)
Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS: 1:22.93 (+2 sec. FTH, +2 sec. IKF, +6 sec. TAG)
Michael Goulian (USA) - Edge 540: SCO
Matt Hall (AUS) - MXS: SCO
Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS: DSQ

The Final Four

The Final Four this season has had seven different pilots compete in it, but there's two things that are consistent: Hannes Arch and Paul Bonhomme. With those two in the finals, it looks they had some stiff competition against Kirby Chambliss who had won the qualifying round.

The final four round would also typically be the round where the flying would be perfect and no penalties would be given. Then again, who said that finals have to be consistent?

With Arch and Mangold each getting two-second penalties, with the Austrian out in front, it looked like Chambliss might be able to squeak a win but remember, the Brit has been in second place all season and he hates playing second-fiddle!

Bonhomme flew in and put a very consistent time of 1:08.16 with no penalties. It was the fastest time of the day, but not of the weekend. That honour still goes to Kirby Chambliss.

The Texan flew in next, but after taking a two-second IKF penalty his hopes were dashed of a win, and he took the third step on the podium. This was also the American's first appearance on the podium since Porto last year.

Times in the Final Four (Italicized denotes winner)

Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540: 1:08.16
Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540: 1:09.31
Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540: 1:10.19
Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540: 1:12.92

With that, the Red Bull Air Race goes into a summer holiday as the next race will be in Budapest, Hungary. Budapest has been equated to the Monaco Grand Prix of the Red Bull Air Race and with a tight track and a starting gate denoted by the famous Chain Bridge, anything can happen. Until then, it's bye for now!

Live From Windsor: The Play-By-Play for Raceday at the Red Bull Air Race

Sheiban Shakeri — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:13:45 -0400

Hello and welcome for the third round of the Red Bull Air Race World Series from Windsor. The race will be taking place on the Canada-US border over the Detroit River with about half of the race taking place in American airspace.

The biggest surprise coming was Kirby Chambliss and his return to form and setting the fastest time of not just all week, but of the past two years running now.

Hot on his heels is Paul Bonhomme, who will be looking for redemption. Nicolas Ivanoff and Hannes Arch round out the top four.

The one that the Windsor crowd came to see was Canadian Pete McLeod.

McLeod impressed everyone in his home race and was able to break into the top 10 on Saturday, much to the delight of the crowd.

Michael Goulian also got out of a funk and finally made it into the top 10 with an eighth place qualifying pace.

If he can continue flying the way he did, he will be able to take points.

Not participating are Yoshi Muroya and Peter Besenyei. Muroya is not racing today because of a pylon hit during the third training session compromised the safety of his Edge 540.

Besenyei on the other hand had a close call after an emergency landing in a wheat field outside of St. Thomas Airport. The MXS flipped over, but Besenyei was uninjured.

The aircraft is not a writeoff, but it is not able to race in Windsor. He will return for Budapest in two month's time.

Over here at Bleacher Report, there will be a live play-by-play of the day's events. All times will be displayed in the local time (-4 GMT) so come here and enjoy the race!

1555: That's it for Windsor folks! Budapest is up in two months time so the pilots will take some time to train and prepare themselves for the first stop in the European tour.

1550: That's the race folks! Paul Bonhomme has finally won since his victory in Perth during the final race of 2008. Arch is second and Chambliss is third. However, Chambliss has one point extra for winning the qualifying yesterday. The rest of the pilots are as follows: Mangold, Rakhmanin, Goulian, Hall, Lamb, Ivanoff, Maclean, McLeod, Dell, and Dolderer. Pete McLeod has taken his first point and his highest ranking so far. As of now, every pilot has at least one point in their pocket.

1540: Kirby's in and he makes a mistake! He flies too high but registers a time of 1:10.19. Ouch!

1537: Paul Bonhomme sets the day's fastest time! He registers a 1:08.16. This is going to be tough for Kirby Chambliss to beat. Can the American make it two wins in a row or will Bonhomme get out of the second-place funk at the Cross-Border Classic?

1534: Hannes Arch also gets two seconds but is very fast! He could've set the course record if he didn't get a two-second penalty for flying too high! He sets a time of 1:09.31. He's guaranteed a spot on the podium...

1531: Mike Mangold is the first to go and sets a time of 1:12.92 with a two-second penalty for flying too high. He sets the benchmark for the Final Four.

1520: The final four will have Mike Mangold, Hannes Arch, Paul Bonhomme and Kirby Chambliss competing for the win. We'll be seeing what happens in about 10 minutes...

1515: Kirby is in but is a little slower than usual. Chambliss sets a time of 1:11.33 with no penalties. Anyhow, that's enough for him to continue into the final four.

1512: Two gates had to be replaced so it took some time. Bonhomme has just finished his run and unlike the other pilots before him, he is clean and puts a time of 1:08.61.

1503: Matt Hall gets his run started off with a bang - literally! He hits the start/finish gate and just looks like he's not in control. He hits ANOTHER gate in the quadro and pulls out with an SCO.

1500: Hannes Arch enters, sets a time of 1:11.13 but gets two seconds for incorrect knife flying. A shame for the Austrian...

1456: Nigel Lamb enters the box but seems to have had a bad judgment and misses the quadro. He is subsequently DSQ. This guy can't seem to catch a break on the border...

1452: Mike Mangold comes in and gets a whopping six-seconds for touching a gate! It was such a small margin that he took and lost out...

1448: News from the airport comes in that Chambliss is cleared to fly in the Super Eight round after a possible infraction.

1446: Michael Goulian is up next and makes an SCO! He hits a pylon in the quadro with pieces of it attached to his tail. At least he ends his points drought...

1441: Sergey Rakhmanin just finished his run and boy did he make a mess! Two two-second penalties for flying too high and hitting the start/finish Breitling gate will definitely not get the Russian into the Final Four...

1431: Kirby Chambliss is up and wants to capitalize on his amazing time from yesterday. He comes up short and makes it a 1:10.11 with no penalties. This concludes the Top 12. The Super Eights will begin in about 10 minutes...

1428: Paul Bonhomme comes in and is hungry to beat Arch at his own game. He comes 0.09 of a second short and registers a 1:09.47.

1425: Nicolas Ivanoff is up but oh no! He makes two mistakes and registers a 1:14.45 for flying too high. He went through the quadro but pulled up appearing to SCO but didn't and continued, thus losing time here.

1423: Matt Hall is in but he's a little slow and makes it a 1:12.35 with no penalties.

1420: Hannes Arch is up and sets the fastest time of the day! a 1:09.38 with no penalties. The Austrian's a shoe-in to make the final four...

1418: Nigel Lamb is the next man up but makes an IKF. He would've been fastest but with two seconds added, he registers a 1:12.09

1415: Mike Mangold is up. He makes a clean flight with no penalties and is very disciplined. He posts a slightly slower time of 1:11.25

1413: Bostonian Michael Goulian takes to the track and puts in a disciplined run. He sets a reasonably fast time of 1:11.06 with no penalties. "Yeah baby" goes Goulian over the radio!

1411: Alejandro Maclean is up next. He is all over the place as he sets a time of 1:15.59 with four seconds worth of penalty points. He's first at the moment, but that can change any minute...

1409: Pete McLeod is coming in and the crowd is going nuts! The cheers are deafening on both sides of the border and sets a 1:16.48 with a two-second penalty for incorrect knife-edge. A shame, but it's faster than Dell so McLeod is guaranteed at least one point today...

