Off to a Flying Start
He was fastest in all training sessions earlier in the week. He was fastest in Thursday’s qualifying. And (you guessed it), Britain’s Paul Bonhomme was the fastest pilot in the Super Eights, crushing Austria’s Hannes Arch by more than seven seconds to claim Friday’s opening round of the Red Bull Air World Series in Abu Dhabi.
Some 250,000 spectators sat through sweltering heat on the windswept course above the Arabian Gulf to watch the 43-year-old Bonhomme, in his new Edge 540, demoralize the other 11 pilots throughout training, qualifying and the race.
Arch earned second place, his highest finish ever after upsetting former teammate Mike Mangold in the semifinal. Mangold, the defending Air Race champion, won the third-place flyoff against Hungary’s Peter Besenyei.
Up next for the Red Bull Air Race World Series is the North American swing — May 3-4 in San Diego and May 31-June 1 in Detroit.
Visit www.redbullairrace.com.
posted by Bull Rider at 8:04 AM
29 Comments:
How soon will it be when we can get our NEW Red Bull merchandise off Brian's website? It says to get your order in to get the best selection of gear and Brian will sign a picture.....you can't order off the site yet!
Can anyone from RBR give us an up date?
Just read that Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, and Kurt Busch will be doing the Indy Goodyear tire test.
go to puma.com and search for red bull. you won't get specific BV merch but they have very cool Red Bull Racing stuff.
Brian Vickers will be on Trackside in 2 weeks at Talladega, along with Carl Edwards.
=D
On the merchandise thread -- we were very disappointed that the Red Bull merchandise trailer is not at the Phoenix race this weekend. We had orders from friends and family and were ready to buy. We hear the online store will be available soon.
Good luck to both Red Bull teams today. Have a safe, fast race.
WooHoo! I'll be at Talladega. Thanks for letting us know Curt. Now I have something else to look foward too on Friday.
Good luck tonight at PIR BV, Mike, and RBR.
We Believe!
http://www.chatzy.com/468935431387
chat room for phoenix race. cya there.
Well Skinners a lap down agian. Cant wait to see A.J. back in the car!
chat room is still up........
lap 180 and I'm really getting tired of Hamlins stupid crew chief decisions leaving Vickers out, every sitcking time, I'm gettin tired og this guy real quick, Red Bull, please throw some serious cash at Robbie Riser, he is killing himself for a new gig, and he would help Vickers big time, all Brian needs is a top notch crief. Hamlin is just not the guy, he has some very questionable choices so far in 08, lest get Riser NOW!!!!!!!!
Paul
Track position is why Hamlin's been keeping BV out. Unfortunately, when you go that route, you sacrifice fresh tires and adjustments that could help the car. I've been listening to BV on trackpass the whole race & he hasn't been arguing the calls to stay out.
You have to take gambles during the race especially if you qualify back in the 30's like the 83 team has been doing and sometimes those gambles don't work out but when they do you will be praising Hamlin that he is a genius.
no crap on getting track position, but I don't get taking 2 tires when your pitting in 23 and come out 15th, fall back to 29th get 1 lap down when he could have changed 4 came back out in 23-25 with 4 fresh tires and not fell deep. Staying out when the field pits with 12 lap cars that pit, and you think your going to hold position with 25 lap tires, lets get real guys, we fans are not that stupid. Sooooo frustrated now that were not better then some of the scrubs that are finishing or running better than the 83, look at the whole deal, the 83 really hasn't run good this year, just had good finishes, that is good, but we need to get the 83 running better, latlet the finishes are showing us not running and qualifing well.
Paul
Paul
Yeah ok Amzy...nice job talking crap about Skinner. You will get your wish next week with AJ, and we will see how great he is...I doubt you will even make the show. Skinner finished 28th, a couple behind Vickers. Not too bad, AND he made EVERY race he attempted to qualify at.
Paul,
Maybe they took two tires because they were banking on a caution in about 15 to 20 laps....everybody would have pitted again for tires....and he may have gained 7 or 8 spots with that move, had he held position. thats 7 or 8 more cars he wouldnt have had to pass again ;)
and just thinking.....maybe the 83 and 84 had similar set-ups this week? I heard Skinner saying RBR was building more in-house chassis. maybe they both gave them equal cars this week, though skinner said the 83 is obviously focusing on race-setup while they do qual setups. maybe the 84 used the 83 race set-up given how close together they finished? BV feel to 20th in points, and the 84 is 40th in owner points, chipping away at 35th poistion, only 111 points behind now, was like 140 points before the race. Good Job Mike! I'm ready to see AJ back in the car in 2 weeks!!!
