Hungary’s Peter Besenyei edged past Britain’s Paul Bonhomme in a spine-tingling Red Bull Air Race showdown at Monument Valley in the United States on Saturday, flying through an obstacle course just 30 feet above the rugged terrain of the iconic Western setting that made John Wayne famous. Besenyei, who picked up his second victory of the season, had a winning time of 59.87 seconds, beating Bonhomme by 0.97 seconds. But Team Matador’s Bonhomme managed to hold onto first place in the overall championship with 15 points, just one point ahead of Team Red Bull’s Besenyei, after the third of the 11 Red Bull Air Race World Series races this year.
“I knew I would have to put in a major effort if I wanted to win and I did,” said a beaming Besenyei, who also won the season opener at Abu Dhabi on 6 April but finished fifth on 21 April at Rio de Janeiro.
“I’m very happy. I was lucky today. I didn’t make any big mistakes. If you make a mistake, you’re out of the game.” Bonhomme, who remained calm enough to take a half-hour nap just before the race, also pronounced himself pleased – it was his third straight podium finish after taking first at Rio and third at Abu Dhabi. “I’m pleased with the season. But it’s going to be hard to stay on top.”
In the rarified desert altitude 5,200 feet above sea level, Besenyei and Bonhomme put in the most consistent performances in the difficult conditions of the thin air all through the knock-out rounds on Saturday and they each had to get past a former American champion in the semi-finals – Besenyei beat 2006 title holder Kirby Chambliss and Bonhomme got past 2005 winner Mike Mangold.
Bonhomme’s Team Matador team-mate Steve Jones escaped injury in the quarter-finals after crashing heavily into an Air Gate just a few feet above the ground, an incident that left his plane slightly damaged and forced him to retire. Besenyei completed his flawless run at speeds up to 250 mph and forces of up to 10G through the spectacular eight Air Gate course straddling the Utah-Arizona border at the Navajo Tribal Park. In the consolation race for third place, Mangold beat Chambliss. The next stop is in Istanbul, Turkey on 1 and 2 June.
Last year there were more than six million spectators at eight races. Monument Valley has served as a backdrop for scores of films and commercials over the last half century. The awe-inspiring vistas have been included in films from John Wayne’s 1938 classic “Stagecoach” and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” to Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and “Thelma and Louise”. Even Tom Hanks halted his long cross-country run in front of the red-hued buttes of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
