Round 5: Porto, Portugal
Sept. 13, 2009
 The fifth of six races this season was held in Porto, Portugal on Sept. 13. British Pilot, Paul Bonhomme takes the victory, and after his 2nd place finish in Budapest,and the 1 point he picked up here in qualifying, he improves his lead in the Championships to 4 points over last year's Champion Hannes Arch. Once again, Australian Rookie Matt Hall hit another milestone in his career with his first podium by taking third behind Arch and vaulting into 3rd place in the Championships.
 A big problem here in Porto is the existence of a large number of seagulls in and around the race course. To deter their presence during the races, Red Bull has hired a group of Predatory birds to keep things under control during the week of practice and racing. A group of 9 Falcons and Hawks (4 Falcons and 5 Hawks) are controlling the airspace around the runway. Two of the birds are trained killers, and will do just that to let the seagulls know they mean business, the other 7 birds are trained to scare and disturb the seagulls without harming them. Just another example of Red Bull's commitment to safety.
The crowd of 720,000 watched Bonhomme clock a 1:09:23 on his final run to clip Arch by .94 seconds over the 6.6km, 17 gate course set up over the Douro River in Downtown Porto. This marks the second victory for Bonhomme this season to make him the first repeat winner of 2009. However a 4 point lead going into the final race is not much cushion considering the winner receives 13. The final race in Barcelona should be a real dog fight.
All the pilots were somewhat behind the eight ball as practice on Thursday and Friday had to be canceled due to severe fog. Bonhomme credits a recent engine change for the extra speed, as he already had 3 second places and a victory with the old setup, this could be bad news for the rest of the field in Race 6. After having lost the Championship in the very end of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Paul is very eager and excited to be heading for his possible first Red Bull crown.
The final round shootout in Barcelona will be Oct 4.
GO HERE for all the news and pictures.
|
Today in Aviation History -
March 10, 1910... The first flight at night is made by Frenchman Emile Aubrun in Argentina on a Bleriot airplane. Aubrun makes two flights in the dark, each about 20 km from Buenos Aires and back again.
___________________________
Free paper planes for the kids
www.funpaperairplanes.com www.paperairplanes.co.uk/ www.bestpaperairplanes.com/
www.amazingpaperairplanes.com/
www.10paperairplanes.com/
___________________________
Aviation Weather Links
www.nws.noaa.gov/
www.noaa.gov/wx.html
http://maps.avnwx.com/
www.usairnet.com/weather/
  |