I agree with Paul. it was a very bad idea to take a stupid gamble (especially at the early stage of the race when the track is changing) instead of taking 4 tires and dailing in the car. that hurt the #83 real bad. one stupid call. I just hate it when a crew chief does that to BV because I know it has NEVER worked for Vickers before. I remember well from the Peter Sospenso and Lance McGrew days with the #25 car.
and good job by the #84 team, good call by Rick Viers to take a gamble on fuel. 22nd place finish helps a lot. I can't wait for AJ to be back at Dega.
BV fell to 20th, but he's actually closer to 12th in points, thanks to Newman having a very bad points day. BV is 87 points behind 12th. BV was 128 points behind 12th before Phoenix.
Hey Skinners a great driver, but all hes done is qualify good and then race bad. When did he finish on the lead lap? 0 times, Skinners great in the trucks but not in cup anymore. Why not have him qualify which almost guarentees a spot and then have A.J. race (if you can do that im not sure, but its done when drivers are away or sick so)
After looking at the driver standings from Jayski, ESPN and Fox, all three have BV in a three way tie with Ragan and Labonte having the same points at 834. NASCAR.com has Ragan and BV at 828 and Labonte at 834.
It looks like a tight race within this group of drivers. Hopefully there are notes from last years Dega race so we can get better qualifying position and have a good finish.
The staying out decision was pretty stupid.
I would have pitted with about 30 to go and made up a ton of ground on fresh tires while everyone else was riding around on older rubber. If these crew chiefs would watch Formula 1, it would be much more interesting.
Amzy - if you have one driver qualify, then another take ove, the car has to start at the back of the pack per NASCAR's rules. The only real gain is making the race. Don't get me wrong, that is VERY important, but I'll take a good starting position over starting at the back any day. Plus, the trucks won't be racing at some of the same tracks, so Skinner couldn't do that anyway (i.e. - Trucks at Kansas in 2 weeks, Cup at Talladega same weekend, Trucks at Mansfield, OH, while Cup is in Charlotte for Coke 600). Yes, thay have done that with sick/injured drivers, have the substitute qualify and the regular driver take over on race day, but they had to start at the back as if there had been an engine change or whatnot.
Nice idea, though, but the logistics of it all won't cooperate.
KCMO
Suzie, Maybe you should watch more Nascar. If they pit with 30 to go they would have lost 2 laps at least. As for the calls, that is what you have to do for track poition when you qualify bad...The cautions just did not fall right. If just one of them had, Hamlin looks like a genius. ...Hindsight... But to his credit he even said that the last call was wrong and he screwed up. Was listening all race and BV did not once question any strategy.
Everyone has to look at it this way the 83 did not have any luck on their side on Saturday but remember a few weeks ago when the 83 was saved from going a lap down by the free pass or a caution coming out at just the right time.
Hopefully its the 83 team's time for good luck when we go to Talladega in two week
Thanks KCMO even if they have to start at the back it would be a good idea for some races that Skinner doenst have schedualing conflicts. Theyd be in races and A.J. is a better racer then Qualifier. It would be a good idea for tracks that A.J. doesnt have much experance on? Oh well On to Dega where toyota has a crap load of power! B.V. And A.J. in the top 10 baby!!
They can't just switch drivers to switch drivers. NASCAR has to be notified of the switch, and they deem it okay. Duh!
Oops! I forgot about NASCAR having to approve of the change. Plus, here's another thought to the whole driver change thing - it's not really fair to the person who qualified the car. Either way, it's highly likely that's not going to happen.
KCMO
It wont happen but hey its just an idea.
"AJ is a better racer then qualifier" LOLOLOL
Yeah, let's just let Skinner qualify the car, so AJ can race it? You people crack me up. The only thing that kid has going for him is his name, that's it. Skinner is a better driver then AJ..it aint even close. The reason Skinner has struggled in the race is the team is struggling in race trim.
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