On to Detroit!

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MANGOLD LEADS PACK NARROWING IN ON BONHOMME

The Red Bull Air Race World Series has tightened at the top heading to the third race of the season in Detroit (31 May/1 June) even though Britain’s Paul Bonhomme made it two-for-two with victories in the first two races. Bonhomme was a dominant force in Abu Dhabi and was threatening to run away with the championship after losing last year’s title by a fraction of a second to American Mike Mangold. But Mangold, Kirby Chambliss and Austria’s Hannes Arch were hot on Bonhomme’s heels in San Diego and cut his margin of victory from more than six seconds in Abu Dhabi to under a second in San Diego.

“A lot of people have been saying to me ‘It’s a done deal’ but it’s not at all,” said Bonhomme. “It’s really hard work. We’ve got a few weeks until Detroit and we can’t let up at all. To keep up with the improvements these other guys are making you have to run just to stand still. Believe me, it’s hard work.”

Bonhomme, who nevertheless leads the championship with 18 points from two races, had to pull out all stops to beat Mangold (second with 15 points) in the final in San Diego after the defending champion sent the big home crowd into a frenzy with a superb time of 1:17.74 in his semi-final victory over Arch (third with 14 points).

The 67,000 spectators in San Diego, aware that Mangold’s time was a mere 0.20 seconds behind Bonhomme’s very good Semi Final time in his victory moments earlier over Chambliss, sensed an upset in the making and were up on their feet cheering the final. In the end, Bonhomme prevailed against Mangold with a time of 1:18.01.

But the time sheet provided clear evidence that the gap at the top has narrowed dramatically. Mangold had actually posted a faster Semi Final time than Bonhomme’s time in the final while Arch was just 0.03 slower in his Semi Final and Chambliss a mere 0.37 slower. In short, the days of Bonhomme dominance appear to be over.

“It is getting closer,” Bonhomme agreed, breathing hard and covered in sweat after the race. “It’s going to make the rest of the year interesting.”

Mangold said he hoped to get back on top soon: “We got a couple of weeks before Detroit. We got a few things we can try to go faster but nothing major. We got to catch this thing. He’s got a fast plane. He’s a great pilot. But we’ll improve what we can. We need to go faster.”

To the relief of the other 11 pilots, Bonhomme was also beaten in both Friday training sessions – the first time in 2008 that he was at the top of the time sheets. Bonhomme brushed off questions about sub-par training runs, arguing he was only experimenting with his aileron. He also got hit with an exceptionally rare 3-second penalty in training.

“That was the good news in San Diego,” said Britain’s Steve Jones, who won Sunday’s Point One competition. “That was essential that Bonhomme was stopped. We were all a bit worried he was going to run away with it. We’re all gaining on him.”