Sunday’s race over Kazan, Russia, marked the completion of Kirby’s 90th race in his air racing career, only two races shy of participating in every event. With success in the Kazan each year since its debut, the team was looking to continue that trend.
The results of yesterday’s qualifying round set Kirby head-to-head with Francois Le Vot. Kirby, first to fly, laid down the fastest time he had flown all week with a time of 1:03.089. However, a two-second penalty for an incorrect level resulted in a final time of 1:05:089. Even without the penalty, Le Vot’s time of 1:03.023 was enough to progress him through to the Round of 8 and ended the day for Team Chambliss.
“We’ve struggled a bit this race, so I knew I needed to do everything I could to put the pressure on Francois [Le Vot]. In doing that, I made a mistake and got a penalty,” remarked Kirby. “We’ve had many successes over the years and a few failures here and there. Unfortunately, this race fell in the latter. I never really got a good feeling about this track for some reason. I’m not sure why; the gate positions are the same as last year when we finished third. We’re disappointed to not be carrying home a trophy, but we’re going to give it all we have for Balaton and Chiba. “
The 2019 Red Bull Air Race World Championship will resume in Balaton, Hungary, on July 13-14.
Kazan Race Results:
- 1. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 25
- 2. Matt Hall (AUS) 22
- 3. Martin Sonka (CZE) 20 +2
- 4. Francois Le Vot (FRA) 18 +1
- 5. Ben Murphy (GBR) 14
- 6. Christian Bolton (CHI) 13
- 7. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) 12
- 8. Mika Brageot (FRA) 11 +3
- 9. Pete McLeod (CAN) 5
- 10. Michael Goulian (USA) 4
- 11. Juan Velarde (ESP) 3
- 12. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 2
- 13. Petr Kopfstein (CZE) 1
- 14. Matthias Dolderer (GER) 0
Current World Championship Standings:
- 1. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 53
- 2. Martin Sonka (CZE) 44
- 3. Matt Hall (AUS) 36
- 4. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) 30
- 5. Mika Brageot (FRA) 26
- 6. Michael Goulian (USA) 25
- 7. Francois Le Vot (FRA) 21
- 8. Juan Velarde (ESP) 16
- 9. Ben Murphy (GBR) 15
- 10. Christian Bolton (CHI) 13
- 11. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 13
- 12. Pete McLeod (CAN) 10
- 13. Petr Kopfstein (CZE) 5
- 14. Matthias Dolderer (GER) 3
For more information, visit www.redbullairrace.com.