1405: Sergey Rakhmanin has entered the track and put in a disciplined flight with a 1:13.77. He has fallen behind a bit from his time yesterday...

1403: Glen Dell takes the track and makes two errors. He gets four seconds in penalties and sets a 1:18.87! Not good for the South African since it seemed like he had turned a corner in San Diego...

1345: With about 15 minutes to go until the Top 12, the pilots advancing from the Wild Card are Glen Dell and Sergey Rakhmanin. They will join Pete McLeod, Alejandro Maclean, Michael Goulian, Mike Mangold, Nigel Lamb, Hannes Arch, Matt Hall, Nicolas Ivanoff, Paul Bonhomme and Kirby Chambliss.

Can South African Dell make it two races in a row with points? Find out in 15 minutes!

1309: Sergey Rakhmanin has just done his run and it looks like he was putting effort into it considering the fact that he is guaranteed a spot in the Top 12. He puts in a time of 1:12.32 with no penalties. Him and Dell will advance to the Top 12 and a chance for points.

The Top 12 will begin at 1400 so stay tuned!

1306: Matthias Dolderer came into the track, looked to be a little shaky but oh no! The German in the last gate of the chicane on the final lap pointed the nose of his Edge 540 downwards and as a result, got a DQ. Had he not done that, he would've gotten a 1:15.69 with a two-second penalty for flying too high. A shame for the German, he'll be taking an early bath today. This guarantees Dell and Rakhmanin into the Top 12 round.

1303: Glen Dell was the first to go and posted a much better time of 1:14.73 with no penalties. He was rollercoastering a bit but a lot more disciplined flying from the South African.

1250: With about 10 minutes until Glen Dell gets us started, the crowds are getting settled in. With a view of Detroit, the stands have been packed for the last hour and a bit. The pylons are up and the water in the river appears to be a little choppy, but it shouldn't be as bad. The commentators say to not expect the same times as yesterday because with the nice weather, the air will be a little thinner hence the planes will go a little slower...

1215: The opening ceremonies have just ended. The Canadian and American national anthems have been played and there are plenty of sideshows taking place right now. The RB105 has just flown through and the Detroit River is now closed for the Red Bull Air Race...

1155: Just interviewed for a local Windsor sports radio station AM 800 and hopefully a recording will be available.

1113: Welcome to the third round of the Red Bull Air Race. The Wild Card will be starting in less than two hours. Only three pilots for the wild card because of the absence of Besenyei and Muroya.

Going up will be Glen Dell, Matthias Dolderer, and Sergey Rakhmanin. The weather today is beautiful and sunny and warm. No rain, few clouds and a good day overall.

Qualifying at the Red Bull Air Race Windsor

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:48:39 -0400

The Red Bull Air Race is hosted on Canadian soil for the first time and with a lot of pomp and celebration of not only the first ever air race in Canada, but for the first ever Canadian in the series, the crowds were certainly not sparse! With plenty of photos taken of the air race, I will show the best along with where the pilots qualified. Now, sit back and enjoy the images of Windsor on Qualifying Day at the Red Bull Air Race!

Begin Slideshow

"I'll Take That Point!" Red Bull Air Race Windsor Qualifying Day Recap

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:37:26 -0400

Even with two pilots not being able to compete today—Peter Besenyei for damaging his MXS and Yoshi Muroya as a precaution—the day's events at the Red Bull Air Race in Windsor were not boring.

With Kirby Chambliss setting the pace in the final practice on Friday, it looked like the American had put himself into contention for the title one year after taking his first win in two seasons in the same locale, except it was on the other side of the Detroit River.

He did not disappoint. After being about 0.22 of a second slower than Briton Paul Bonhomme in the first qualifying round, the American came back in the second round for the final flight of the day and was a stunning 1.25 seconds faster than Bonhomme!

After being told of setting the fastest time, Chambliss responded, "I'll take that point!" And indeed, with one championship point won, the American has broken Hannes Arch's dominance in that area.

In the rest of the field, Matt Hall continues to impress his fellow pilots after setting not one, but two clean times in his MXS. The former RAAF pilot has been under the guidance of former Mike Mangold technician Dennis Sawyer and so far has been very disciplined. Hall qualified fourth today after posting a pretty fast time of 1:10.33.

Defending world champion Hannes Arch made a rare mistake in the second session of qualifying, and uttered "firetruck" while missing a couple of middle letters! The Austrian's time in the first qualifier stood and he qualified fifth behind Hall.

Michael Goulian has finally made it into the top 10 after a dismal first two races. He qualified eighth overall. But in his second run, after pulling a reasonably quick time to make it into the top five, he pipped the start/finish gate and tacked six seconds onto to his time.

Further down the field, the Canadian Pete McLeod has been getting a lot of hometown support. As he flew into the track, the crowds were cheering loudly after McLeod flew a slow first round in qualifying. The cheers became deafening when McLeod came in the second round and made it into alien territory: a top 10 position!

With the race taking place on the border of two countries, the crowds on both sides of the Detroit River were satisfied—with an experienced American winning the qualifying session and a Canadian making it into the top 10.

Windsor Qualifying After Two Rounds

Kirby Chambliss; USA (Edge 540) - 1:07.95
Paul Bonhomme; GBR (Edge 540) - 1:09.21 (+1.26)
Nicolas Ivanoff; FRA (Edge 540) - 1:09.50 (+1.55)
Matt Hall; AUS (MXS) - 1:10.33 (+2.38)
Hannes Arch; AUT (Edge 540) - 1:10.47 (+2.52)
Nigel Lamb; GBR (MXS) - 1:10.80 (+2.85)
Mike Mangold; USA (Edge 540) - 1:12.04 (+4.09)
Michael Goulian; USA (Edge 540) - 1:12.06 (+4.11)
Alejandro Maclean; ESP (MXS) - 1:12.07 (+4.12)
Pete McLeod; CAN (Edge 540) - 1:13.24 (+5.29)
Sergey Rakhmanin; RUS (MXS) - 1:14.15 (+6.20)
Matthias Dolderer; GER (Edge 540) - 1:15.73 (+7.78)
Glen Dell; RSA (Edge 540) - 1:16.69 (+8.74)
Yoshi Muroya; JPN (Edge 540) - DNS
Peter Besenyei; HUN (MXS) - DNS

Yoshi Muroya and Peter Besenyei did not compete because the former had hit a pylon and there were some issues with his aircraft while the latter had an emergency landing after his engine lost oil pressure. As a result, the competition for the wild card will consist only of Rakhmanin, Dolderer and Dell.

Stay tuned tomorrow as another play-by-play will take place right here on Bleacher Report.

Red Bull Air Race Windsor Qualifying Play-By-Play

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:34:22 -0400

Welcome to the Canadian sibling of the international twin cities of Windsor and Detroit, host to the third round of the 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Series.

In 2008, Detroit was the host city with Windsor looking on. This year, the Stanley Cup runner-up city will play second fiddle as 15 of the world's best aerobatics pilots battle it out for the one championship point at stake today.

The first qualifying will start today at 14:00 -4 GMT so sit back and relax as I'll bring the live play-by-play. All times displayed are done in the local time.

1730: Well, the qualifying is Kirby's, but will he be able to win the race? Stay tuned tomorrow afternoon!

1627: Last up is Kirby Chambliss. The Texan has a new engine but had to cut back on a few horsepower. Nonetheless, he puts in a clean run, sets the track record of 1:07.95 - a full 1.25 seconds faster than Paul Bonhomme! "I'll take that point" says Chambliss over the radio.

