Kirby Chambliss (1st) flew consistently fast in both Qualifying rounds to take the top spot and the all-important championship point for the fastest time. His newly-tuned engine is performing well and giving the former world champion the power he was able to first exploit in Windsor. “We had really, really crummy engines before – 280hp and everybody else was 50hp ahead of us,” said Chambliss. “We’ve still got more to do and we know we can pick up fractions of a second here and there. We’re not quite where we want to be but it was a good time today.”
Hannes Arch (2nd) was disappointed that he was unable to convert his dominant performance in Tuesday’s final training session into a championship point in Qualifying but the Austrian nevertheless found solace in the fact that Britain’s Paul Bonhomme, just one point behind in the championship, was also unable to beat Chambliss. “I tried to get the one point so I’m not super happy about that,” he said. “But I’m happy that Paul didn’t get the point either. Considering I made two big mistakes on the track I had a pretty fast time. I know there’s potential to go faster. Kirby did only one fast time but he’s not very consistent. I don’t think he can fly that fast again. And if he does, I can beat him.”
Matt Hall (3rd) shook the competition up further with an astonishing third place position in the Qualifying rounds. The Australian rookie had a moment for reflection in between his two runs after he pulled too hard in the third vertical turn. “I lost concentration for a moment and pulled too hard in the vertical turning manoeuvre. It broke in the stall and I had to unload the wing, losing speed, which probably cost me at least two seconds. But I learned from it, clean run second time round and I’m pretty happy with that. I can fly straight into the Top 12 tomorrow.”
Matthias Dolderer (4th) was delighted with the best performance of his career, confirming his strong training results on Tuesday with two solid Qualifying runs without penalties. “I’m super pleased and super happy that it worked out so well today,” said the German rookie, who was cheered on by 148 fans who flew to Budapest on a charter flight. “My airplane’s working really nice. We did some mods to the engine and the plane is a lot lighter than before. I made a few mistakes in training and I tried to adjust my mental preparation. It worked out really well.”
Nicolas Ivanoff (5th) was a bit baffled about his inability to duplicate his strong 2nd place finish in training on Tuesday. “I wasn’t able to start with a good speed and a good feeling,” Ivanoff said. “The speed was so different between yesterday and today. I hope to have a better start tomorrow. My goal is to be in the top 8. Otherwise, I won’t be happy.” Ivanoff, who won in San Diego but fell to 9th in Windsor, admitted he is having an erratic season. “Sometimes I’m having problems with concentration,” he said.
Paul Bonhomme (6th) was clearly relieved that Arch did not win the Qualifying point and philosophical about his unusually error-filled performance. “I’m very happy that Kirby got the one point,” he said. The Brit, eager to overtake Arch at the top of the championship, got hit with a pair of 2-second penalties. The normally smooth-flying Bonhomme, who went through the entire 2007 season without hitting a single pylon, could not himself remember ever getting two penalties in one run before. “We’re having a bit of an up and down week,” he said. “Let’s hope tomorrow’s an up. I think the judges were suddenly stricter today. I probably rolled a bit early in Gate 2 and Gate 12. They were probably right. But I suspect we were all doing that yesterday in training and they didn’t penalise that. You get used to a certain way of flying.” Bonhomme said the pressure was on Arch: “Hannes can go take a running jump with that point (going to Kirby)”.
Michael Goulian (7th) had plenty to smile about after a great Qualifying round. His 1:12:86 in Q1 appeared to be an indication of the extra power his Edge is putting out following his engine upgrade. “I pushed a little harder in the second run to explore the course but had a few penalties but we are looking forward to Race Day and confidence is high,” said Goulian, who added that the whole team was feeling particularly upbeat after the promising results earlier in the week.
Peter Besenyei (8th) showed his home crowd why he is such a sporting hero by securing a place in the Top 10. His penalty-free 1:13:43 run in Qualifying 2 made up for an earlier poor run with a penalty and disqualification for crossing the crowd line. “The first run was OK until the DSQ but my second run was faster so I’m happy,” said the Hungarian pilot, who gave fans a big smile from the cockpit. “The main task for today was to be in the Top 10 to be sure of a place tomorrow.”
Mke Mangold (9th) won’t have to battle it out in the Wild Card round after just managing to stay inside the Top 10. Posting a clean 1:14:13, the Californian improved on his first attempt which included a late penalty for incorrect knife-edge at Gate 15. “We don’t want to make any mistakes and we’re slowly creeping back up to form,” said the two-time world champion. “Nothing’s for sure round here,” he added. “Maybe they’ll weigh the plane and find out we’re too light.”
Alejandro Maclean (10th) suffered a pylon hit in Qualifying 1 which left him with a hopeless time of 1:23:16 but remedied the problem second time around. “The style of flying has improved but we have to catch up with the times. We always have different strategies for the two runs. You can go for everything and aim for the best and then go conservatively if it doesn’t work out,” said the Spaniard, who will automatically fly in tomorrow’s Top 12 round. Happy to not have to battle it out in the Wild Card round, Maclean pointed out that sometimes the extra go in the track can be useful. “I don’t see it as such a bad thing but there is always the chance that three guys will fly better than you. It could work to your advantage if you can make it through.”
Nigel Lamb (11th) will have to fight for a place to race tomorrow in the Wild Card round for the first time this season after he failed to make it through to the Top 12, only posting a 1:14:53 in Qualifying. It’s a tough blow for the British pilot who had pinned his hopes of success on some new technical mods which have failed to deliver. “I thought I flew pretty well but I’m so far off the pace that it’s extremely disappointing,” said Lamb. “We’ve got some power output issues and aeroplane operating issues but that’s not necessarily the reason but it is incredibly distracting. We’re going to reverse some processes back in England. My aim now is to make it into the Super 8s tomorrow.”
Pete McLeod (12th) showed strong progress in the track during Qualifying after incurring a penalty in the first run leaving him with a slow 1:19. The Canadian rookie shaved off a few seconds on his second run however and was feeling upbeat with his result despite having a slow Edge. “We had a great second run, regardless of penalties. I think I settled in and I felt a lot better in the track on the second one. The 1:14:77 is great for us based on what we’ve run all week so far,” said McLeod.
Glen Dell (13th) caught the judges’ eye in his first run and was disqualified for flying towards the crowd line. “I don’t think I actually went over the crowd line but rather the trajectory was going in that direction,” said the South African pilot afterwards. Dell’s penalty-free second run was a big improvement but wasn’t enough to guarantee him a place in tomorrow’s Top 12 so he will have to race in the Wild Card round. “I think there are certain parts of the track here that make it easier than some – the Quadro can be a problem for a lot of people. Not having one here is a bit of a bonus,” he added.
Yoshi Muroya (14th) said he’d been cautious in the track in an attempt to focus on scoring a clean run – which he managed second time around. The rookie from Japan posted a 1:15:38 but plans to shave off a second or two in tomorrow’s rounds. “I was trying to fly safely and so went slowly today, he explained. “I was just trying to not get any penalties and that was my aim today. Tomorrow I’ll be going a bit faster.”
Sergey Rakhmanin (15th) is struggling to make headway with the replacement engine he’s using in his MXS-R. The Russian pilot suffered a DSQ in his first run for approaching the crowd line and was unable to post a competitive time on the subsequent flight. “The first run was faster but I was disqualified,” he said. “The decision is probably right but I can’t see this line from the aeroplane. The second was slower but no disqualification. Don’t ask me to make a prediction for tomorrow.”
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