Bonhomme Back on Top

San Diego, California – September 24, 2007 – He celebrated before the race with a giant birthday cake and high-spirited ceremony with other Red Bull Air Race pilots who also had September birthdays. But that paled to the celebration that took place afterward when Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain took first place in the Red Bull Air Race World Series race in San Diego. Getting the ultimate birthday present on his 43rd birthday, Bonhomme regained his first-place spot in the overall series standings with 45 points, as American Mike Mangold dropped back to second with 43 points. Bonhomme beat out American Kirby Chambliss for the top honors in the San Diego race with a time of 1:23.80, just 1.11 seconds ahead of Chambliss. Nigel Lamb took third in the race, while Mangold was knocked out in the quarterfinals, taking fifth place. "It was the last race of the day and I went for it," Bonhomme said. "I was concentrating hard and looking at all the tactics that the other people have been using and it paid off. It helps enormously to be relaxed. That’s the key." Bonhomme arrived in San Diego earlier than he has at any other race. “Normally, I arrive on Tuesday in a blaze of jet lag and run around like an idiot for three days,” he said. “But I got down here last Friday and I’ve been chilling out. I had a lovely weekend. I did a bit of jet-skiing, sat on the beach a bit and I've been enjoying myself. I think it’s helped enormously. I’m far more relaxed than usual.” Chambliss said he had a “really good run” in the final. “I couldn’t have done much more than that. Paul was awesome. He’s got a good bird. Overall I had a good week. We’ll make some more improvements, work on it a little bit and hope for the best in Perth.” Lamb, too, said it was a good race. "It was the best result for me in the last two years. We've just had a lot of changes to the airplane. It’s a beautifully handling machine now. I’m very, very pleased." Mangold, however, wasn’t as pleased with his performance. “He’s on. I’m not. It’s not a very good position to be in. We did the best we could under the circumstances we’re flying under here. We’ll just have to regroup and see what happens down there in Perth.” The last race of the season will be held Nov. 4 in Perth, Australia. World Series Standings Place Pilot Points 1 Paul Bonhomme 45 2 Mike Mangold 43 3 Peter Besenyei 31 4 Kirby Chambliss 27 5 Steve Jones 17 6 Alejandro Maclean 13 7 Nigel Lamb 5 8 Hannes Arch 3 9 Frank Versteegh 3 10 Michael Goulian 1 11 Nicolas Ivanoff 12 Sergey Rakhmanin 0 13 Klaus Schrodt 0		Red Bull Air Racer Paul Bonhomme turns sharply past one of the many pylons marking the race course. Bonhomme took first place in this past weekend’s races held in San Diego, Calif. Photo credit: (c)Daniel Grund /Red Bull Photofiles Kirby Chambliss in action at the Red Bull Air Races. Chambliss earned second place honors in the weekend’s races. He is currently fourth in the overall standings. Photo credit: (c) Daniel Grund /Red Bull Photofiles. Photo credit: (c) Daniel Grund /Red Bull Photofiles.
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		Paul Bonhomme Red Bull Air Race Series Mike Mangold San Diego Perth Australia

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