1625: Paul Bonhomme comes in, puts in a new track record of 1:09.21 with no penalties and sets the new track record!

1621: It's time for Frenchman Nicolas Ivanoff. He's coming off a hot streak in San Diego. He has broken the 1:10 barrier this round and puts in a 1:09.5. He is just 0.01 second short of Bonhomme's record in the first round! That's close!

1618: It's time for Hannes Arch. He said he didn't like this track and has put in a 1:10.89 with a two-second penalty towards the end. He's upset and mutters "firetruck" missing a couple of the middle letters!

1615: Can Nigel Lamb cool Hall's heels? He puts in a clean run but is 0.47 of a second short finishing 1:10.80. Just short of Hall...

1612: The gate has been cleaned up and Matt Hall comes in. The Aussie flies a disciplined race and registers a 1:10.33 with no penalties and the lead so far...

1607: It's time for Michael Goulian. He has been having a tough time of late and has flown an excellent race but oh wait, he's touched the start/finish gate in his last lap! Oh no, the American would have been a shoe-in for the top 10 but has lost out! His time is 1:16.21 with six seconds for touching a gate...

1604: It's time for Mike Mangold. The Californian is having a better race, and is BEHIND McLeod! He has accrued a two-second penalty for flying too high in the quadro. He sets a time of 1:13.40

1601: It's Sergey Rakhmanin's time to shine. The Russian appears to be struggling here and there and has received a two-second IKF penalty. He finishes with a 1:16.06. His first qualifying time will stick...

1558: The torn gate has been replaced and up next is Pete McLeod. The crowd is going wild as he flies in with discipline and vigour! The third last man in the first qualifying has improved significantly and puts in a 1:13.24. The crowd is going crazy!

1553: Alejandro Maclean is in next. He has shown discipline throughout his run but unfortunately hit a gate. The first gate-touch of the day. He finishes with a 1:18.12. He is not happy and is not going to improve on his previous qualifying...

1550: Glen Dell is up next as he ALSO gets the same penalty at the SAME GATE! Oh dear, not good for the South African! He receives a 1:16.69...

1547: Matthias Dolderer has just finished his first run in Q2. He receives a two-second FTH penalty. It's a slight improvement, but not what he wanted...

1535: About 10 minutes to go until the final qualifying session and we are having the Red Bull Air Force doing some more dives. It's good fun to watch. The order of qualifying will be the same as the previous round...

1455: So, with the first round done, the running order is Bonhomme, Chambliss, Ivanoff, Arch, Lamb, Hall, Mangold, Goulian, Maclean, Rakhmanin, McLeod, Dolderer, and Dell. With a second qualifying session coming up and the best times counting, these standings can change and they can change drastically. See you for Q2!

1438: Kirby Chambliss is the last man up for Q1. He flies a clean and fast race but comes just short of Bonhomme with a 1:09.71. Stay tuned in about one hour for Q2...

1436: Paul Bonhomme is the second last man up and sets the track record! He sets a 1:09.49! Amazing run from the Brit! It's going to be hard for Chambliss whose up next to beat that...

1432: San Diego winner Nicolas Ivanoff registers a 1:10.18! All the pilots here seem to be playing King of the Hill! Each pilot is besting the other even slightly! When he's told of the lead by race director Drew Searle, he replies with a simple "ok thank you!"

1430: The defending world champion Hannes Arch has come up and steals Lamb's record from atop the standings with a 1:10.47. The times are getting tight here...

1427: Nigel Lamb is up next. He bursts Hall's bubble and registers a very fast time of 1:10.89!

1425: UPDATE from the Red Bull Air Race airport: Michael Goulian's aircraft has been investigated and there seems to be no issues. Phew!

1423: Matt Hall of Australia flies his MXS into the track and registers the fastest time so far! He puts in a 1:11.63 and takes the lead away from Mike Mangold! This is Hall's third Red Bull Air Race ever and he keeps impressing at every turn!

1420: Michael Goulian from Boston is coming in. The American has had no luck this year but he puts in a nice clean run and registers a 1:12.06. He is 0.02 of a second slower than Mangold! An amazing run but it seems like the technical director wants to see Goulian's Edge 540. This is not good since he has had a terrible time of late with the scrutineers...

1417: Mike Mangold has put in a new engine for his Edge 540 and is hungry for the title! The Californian registers a 1:12.04 and the lead so far...

1413: Sergey Rakhmanin from Russia flies his MXS into the track and while a little high in the chicane, he's ok! He registers a 1:14.15. A little slow for the man from St. Petersburg...

1409: Pete McLeod is flying in to a lot of applaud from the Windsor fans! The cheering is deafening as the Canadian crowd supports their man! McLeod has taken a different line from the three previous pilots before him and takes a two-second ILF penalty! He still has one more run and puts in a 1:15.33. He's ahead of Dolderer and Dell right now.

1406: Alejandro Maclean from Spain is going through and has flown a clean race! 1:12.07 - over three seconds faster than current second place man Dolderer!

1403: Glen Dell is next as he flies similar to Dolderer and receives another two-second penalty on the same gate! He registers a 1:17.97.

1400: Matthias Dolderer gets us started and flies a clean albeit rollercoaster race. He flies too high, gets two seconds added to his time and registers a 1:15.97. Good first run for the German rookie!

1355: With five minutes to go until qualifying, Jürg Fleischmann in the RB105 helicopter decides to fly around the track!

1340: With about 20 minutes to go until the first qualifying round, the Red Bull Air Force's Human Racing League has done a jump from a Red Bull helicopter. We're being told that Kirby Chambliss has had to knock off some horsepower from his engine. Yoshi Muroya is out of qualifying as a precaution because of a pylon hit in the practice. As well, he is not going to be present in the race tomorrow. This makes two pilots that aren't able to compete with Besenyei out already because of a damaged MXS after making a rough landing earlier this week. Matthias will start off the qualifying soon...

1315: There is a lot of hoopla going on, and the starting order for the pilots is going to be Yoshi Muroya, Matthias Dolderer, Glen Dell, Alejandro Maclean, Pete McLeod, Sergey Rakhmanin, Mike Mangold, Michael Goulian, Matt Hall, Nigel Lamb, Hannes Arch, Nicolas Ivanoff, Paul Bonhomme, and Kirby Chambliss. The order is determined by the slowest going first.

1300: We've had a WWII Corsair aircraft make a few passes and right now, a CF-18 aircraft has been making passes over the Detroit River. The CF-18 Hornet from the RCAF making a few passes. The boom is deafening!

1235: The two anthems are playing with the guest team - the United States of America - going first. Next up was the Canadian anthem and a huge cheer emanated from the crowds on both sides!

1220: The Race Club, the High Flyer's Lounge and the fan viewing areas are filled and the track is ready to be flown through with all pylons on both sides of the border inflated. In about 10 minutes or so, the pre-race show will begin. It'll be primarily military aircraft - and you can hear it right now! Representatives of Hannes Arch and Matthias Dolderer were in earlier handing out media packages for the former and gummy aircraft from the latter! I guess a bit of swag goes a long way for them! Sergio Pla might be flying the media plane around to demonstrate the maneouvres...

1145: It should be known that the Detroit River that makes the border between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan is one of the busiest in the world. The Ambassador Bridge is indicative of this trade that occurs between Canada and the United States and it shows with trucks lining up on either end that sometimes stretch out as far as eight miles (13 kilometres). The river is also a very busy shipping lane and just now, a cargo ship passed through. It was escorted by police boats so as not to disrupt the setting up of the pylons and to not hit the barges where the air gates are.

