Hall, a former RAAF fighter pilot from Merewether NSW, said he flew too conservatively through the 6.4-km long obstacle course of Air Gates set up just off the beaches of Barcelona. But he was nevertheless pleased to have finished third in the championship with 36 points behind Britain’s Paul Bonhomme (67) and Austria’s Hannes Arch (60).
To achieve this is well beyond what I expected.
Catch all the action this FRIDAY, 9th OCTOBER 2009 on ONE HD.
ON AIR TIMES:
Sydney and Melbourne: 7.00pm
Brisbane: 6.00pm
Adelaide: 6.30pm
Perth: 4.00pm
“Regardless of my flight today, which was the most disappointing of the year, it’s been a good season for me,” Hall said after spraying champagne on Arch and Bonhomme on the podium. “To achieve this is well beyond what I expected. I don’t often get proud of myself. But right now I’m proud of myself.”
The previous best start for a rookie was in 2006, when American Michael Goulian finished fifth overall. The 2008 champion Arch was 10th in his rookie season in 2007.
Hall, who got one podium this year at the penultimate race in Porto, had been a master of the Mediterranean’s variable coastal winds during training and Qualifying all week and even got third place in Qualifying on Saturday. He was hoping for a second straight podium but slipped up in the round of 12. His time was 1:25.53, just 0.45 behind Japan’s Yoshi Muroya for eighth place and a spot in the round of eight.
“I should have made the Super 8 but I tried to fly conservatively and that changed my line,” said Hall, 38. “I came through the first quadro descending and I was expecting to get called out of the track for that. It was the worst flying I’ve done this year. From that point on it wasn’t going to be a good flight. I’m very excited about next year, though. Everything is still positive. It’s thumbs up for next year.”
Hall was able to hold onto third when his nearest rival, American Mike Mangold, had an even worse day, finishing 14th and out of the points.
But there were some nervous moments for Hall’s fans after he was prematurely eliminated. The Australian ace had to sit and watch from the sidelines while two others with chances to overtake him advanced to the round of eight. But American Kirby Chambliss ended up only fifth for 34 points and France’s Nicolas Ivanoff got seventh for 33 points.
“I started the year just wanting to get experience,” Hall said.
“The big thing was to be safe, have a good year and develop into a proper race pilot next year. To achieve this is well beyond what I expected. I’ve been very fortunate. I was lucky enough to have a pretty quick plane and had my Air Force experience flying low level at high speed. What I had to learn was how to be a world level athlete. That was the hardest part for me, adapting to the mentality of performing under pressure.”
For more info, visit www.redbullairrace.com
Comments
Add a comment