SAN DIEGO: Nicolas Ivanoff of France won the second Red Bull Air Race World Championship of the season in San Diego with a superb run in the finals while championship leader Hannes Arch of Austria fell to third after suffering a bird strike that tore a grapefruit-sized hole on the back of his plane.
Britain's Paul Bonhomme took second place, 1.11 seconds behind Ivanoff, in front of 55,000 spectators watching the race over San Diego Bay under bright blue skies.
Ivanoff's victory narrowed the championship race considerably after two races with Arch (23 points) still ahead of Ivanoff (21) and Bonhomme (20). Australia's rookie sensation Matt Hall had another outstanding race, taking fifth place for the second consecutive race while America's Mike Mangold (7th), Kirby Chambliss (12th) and Michael Goulian (14th) were far off the pace.
"This is really nice," said Ivanoff, who threw his fists into the air in celebration after climbing out of his new Edge 540.
Explosive flying from Ivanoff in both the Super 8 and Final 4 proved that he is a force to be reckoned with. It was only the second career victory for Ivanoff, who won the final race of the 2007 season in Perth, Australia.
Arch, who had won a maximum 13 points in the first race and picked up another point by posting the fastest qualifying time on Saturday, had the speed to win on Sunday and was just ahead of Ivanoff at the first interval. Arch said he was startled by the bird hit and was then unable to properly level his wings through the next Air Gate. It was a costly two-second penalty that dropped him behind both Ivanoff and Bonhomme.
Bonhomme, who had won in San Diego in both the last two years, was not pleased about getting second place again after finishing behind Arch both in Abu Dhabi as well as in the 2008 championship.
"I'm not a second place kind of guy and I'm getting pretty fed up with being second."