1130: The media centre is open and the lineups along Goyeau St., Ouelette Ave., and other arteries throughout Windsor are packed! Fans of all stripes are standing and waiting to get in. The media centre lineup was less chaotic as we were ushered in quite quickly half an hour ago. The pylons are being inflated with the backdrop of the GM building in Detroit and the weather service predicts good weather today with a slight breeze - nothing like the unfortunate cancellation of Saturday qualifying last year.

Red Bull Air Race: Peter Besenyei's Close Call and Other News From Windsor

Sheiban Shakeri — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:02:50 -0400

A really close call this week as the first real scare of 2009 occurred on Tuesday as Peter Besenyei's MXS fell out of the sky.

According to Nigel Lamb's blog, when cruising at around 2000 feet (approx. 600 metres) with himself and Matthias Dolderer on their way to Niagara Falls for a photoshoot, the Hungarian began to lose power due to a drop in oil pressure and tried to make a landing at nearby St. Thomas Airport (IATA: YQS) which was about seven miles (11.2 km) away. He came short over a wheat field, ended up flipping and severely damaging his MXS.

Lucky for Besenyei, he was able to get out within one minute with minimal injury to his person.

Unlucky however is that the MXS is too damaged to fly for this weekend's race so Besenyei's chance of his first world championship title has been dashed.

"Seeing Peter’s MXS flip over was horrendous. The immediate impulse is to try and see a better landing spot at a sprintable distance and opt for a controlled landing to get assistance to the downed pilot as soon as possible" writes Lamb.

In an official statement carried out by the Red Bull Air Race, Besenyei said "I lost oil pressure, which in the end caused the engine to fail, and I had to make a forced landing outside the field. The plane is damaged but I can repair it. The most important thing is that there was no injury. I’m 100 percent okay and that’s the most important thing."

Indeed, a scary moment had by all in the Red Bull Air Race, but luckily it had a happy ending. Besenyei will return for his home race in two month's time in Budapest.

Chambliss on Form on Friday

Kirby Chambliss has not had a good start but after Friday's compensation training - a result of bad weather on Thursday - the American was able to put a record 1:09.91 on the board in a track similar to the one that he won last year when the race was held on the other side of the Detroit River.

The American was almost a second and a half faster than Briton Paul Bonhomme while Frenchman Nicolas Ivanoff and 2008 world champion Hannes Arch were 2.30 and 3.02 seconds behind respectively.

A brand new Lycoming engine is the reason for this amazing comeback but in the end, it's the final race result that matters, not the practice times.

Hometown hero Pete McLeod had his best practice so far by fetching a tenth place. Could points be on the horizon for the Canadian at his home race?

Saturday will be the qualifying day, and with Chambliss adding himself to the championship fight, expect anything this weekend!

Red Bull Air Race: It's Not Just a Tower, It's a Nerve Centre!

Sheiban Shakeri — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:05:17 -0400

The Race Tower in the Red Bull Air Race is the nerve centre of the sport. Big decisions are made here and races are won and lost.

The tower from the outside is a tall and grey structure and while many think that it is the top level that matters most—the place most visible to the spectator—there are actually four levels that all play a big role in the aspects of security, broadcasting and of course, ensuring that the race is safe and that the pilots are following the rules.

The tower, at its peak, is filled with experts in various areas from the big things like track safety and weather, to the issues of security.

The top level of the control tower is for the race control which is filled with monitors and touchscreens aplenty and it is where the race director, Jim DiMatteo, gives the famous "smoke on" clearing to the pilots to do their runs in the race track.

Apart from the top level where the view of the track is panoramic, the other floors in the tower are just as important to ensure a safe, fun, and clean Red Bull Air Race. Further down is where the race referees—sanctioned by the FAI—analyze video from all 25 cameras including the Wescam attached to the RB105 helicopter to determine if the pilots are following the rules.

If there are discrepancies such as the pilot's knife-edge going under or over the 20 degrees leeway given or anything else, the penalties are applied here. The latest in video technology is also located in this control room.

Further down in the race control tower is where live TV broadcasts are fed from as well as the editing for the one hour world program. The place looks like a more sophisticated version of the Death Star's super-laser control room! Plenty of monitors and screens give hundreds of hours of video and terabytes of photos both from the media photographers, and the broadcasting and aircraft cameras.

Indeed, the race tower is the central component of the Red Bull Air Race. It's more than just the place where you hear "smoke on" and while the spectators are watching and enjoying the race, the people in the tower are hard at work to make sure that the competition is healthy and fair, as well as ensuring safety and logistics.

Three Important Facts About The Race Control Tower

Capacity: 250 people

Weight: 25 tons

Time to assemble: 3 days

Facts are courtesy of Red Bull USA and the Red Bull Air Race

Correspondent's Thoughts: Can McLeod Keep His Cool in Windsor?

Sheiban Shakeri — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:21:00 -0400

It's almost a given in motorsports: the hometown hero in his first race will inevitably make a mistake somewhere, thus dampening the hopes of the home crowd.

We saw it with Lewis Hamilton in the 2007 British Grand Prix. After taking pole position in qualifying on the smallest of margins, he ended up making a costly error in the pits and came in third—not the finish the home crowd wanted, especially with plenty of flags and banners being waved for the English driver and against his double-world champion teammate, Fernando Alonso.

In the Red Bull Air Race, Paul Bonhomme made quite a few errors in London last year after allegedly spending more time with reporters rather than practicing. He ended up hitting a pylon—the first time for the Briton in a race or qualifying all year—and just couldn't keep his cool.

However, the two cases mentioned earlier are not necessarily indicative of Pete McLeod. Hamilton and Bonhomme were both at the top of the standings when these incidences happened and had a lot on their shoulders—McLeod has yet to register a world championship point.

Still, with the first air race held on Canadian soil, many Canadians would like to see their countryman outshine his rivals on the international scene.

But with the precedent of hometown heroes in motorsports messing up on their first try, can McLeod buck the trend?

In the October interview, McLeod appeared to be very mature about his prospects and acknowledged that his team was just as much a component to his prospects of being a champion by 30. But with this home race on his shoulders, will McLeod remember he's still learning?

Correspondent's Thoughts is a pre-race feature written by Sheiban Shakeri about a multitude of topics involving the Red Bull Air Race.

The Cross-Border Classic: Red Bull Air Race Windsor Preview

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:37:43 -0400

Windsor, Ontario is the southernmost city in all of Canada. However, it tends to be dwarfed by its much larger American cousin: Detroit.

However, the tide will shift for one weekend as the aviation and motorsport community focus their attention on to Windsor as it plays host to the third round of the Red Bull Air Race World Series.

The first race in Canada also has the first Canadian pilot: rookie Pete McLeod whose base is a two hour drive Northeast in London, Ontario. This is quite literally his home race.

2009 So Far.

The 2009 season has been anything but ordinary. 2008 world series champion Hannes Arch has been keeping his form on and has effectively broken the Madden Curse that has plagued Red Bull Air Race champions before. He made a dream start at his home race - noted as such because of his sponsorship with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority - by winning the qualifying round, setting the track record, and winning the race; a Red Bull Air Race hat trick.

The Austrian wasn't able to capitalize on that in San Diego after hitting a bird in the final round and incurring a two-second penalty. Still though, Arch could be on his way to his second successive championship.

