Nicolas Ivanoff Soars Past Competition to Claim Victory at Red Bull Air Race in San Diego

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - May 10, 2009) - More than 100,000 fans looked to the skies this weekend as the Red Bull Air Race World Championship descended on San Diego. Fifteen of the world's top pilots battled it out through the San Diego Bay race track, reaching speeds of 230 mph in their race planes. The competiton's intensity increased as the week progressed, reaching its pinnacle in the Final 4 when a bird strike on Hannes Arch's last run kept him from overtaking Nicolas Ivanoff's best time.

Ivanoff's victory came during a race many predicted to be a showdown between reigning Red Bull Air Race World Champion Hannes Arch and two-time San Diego race winner Paul Bonhomme. The Qualifying rounds supported this prediction, with Arch posting the fastest time and Bonhomme placing a close second. But on race day, Ivanoff was able to post the weekend's fastest time to secure victory.

San Diego's renown "May gray" put an early damper on the week, with a low cloud ceiling causing delays and the eventual cancellation of Friday's training sessions. But the weather cleared on Saturday, and the pilots took to the track for two highly competitve Qualifying sessions. Hannes Arch emerged the victor, posting a time of 1:18.42, 1.2 seconds faster than Paul Bonhomme.

Moving into race day, the two favorites Bonhomme and Arch reached the Final 4 and were pitted against the ever-consistent Peter Besenyei and eventual winner Nicolas Ivanoff. A tightly contested battle concluded with Ivanoff posting the fastest race time of the event at 1:17:21. Arch, who was positioned to take first place, experienced a bird strike on Gate 4 which pushed him off his line and caused him to recieve an Incorrect Knife Flight penalty at Gate 5, thus stunting his record-setting pace. Arch finished with a time of 1:19:80, a mere 2.59 seconds behind Ivanoff's first place time.

"I was a little scared coming into this race because the track layout is so tight and the pylons come at you so fast," said Ivanoff. "But we've been training for this, and although we made some early mistakes, we were able to correct them, allowing us to post the fastest time."

The win, in conjunction with his 3rd place finish in Abu Dhabi on April 17 and 18, gives Ivanoff 21 points in the overall Red Bull Air Race World Championship standings, putting him in second place, just behind Arch with 23 points. Paul Bonhomme rounds out the top three with 20 Championship Points.

Sunday's exciting finale was the end to several days full of race activities. The week started out with the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies game where pilot Kirby Chambliss threw the world's slowest fastball as the ceremonial first pitch. Padres fans were also treated to a skydiving performance by the Red Bull Air Force, a premier team of aerial athletes. On Thursday evening NFL player Reggie Bush hosted the official Red Bull Air Race party at Float in the Hard Rock Hotel, with party attendees including Kim Kardashian, Kendra Wilkinson, Shaun White and San Diego Chargers Quentin Jammer and Steve Gregory.

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship will next soar in to Windsor, Canada on June 13 and 14. Stops in Budapest, HUN, Porto, POR and Barcelona, ESP will round out 2009's six races. In the United States, fans can watch all six races of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship on Fox Sports Network starting in September. New this year, fans can watch the last three seasons of the Red Bull Air Race on Hulu at www.hulu.com/redbullairrace.

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