Nicolas Ivanoff of France won the second Red Bull Air Race World Championship of the season in San Diego on Sunday 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 in front of 55,000 spectators watching the race over San Diego Bay under bright blue skies 1.11 seconds behind Ivanoff. 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.

Rank	Name	Nation	Rnd.	Time	Diff	Points
1	Ivanoff Nicolas	FRA	 F4	1:17.21	Â	12
2	Bonhomme Paul	GBR	 F4	1:18.32	 + 1.11	10
3	Arch Hannes	AUT	 F4	1:19.80	 + 2.59	10
4	Besenyei Peter	HUN	 F4	1:20.74	 + 3.53	8
5	Hall Matt	AUS	 S8	1:20.38	Â	7
6	Lamb Nigel	GBR	 S8	1:21.00	 + 0.62	6
7	Mangold Mike	USA	 S8	1:21.63	 + 1.25	5
8	Rakhmanin Sergey	RUS	 S8	1:23.53	 + 3.15	4
9	Dell Glen	RSA	 T12	1:25.00	Â	3
10	Maclean Alejandro	ESP	 T12	1:25.39	 + 0.39	2
11	Muroya Yoshihide	JPN	 T12	1:31.16	 + 6.16	1
12	Chambliss Kirby	USA	 T12	DSQ	Â	0
13	Dolderer Matthias	GER	 WCD	1:25.25	Â	0
14	Goulian Michael	USA	 WCD	1:26.22	 + 0.97	0
15	McLeod Pete	CAN	 WCD	1:33.09	 + 7.84	0

 

World Championship Standings 2009

Rank	Name	Nation	Points
1	Arch Hannes	AUT	23
2	Ivanoff Nicolas	FRA	21
3	Bonhomme Paul	GBR	20
4	Lamb Nigel	GBR	14
5	Hall Matt	AUS	14
6	Besenyei Peter	HUN	10
7	Rakhmanin Sergey	RUS	10
8	Mangold Mike	USA	10
9	Maclean Alejandro	ESP	6
10	Chambliss Kirby	USA	3
11	Dell Glen	RSA	3
12	Dolderer Matthias	GER	1
13	Muroya Yoshihide	JPN	1
14	Goulian Michael	USA	0
15	McLeod Pete	CAN	0

Source: Red Bull
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