Fellow podium-mates Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain, and Nicolas Ivanoff of France are hot on Arch's trail with the latter having won the race in San Diego while the former has had to stand on the second step twice out of two races. For Ivanoff, the win in San Diego was a big step since he has upgraded to an Edge 540 for 2009 and put away his old Extra 300SR from last season.

Further down the field, the American pilots of Mike Mangold, Kirby Chambliss, and Michael Goulian are all off form with the latter having not scored a single point to date. Mangold so far is the only one who is faring well by being tied for sixth place with 10 points alongside Hungarian Peter Besenyei and Russian Sergey Rakhmanin.

South African sophomore Glen Dell has finally scored his first career points in the Red Bull Air Race in the last round after taking an impressive ninth place and three points in San Diego.

The four rookies this year aren't doing too badly this year with Matt Hall of Australia being the most impressive of the bunch. Hall has come fifth in the first two races of the season and this was done by flying clean races and having a team behind him who can keep his MXS in top notch.

Matthias Dolderer of Germany is impressing the fans after he took his first point in his first ever Red Bull Air Race in Abu Dhabi. He wasn't able to reproduce on his success in San Diego, but Windsor should be interesting since the track has a few similarities to Abu Dhabi.

The German has a new and interesting sponsor in the form of men's lifestyle magazine Playboy. A photoshoot occurred recently with two Playboy bunnies and they can be found on Dolderer's Flickr page.

Yoshi Muroya of Japan has been having a bit of a hard time and can't seem to yet find his cool. He was able to take his first points, but he wasn't able to put in clean runs.

Windsor will be Pete McLeod's home race and after plenty of modifications made to his Edge 540 after San Diego, the Canadian will be looking to take some points. McLeod has been last in his first two races but with the modifications, he's hoping to make the third time a charm.

The Windsor Track

Windsor is not alien to the Red Bull Air Race. Detroit hosted the third round last year and about 15% of the race was in Windsor.

The track in Windsor is a mirror-image of the 2008 Detroit track. The pilot will enter the track and immediately make a turn to the United States where he will navigate the chicane in a slalom formation.

After that, the pilot will make a left turn back to Canada through a pair of blue gates, encounter a quadro - which will be on the border - where he will fly knife-edge through the first time towards the United States, execute a 270-degree turn back into Canada, and fly back into the United States.

Once the quadro is finished, the pilot has two more blue gates left - the first one in the United States where he will fly level through the gates, then he'll make a right turn to go through the final blue gates which are located in Canada, and finally go through the Start/Finish gate where he'll make a vertical turning manoeuvre and fly the track a second time but this time in the opposite way!

Last year's winner was Kirby Chambliss who set a very fast time in the range of 1:10. While the track is slightly different from last year, Chambliss' time will be considered as optimal.

For an image as to what Windsor will look like, the website for the Red Bull Air Race has provided a track map that can be seen below.

Can Hannes Arch continue his domination? Will Paul Bonhomme be able to finally stand on the top step or will someone else outwit them both? Can Pete McLeod, the hometown hero, get his first points or better? In one week, we'll find out...

Stay tuned for the 13th and 14th of June as Sheiban Shakeri of bleacherreport.com reports from Windsor.

A Look at Cyber-Interactivity Within Formula One

Sheiban Shakeri — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:54:48 -0400

Formula One is seen to be the biggest spending sport in the world. Indeed, millions are spent in just developing the car and millions more in sending the cars, the team and much more to the furthest reaches of the earth.

More is spent on interactive booths and other such things at a Grand Prix, but what about online? In this article, I will be looking at online interactivity of each F1 team and let me say, it's not as amazing as other motorsports.

I will be looking at official Facebook pages, YouTube channels and other things such as team websites:

Brawn GP

The newest contender in the top flight of motor racing has also been on the top of the world driver's and constructor's championships.

When it comes to interactivity, Brawn has a very average website but one of the upsides in this is a fan wall and a features tab which you need to be registered to view. There is no preview so you can't see any features.

Their YouTube channel is also a very average one, but it has a podcast in the form of a post-race diary which is narrated by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The interactivity on the channel is good because they include comments on their video diaries, which are mostly support for the young team.

It's a good start for the upstarts, but they can definitely up the interactivity with the fans in other areas.

Force India

The traditional backmarkers of the Grand Prix are definitely not so in the interactivity department.

They have a very clean and slick website with downloads ranging from desktops to ringtones.

Force India F1 also has a twitter account known as ForceTweet, which will post updates in 140 characters or less!

In the YouTube department, the F1 team has a decent channel but only eight videos at the time of publishing. It appears to be a bit of a narcissistic attempt since it shows a lot of Vijay Mallya and news clips from the BBC, but not much else like a car introduction or driver diaries.

Force India still has adopted some things that other motorsports have taken, but there is lots of room for improvement.

Williams F1

The legendary Williams Formula One team are quite the exclusive ones.

The British team haven't embraced popular platforms like YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook but their website seems to have compensated for that.

The Williams F1 website has videos, podcasts and downloads available for fans. It's also designed in a very sleek manner which compensates for its lack of presence on other platforms.

Still though, in the time of web 2.0, its lack of presence on other platforms puts Williams in the rearview mirrors of other teams since it takes away from the interactivity that the fans can engage in.

Red Bull Racing/Scuderia Toro Rosso

The party animals of the pitlane have grabbed the Web 2.0 bull by the horns! The website of the two teams affiliated with the Austrian drink company is interactive and complete with a message board.

When it comes to the other platforms, they have a presence on Facebook under the umbrella of Red Bull Racing, and on YouTube, they have no dedicated channel but are under various Red Bull-run channels.

While not as engaging as Force India or Brawn GP, Red Bull Racing has been able to keep interactivity through Twitter, but again under the central umbrella.

Toyota

The Japanese team may yet to win a single Grand Prix, but they have an attractive and interactive website that brings about a lot of interesting tidbits such as a behind-the-scenes tour of the pit garage in the paddock and other things.

As far as is known, they have no channel presence on YouTube or Twitter, but they have an official Facebook page, which fans can interact together on a forum

Renault

What a fun place to be! The website of ING Renault has an interesting community and an interesting interface in comparison to other teams.

The French marque lacks a presence on Facebook where fans can join in on the discussion, but they have a YouTube channel which mostly covers their roadshows, but the comments are open for fans to interact with each other.

The Regie are also one of the three teams to have a presence on Twitter but appears to be most active during race weekends. Still, an interesting account to see and nice to see a presence on Web 2.0.

BMW-Sauber

The German marque with its team factory in Switzerland has by far a very fun and interactive site to be on filled with images, wallpapers and an interactive section where you can see what a perfect pit stop looks like, what the car is like, etc.

As well, they have a YouTube channel filled with slickly edited videos of race previews, reviews and factory tours. As well, there are videos of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica talking about some of their equipment like their helmets or racing gloves.

BMW's presence on Facebook is also very apparent with photo albums and notes for fans to comment on. An interesting tidbit though is that they have a team donut game on Facebook. A lot of fun to play with and a good way to get fans.

As well as that, the German team has a Twitter account which delivers updates and links to the big stories on their website as well as interaction with fans.

BMW-Sauber seems to have learned how to interact with the connected fan of all the teams so far.

McLaren-Mercedes

The British team has had some trouble lately in their Grands Prix but their interactivity is still going strong.

The McLaren team website is filled with links, from their online shop to their team news and most importantly, to their experience tab which contains links to their Facebook page and their Twitter feed.

