Chambliss Beats Bonhomme in Detroit

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Kirby Chambliss (USA) beat Paul Bonhomme (GBR) in a spectacular Red Bull Air Race World Series battle in Detroit on Sunday in front of a crowd of 750,000 U.S. and Canadian spectators lined up along the banks of the Detroit River. Chambliss was clocked in a winning time of 1:12.08, just 0.15 seconds faster than Bonhomme (1:12.23) in the third race of the 10-stop 2008 World Series. The Brit still leads the championship. But Chambliss has proven he can be beaten.

“It worked out fairly well,” said Chambliss “I went crazy and went out as fast as I could fly. I know Paul’s going to put down a fast time. He’s got a fast airplane. I don’t know whether he went just a little bit conservative or something. But I’ll take the win.”

Hannes Arch of Austria took third with a clean run and a time of 1:12.73 beating Mike Mangold (1:15.44) in the 3rd Place Fly-Off. Arch, who joined the World Series just last season, is clearly no rookie now having come second in the first race in Abu Dhabi, fourth in San Diego and now has another podium position in Detroit.

Racing in Detroit was hampered by heavy winds that forced the cancellation of the Qualifying sessions on Saturday. But the 12 pilots more than made up for that with one of the most breathtaking and exciting races seen to date, with pilots bettering the previous time in almost every run.

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Chambliss shows Bonhomme beatable ahead of Europe leg

The Red Bull Air Race World Series moves on to Europe for the fourth race of the season in Stockholm after Britain’s Paul Bonhomme widened his lead at the top to a five-point margin despite not winning the race in Detroit on 1 June. Even though American Kirby Chambliss beat Bonhomme in a thrilling final, the Brit still collected 8 points for second to climb to 26 World Series points and move further ahead of Hannes Arch of Austria and American Mike Mangold – third (7 points) and fourth (6), respectively. It is a four-man race with Arch, Chambliss and Mangold now in a three-way draw for second with 21 points each.

“They’re all my rivals now,” said Bonhomme, who could not conceal his disappointment about the defeat that ended his winning streak after dominating the field in the first two 2008 races in Abu Dhabi and San Diego. But Bonhomme was pleased to be taking a 5-point lead with him in his luggage to Stockholm on 5 and 6 July for the start of the six-race European segment of the 10-race season. The other 11 pilots were relieved that Chambliss, who flew brilliantly above the Detroit River in front of 750,000 spectators watching from both the U.S. and Canada side of the international border, had proven Bonhomme is beatable.

“There were only fractions of a second separating us,” said Chambliss, the 2006 World Champion now back in the hunt for the 2008 World Series title after picking up 9 points for the win in Detroit. “I let it hang out in the final, as hard as I could.”

Mangold, who just beat Bonhomme by fractions of a second in the 2007 World Series, is hoping for a revival of his fortunes again on the European leg. Mangold also trailed Bonhomme a year ago when the Red Bull Air Race World Series moved on to Europe. Mangold then won three of the five European races to move just ahead of Bonhomme.

“I’m looking forward to going back to Europe,“ Mangold said. “The good thing about getting away from home is that there is less distraction. In Europe you can settle in and focus on racing.”