Austria’s Arch Wins Australia Red Bull Race

April 19, 2010 — Hannes Arch of Austria won the Red Bull Air Race in Perth, Australia, on Sunday with Matt Hall getting a career-best second place in his home country. Championship leader Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain took third place. Bonhomme retains the overall championship lead with 22 points after the first two races of the 2010 season. Nigel Lamb of Britain, who was fourth on Sunday, is in second place with 18 points. Arch jumps into third place overall with 14 points and Hall moves up to fourth, also on 14 points. Pete McLeod finished fifth, a career-best for the Canadian pilot who struggled during the 2009 season. Nicolas Ivanoff of France, who won the Perth race in 2007, was sixth and Matthias Dolderer of Germany was seventh. It was a disappointing race for Americans Kirby Chambliss and Michael Goulian. Chambliss, who clinched his 2006 world championship in Perth, was in eighth place and Goulian, who was fourth in the season-opener last month in Abu Dhabi, could do no better than 11th place when he sliced open a pylon in the Top 12 round. Arch's triumph in Perth helped erase memories of his disappointing 11th place in Abu Dhabi last month due to a disqualification in the Top 12. “This is definitely the way we're going forward,” said Arch. “Everything starts with vision and this was my vision. I'm very pleased.” “Fantastic result,” said Hall. “This is what I’ve been looking forward to since I started in the Red Bull Air Race – a great performance in front of my home crowd in Australia. I managed to harness the energy as opposed to letting it be converted to stress. It worked out.” Bonhomme, who has now been on the podium for nine straight races going back to the 2008 season, was clearly disappointed. “Third place wasn't planned but we didn't get fourth so that's good,” he said. But besides exciting racing, Perth will also be remembered for the first crash of the Red Bull Air Race series. During a practice run on April 15, Adilson Kindlemann, 36, lost control of his aircraft after rounding a pylon and impacted the Swan River with his wings level and tail first. Rescue crews extracted Kindlemann from the river within a minute; he suffered only minor whiplash. The next race will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 8-9.

The winners of the Red Bull Air Race in Perth pose on the podium with their awards. From left are Matt Hall of Australia, second; Hannes Arch of Austria, first; and Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain, third. Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images for Red Bull Air Race Hannes Arch of Austria in action during the Red Bull Air Race Day on April 18 in Perth, Australia. Photo credit: Paul Kane / Getty Images for Red Bull Air Race Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain took third in the Red Bull Air Race in Perth over the weekend, but he still maintains his first place status in the overall world championship standings. Photo credit: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images for Red Bull Air Race

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