As well, McLaren has a YouTube channel which includes plenty of preview videos as well as web featurettes.

Like BMW Sauber, McLaren has a Web 2.0 presence, but unlike previous years, they do not appear to have the Grand Prix League Competition that was available for the last few years.

Still, their efforts are noted and appreciated by the fan.

Scuderia Ferrari

The legendary marque which many argue IS Formula One has a website which is under the umbrella of Ferrari in general.

The Formula One section is fun to be in with an interactive and fun to use website, but it lacks videos, which can be found on their YouTube channel, but bunched up with other things such as the Ferrari Challenge. The downside to this is that nobody can comment on the videos that are posted because they are put in a queue and none have been approved for posting.

The Scuderia does not appear to have an official presence on Facebook or Twitter unlike some other teams.

Overall, they may be legendary, but they lack interactivity with fans when comparing with other teams.

To close off, Formula One teams are making progress in marketing themselves in the Web 2.0 world, but as it goes right now, they are behind in a great many aspects when it comes to having fan interaction. The most interactive of the teams are BMW-Sauber, McLaren-Mercedes, Brawn GP, and Renault while the rest are lagging in one area or another.

As well, Formula One, the series itself, has not shown a lot of progress ever since it implemented videos on its website, but hasn't transitioned to any other platforms like the teams.

Red Bull Air Race: A Homecoming Fit for a Canadian

Sheiban Shakeri — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:27:02 -0400

The momentum is picking up and the tickets are being sold. Windsor, Ontario, is getting ready to host the third round of the Red Bull Air Race in 2009.

The Cross-Border Classic will be the first time that a Canadian city will host the Red Bull Air Race, which coincides with two other things: the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada and the homecoming for the youngest pilot in the history of the series: 25-year old Pete McLeod.

McLeod's journey to the top flight of aerosports wasn't easy. In our interview back in October, Pete was saying that getting the FAI super-license held a lot of responsibility, especially with his young age.

"I’ve faced the issue of 'is he qualified' or 'is he able to,'" says the 25-year old. Indeed, with all his hard work and determination to make it, McLeod has had to dedicate himself to proving his abilities.

He's been performing aerobatic maneuvers ever since he got his pilot's license at age 16.

Pete's latest achievement before going to Spain for the qualification camp last September was a 12th-place finish at the European Aerobatics Championships in the Czech Republic earlier in the year.

It was his first time in the international scene for aerobatics and the clincher for an invitation to Spain and qualification camp. The rest is history.

After getting his super-license to fly in the Red Bull Air Race, McLeod has been realistic of his abilities and has correctly attributed his success to teamwork.

"For a rookie, when you have a top airplane, your setup is not going to be 100% for at least a year because it’s not just the pilot but the team that’s also learning," he told me in an October interview.

Indeed, with a young team around the Canadian, everybody on board is learning—including Nathan Herbert, the team coordinator who handles media requests and other duties.

When it has come to the Red Bull Air Race itself, McLeod has only raced twice. In Abu Dhabi and San Diego for the first two rounds, the Canadian has been racing a stock Edge 540 racing plane and claims that it is the slowest aircraft of them all.

The first round in the Middle East was not the debut envisaged, but still a learning experience, as McLeod made a rookie error by hitting "an easy gate" and had to SCO (Safety Climb Out) because there was still some torn fabric holding on to the Edge 540.

He came in last overall, but while the race was a writeoff, the qualifying round was his shining moment. He was able to put in not one, but two clean runs, albeit slow.

In California, McLeod was able to improve by finishing his run during race day. He was still the slowest - a good 15 seconds slower than race winner Nicolas Ivanoff - but he was able to show his ability even during unpredictable and windy weather on Saturday qualifying.

In the first two rounds, McLeod has taken last place. Keep in mind that he is still a rookie and has a lot to learn. He does not necessarily have the same experience as the other rookies, but it has to be enough if he has made it here!

Still, after San Diego, McLeod and fellow rookie Matthias Dolderer flew to Oklahoma— where the Zivko Aeronautics factory which builds the Edge 540 racing planes—and put in new modifications to their respective aircrafts.

Perhaps the first steps toward the first points for the first Canadian in the first Red Bull Air Race in Canada.

The Red Bull Air Race in Windsor will be the homecoming for Pete McLeod and with a huge fanbase developing, as seen on his Facebook page, the Canadian has the expectations of a nation on his shoulders at his first home race.

Further reading:

An Hour With Pete McLeod:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Sacre Bleu! Nicolas Ivanoff Takes First in the Red Bull Air Race San Diego

Sheiban Shakeri — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:24:30 -0400

A much more beautiful day in San Diego awaited the fans, the crews, and the pilots for the second round of the Red Bull Air Race.

Nicolas Ivanoff stunned the crowds and all the fans by taking a very unexpected victory in San Diego Bay with his Edge 540, a plane that is only in its second race!

To recap though, the conditions were much more predictable than yesterday and the events went on without a hitch.

Wild Card

The wild card session began with the five slowest pilots racing for a chance to take the top two spots, the privilege of flying in the Top 12 round and a chance to compete for points.

Pete McLeod got the festivities started and set the benchmark with a 1:33.09. That's about 15 seconds slower than the optimal time, and not really an improvement on his qualifying time either.

However, McLeod has been saying that him and his team are racing a stock Edge 540 with very little if any mods to begin with.

Some consolation for the Canadian though is that he completed his first race and did not need to SCO like Abu Dhabi. McLeod's race ended here with a 15th place overall.

Alejandro Maclean was in unusual territory here because of a disqualification yesterday for going over-g, a maximum of 12 being allowed. The Spaniard put in a time of 1:24.20 and looked like a sure-fire candidate for the top two spots in the wild card.

Japanese Yoshi Muroya was the biggest surprise of this round by only being 0.03 seconds slower than Maclean, and it got him the second spot in the wild card round.

American Michael Goulian was looking for redemption from Abu Dhabi but just couldn't find it in San Diego. He set a time of 1:26.22 with two two-second penalties.

If he hadn't accrued those two penalties, he would have been nearly two seconds faster than Maclean and with one penalty, he would have been ahead of Muroya by 0.01 of a second! Goulian had to settle for 14th place overall.

Matthias Dolderer was the last pilot to go up next and was hoping to have the same luck he did in Abu Dhabi. He set a time of 1:25.25, just over a second behind Maclean and Muroya. A sombre Dolderer was left in the unlucky 13th position.

The final results for the wild card are as follows with the top two advancing to the Top 12:

Alejandro Maclean (ESP) - MXS: 1:24.20
Yoshi Muroya (JPN) - Edge 540: 1:24.23 (+0.03)
Matthias Dolderer (GER) - Edge 540: 1:25.25 (+1.05)
Michael Goulian (USA) - Edge 540: 1:26.22 (+2.02 [2 two-second penalties FTH])
Pete McLeod (CAN) - Edge 540: 1:33.19 (+8.99)

Top 12

The next round was the fight for points with 12th place being the only position not getting any points. Alejandro Maclean and Yoshi Muroya, for being the top two pilots in the previous round were ready to do battle in this round.

First off was Alejandro Maclean. Maclean flew a very mediocre round and ended up with a time in the area of 1:25.39. Was the engine losing power? Was Maclean playing it too conservatively?

Next up was Muroya who set a time of 1:31.16. That was over five seconds behind Maclean and he had accrued four two-second penalties throughout his run. What happened here? Muroya was on such an amazing run the previous round, was he getting tired?

The surprise in Abu Dhabi, Matt Hall of Australia, barely made it into the Top 10 in yesterday's qualifying and flew a nice clean race in his MXS to make it a decent 1:23.51.

South African Glen Dell got the first points of his career by putting in a 1:25 flat. As a result, he has taken a solid three points. No doubt this race was a good result for him but he really has to be careful with his flying levels as he got a two-second penalty.

Hometown hero Mike Mangold had a hard time but was slightly faster than Dell. He just couldn't capitalize on the support, but made it a 1:24.55 with no penalties. Not a good result from the double world champion.

At least Mangold could be happy that he wasn't Kirby Chambliss, who was disqualified from contention as his Edge 540 went over-g. The 2009 season is not going the way the 2006 champion hoped for.

Sergey Rakhmanin just squeaks into the Super 8 round after a two-second penalty, but it's good enough for him to move on. He sets a time of 1:24.60, just 0.05 of a second behind Mangold.

Arch, Bonhomme, Besenyei, Ivanoff, and Nigel Lamb all made it into the Super 8 round as follows:

Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540: 1:18.51
Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540: 1:19.04 (+0.53)
Peter Besenyei (HUN) - MXS: 1:19.44 (+0.93)
Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540: 1:21.34 (+2.83)
Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS: 1:21.81 (+3.3)
Matt Hall (AUS) - MXS: 1:23.51 (+5.0)
Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540: 1:24.55 (+6.04)
Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS: 1:24.60 (+6.09)
Glen Dell (RSA) - Edge 540: 1:25.00 (+6.49)
Alejandro Maclean (ESP) - MXS: 1:25.39 (+6.88)
Yoshi Muroya (JPN) - Edge 540: 1:31.16 (+12.65)
Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540: DSQ

Super 8

The second-last round of the Red Bull Air Race was much tighter as Paul Bonhomme was dying to win this round and make it a hat trick in San Diego.

Sergey Rakhmanin was the first to go and set a time of 1:23.53. A one-second improvement, but it would have been three if he hadn't acquired a two-second penalty. Still, he set the standard, and there were seven other pilots who had the potential of making an error.

Matt Hall, Nigel Lamb, and Mike Mangold put in error-free performances, but they finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.

Hannes Arch and Peter Besenyei had the start/finish gates wobbling by getting too close to them, but neither of them knocked it down to accrue a six-second penalty. Close call! The final tally in the Super 8 round went as such with the bolded moving forward:

Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540: 1:17.73
Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540: 1:17.81 (+0.08)
Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540: 1:19.46 (+1.73)
Peter Besenyei (HUN) - MXS: 1:19.70 (+1.97)
Matt Hall (AUS) - MXS: 1:20.38 (+2.65)
Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS: 1:21.00 (+3.27)
Mike Mangold (USA) - Edge 540: 1:21.63 (+3.90)
Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS) - MXS: 1:23.53 (+5.80 with 2 sec. penalty)

The Final Four

The final four looked like it would be Hannes Arch's. He had earlier set the track record and was ready to show the other four how it was done.

Nicolas Ivanoff set the standard by setting a new track record though! He set a time of 1:17.21 with no penalties.

A perfect flight by the Frenchman who seems to have found his groove with the Edge 540. It seems like the Extra 300SR that he flew last year just wasn't doing it for him.

Ivanoff looked to have the final sealed up with his amazing flight. If Arch or Bonhomme were to beat that, they would have to take different lines or try out something very new.

Up next was Besenyei who after a disappointing 10th in Abu Dhabi was ready to show that his new set of wings, the MXS he had acquired this year, would be up to the task.

Sadly, that wasn't meant to be. He got a two-second FTH penalty and was 3.53 seconds slower than Ivanoff. He ended up in fourth place with his 1:20.74.

Bonhomme came next in his battle royale against Arch. The Englishman shone throughout his run but was never fast enough to beat Ivanoff.

As he kept going, the distance between himself and Ivanoff just widened. He ended up 1.11 seconds behind Ivanoff with a time of 1:18.32. However, he had set a personal best time.

Finally, the man that everyone was waiting for - Hannes Arch - took to the track above San Diego Bay. He starts well but midway through his run, he makes an IKF in the quadro and gets slapped with a two-second penalty.

It all seemed to work for him but the penalty cost him dearly. He ends up 2.59 seconds behind Nicolas Ivanoff with a 1:19.80 and third place. Hitting a bird during his run did not help his cause one bit!

Nicolas Ivanoff won the 2009 San Diego Red Bull Air Race in style and also set the track record. Hannes Arch, the championship leader, is still three points ahead of Paul Bonhomme in the standings because of his third place plus one point in qualifying.

As it goes right now, the championship is now a three horse race with Arch taking home nine points plus one making it 10 overall, Bonhomme taking 10 points for second place and Nicolas Ivanoff taking the full complement of 12 points. The results of the Final Four are as follows:

Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540: 1:17.21 (TR)
Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540: 1:18.32 (PB) (+1.11)
Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540: 1:19.80 (+2.59)
Peter Besenyei (HUN) - MXS: 1:20.74 (+3.74)

An amazing job from the Frenchman whose last victory was in Perth in 2007. It's been quite a while since he was on the top step of the podium, and with his new set of wings and technical support, Hannes Arch and Paul Bonhomme have realized that this championship won't be a duo but a triumvirate.

Stay tuned for June 13 and 14 when the Red Bull Air Race heads to Canada for the first time. Will Pete McLeod make Canada proud with points or more? Will an MXS take its first win? Will the Americans bounce back? We shall find out in about a month!

It's All Arch in San Diego Qualifying.

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:07:19 -0400

The second stop for the Red Bull Air Race is San Diego and is the home race to three pilots: Kirby Chambliss, Michael Goulian, and Mike Mangold. All of whom wanted to steal the limelight from 2008 world champion and Abu Dhabi winner Hannes Arch.

Sadly for them, that wasn't meant to be.

The two qualifying sessions were held in unpredictable weather as clouds and wind created havoc for all with every pilot having at least one penalty in some form or another. The weather also created delays for getting to Qualifying 2.

Qualifying 1

In the first round of qualifying, the winner was Paul Bonhomme who set a time of 1:21.41, 0.75 of a second faster than Arch who was slapped with a two-second incorrect-level flying (ILF) penalty.

Rookie Matt Hall of Australia, the big surprise in Abu Dhabi, finished 12th after getting a six-second gate touching (TAG) penalty. Mike Mangold was the only pilot in this round who flew a clean race but still wasn't fast enough.

The biggest surprise of Q1 was Yoshi Muroya who was almost a full second in front of Paul Bonhomme at the halfway mark of his run, but two penalties for flying too high (FTH) added four seconds to his time but gave him a respectable 10th place after what happened in Abu Dhabi.

At the bottom was Canadian Pete McLeod who was 18.7 seconds behind Paul Bonhomme! This due to a grand total of eight seconds for a TAG penalty and an incorrect knife edge (IKF).

Overall, the wind conditions were terrible in the first round of qualifying with no pilot being fully in control of the situation around them. These times are not set in stone and they will be compared against the Qualifying 2 times.

Qualifying 2

Qualifying 2 had to be delayed because of the inclement weather, but the show went on at 16:00.

For all the pilots, Q1 was a time to get acquainted with the track and the weather conditions, Q2 is when it gets serious!

Hannes Arch started off the second round and made an impression immediately - a 1:18.42 with no penalties and the course record thus far. As a result, he has taken the one championship point for getting the best time in qualifying. A lot of modifications were made to that Edge 540 and right now, he seems unstoppable!

Paul Bonhomme just couldn't beat that and was just a tad under three seconds too slow.

There was improvement from many. The biggest improvement came from Pete McLeod who managed to better his time by nearly 10 seconds after what was seen as a disastrous first qualifying session.

The biggest loser in the second round though was Yoshi Muroya who took three penalties and a TAG penalty. Alejandro Maclean pulled over-g in his MXS and was disqualified from Q2 as a result.

The highest ranked American was Kirby Chambliss who took a disappointing sixth place overall today.

South African Glen Dell took an overall 10th place today - unfamiliar territory for him and possibly the chance of getting his first points in his one-year old air racing career.

The top six for today is as follows:

Hannes Arch (AUT) - Edge 540
Paul Bonhomme (GBR) - Edge 540
Peter Besenyei (HUN) - MXS
Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) - Edge 540
Nigel Lamb (GBR) - MXS
Kirby Chambliss (USA) - Edge 540

The bottom five tomorrow will have a chance to fight for the top two spots and the privilege of flying in the Top 12. From there, it will be onto the Super 8 round and the Final Four who will fight it out one last time to take the win.

Can the Americans bounce back from this bad run? Can Hannes Arch make it two of two races? Will Paul Bonhomme get back into his groove or will Peter Besenyei steal the show? We shall find out when the racing begins tomorrow at 14:00 local time.

Photography Credit: Bob Martin

Correspondent's Thoughts: Nigel Lamb's Weight Reduction

Sheiban Shakeri — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:56:40 -0400

When at the season-opening round at Abu Dhabi, I went to the Temporary Runway (TRW) at the port of Mina Zayed, where it was the fans getting a chance to meet all 15 pilots and having a chance to see the mighty race planes up close.

One of the main attractions at the TRW, apart from last year's championship protagonists of Hannes Arch and Paul Bonhomme, was a fellow by the name of Nigel Lamb.

Lamb is a world-renowned aerobatics pilot and is most distinguishable by his yellow Breitling-sponsored MXS. He calls it the most beautiful plane on the circuit, and when looking at it, he has a point.

I had met Nigel Lamb twice in Detroit last year where his MXS was still very new. He had acquired it while in San Diego ditching his old MX2. While it was new out of the box, the aircraft had its fair share of kinks and just wasn't producing the same results he would have liked.

In 2008, he wasn't very pleased with it and to add insult to injury, Lamb was disqualified in Detroit after flying too low. Basically, Detroit was a race to forget. Truly, the lowest point and nowhere to go but up.

The aircraft Lamb used in 2008 was a stock-MXS and constant improvements were made on it to bring it down to the minimum weight allowed thus making it go faster.

Nigel Huxtable, or 'Hux', as he's known by team Breitling, has been a pivotal force in getting the weight of the MXS down to the minimum that is allowed. Hux is the team engineer.

In comparison to Lamb's old aircraft, the MX2, the new MXS is nearly 150 pounds (68 kilos) lighter and according to Nigel Lamb's website "probably has 10% more power."

Now, there has been too much focus on the MXS but in Abu Dhabi, when Nigel and I talked at the TRW, I told him that he's changed a bit since we last met. He told me that he slimmed down over the off-season. By his reckoning, about 20 kilos (44 pounds) were lost.

Indeed, Nigel Lamb and the team have trimmed the fat off the MXS to make it a fast and agile aircraft; while Lamb himself made himelf a more trim person in order to tolerate the high-g forces put on the body.

This is just another example that the Red Bull Air Race has become more serious and competitive than just another airshow.

Stay tuned this weekend for San Diego as Nigel and team Breitling take on 14 other competitors in "America's finest city."

You can receive play-by-play updates on twitter via the official Red Bull Air Race profile or through Smoke-On, a Red Bull Air Race fan site

Red Bull Air Race San Diego Introduction

Sheiban Shakeri — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:59:51 -0400

The Red Bull Air Race returns to San Diego for the third time next week at San Diego Bay in-between two great Aircraft Carriers: the USS Midway and the USS Ronald Reagan.

Over there, the 15 best pilots take on each other and a track that has a relatively straight-forward design.

Recap of Abu Dhabi

To recap though, the Abu Dhabi race a fortnight ago saw a new system implemented whereby the five slowest pilots have a chance to fight it out to be the top two fastest and move on into the Top 12. This basically allowed for the slowest to redeem themselves on raceday.

In Abu Dhabi, defending world champion Hannes Arch took the Red Bull Air Race hat trick by winning one point on qualifying day by setting the fastest time, setting the course record on race day, and finally winning the race.

Championship runner-up Paul Bonhomme had to settle for second while Frenchman Nicolas Ivanoff took third place. Nigel Lamb was fourth after what seemed like a hopeful start to his 2009 season just did not pan out.

Further down the field, the Americans Mike Mangold, Kirby Chambliss, and Michael Goulian just had no luck this time. 2007 champion Mangold finished in seventh due in part to a heavy plane while Chambliss finished in ninth. Goulian took no points and finished 14th.

Goulian had some trouble on qualifying day when his onboard computer which recorded g-forces and other such information wasn't connected to the aircraft's antenna. This would enable race control to have all sorts of information delivered to them live.

As a result, Goulian was disqualified from the second qualifying but took part in the Wild Card round.

The rookies were a mixed bag. On the upside, German Matthias Dolderer took his first world championship point beating out sophomore Glen Dell by 0.19 of a second! Dell is still looking for his first points in his air racing career.

Even higher up, Australian Matt Hall impressed everyone by not only making it into the Top 12 on qualifying day, he also made it into the Super 8 round but missed out on the Final Four. The former top gun came fifth overall in his first race!

On the downside, Japanese Yoshi Muroya just couldn't find the speed and ended up in an unlucky 13th place while Canadian Pete McLeod made a "rookie mistake" and hit a pylon.

He ended up making an SCO because there was still parts of the pylon on his wings thus creating a lot of drag for him. He came 15th overall.

Abu Dhabi was an eventful race and set the standard for what the season should look like.

Introduction to San Diego

San Diego Bay is the world's largest naval station with many ships calling it home. The Red Bull Air Race will be taking place in the thick of this area.

The track hasn't changed a lot over the past three years. Even though it lacks a half-Cuban eight, there is still a lot of room to either capitalize or make a mistake.

Starting off is pretty easy as the pilot comes in through the start/finish Breitling gates and encounters the chicane.

Afterwards, the pilot makes a sharp S-turn which puts a lot of g on the body to go through a pair of blue gates horizontally.

He will then make a 180 degree turn into another pair of blue gates located nearby, righting himself almost immediately and head towards the quadro.

The pilot will need to execute the quadro in a knife edge, make a 270-degree right turn to go through the gate again, and get back to the start/finish Breitling gates to do it all again!

The final turn in the lap is a very tough turn to make and Nicolas Ivanoff fell victim to a pylon hit last year.

Even though the high-g half-Cuban is lacking from this track mainly due to the compressed space, San Diego is a technical track to be dealt with. There are different lines and approaches which can be taken so it's not an easy textbook (if there is such a thing) race for the pilots to fly through.

A visual diagram of the track provided by the Red Bull Air Race's website should give an indication as to how difficult San Diego really is.

Will Mike Mangold, the hometown hero, have luck this time around; will Paul Bonhomme make it a hat trick in terms of wins here in California; or will Hannes Arch continue his domination? We shall find out in one week!