WINDSOR, Canada - Matt Hall is looking forward to the challenging Windsor race track over the Detroit River on June 5/6 as the Red Bull Air Race shifts from South to North America for the fourth stop on the 2010 season in the Canadian city.
The mistake I made in Windsor last year was trying too hard in changing conditions.
The Australian ace, who is in a strong fourth place overall with 22 points after three of eight races this year, said he feels well-prepared for the busiest two-week period in the championship's history with back-to-back races in Canada and then New York City on June 19/20.
Hall’s confidence has also got boost thanks to the high-tech data analysis on his plane's performance he's getting from motor racing legend Larry Perkins. Hall believes that could give him a small but crucial advantage in the increasingly competitive field. "The preparations are on track for Windsor," said Hall, still savouring the career-best second place he got in his home race in Perth - the second stop this year. "While a lot of the teams have taken the opportunity to get their aircraft early and work on them, I elected to concentrate on myself, my fitness and my mental state because the next two races are going to be quite hectic."
The former RAAF fighter pilot from Merewether NSW is determined to do well not only on the difficult track in Windsor but also in New York. "I remember a lot from each race and in Windsor I remember the track being harder than expected initially," said Hall, 39. "The mistake I made in Windsor last year was trying too hard in changing conditions. If I had flown the track with that intensity and the conditions were the same as the previous day, I think I'd have done quite well. That was the lesson learned there."
Hall learned many lessons in 2009 en route to becoming the most successful rookie in the six-year history of the race with a third place overall. The straight-talking Australian is looking to build on that this year even though there is a trio of more seasoned pilots ahead of him: Paul Bonhomme (31 points) and Nigel Lamb (28) of Britain as well as Hannes Arch (27) of Austria. Hall's strategy of focussing more on getting consistently good results and less on going all out for a spectacular result has paid off handsomely – it has also been imitated this year by more and more rivals. "I think people probably always knew consistency was the key but they just weren't focussing on it as much as now. The new format is all I've known and it became apparent to me that consistency would be the key. The more experienced race pilots could get away with things in the old knock-out format. I think the new format caught a few by surprise."
Hall is looking to take that drive for greater consistency to a new level using the Perkins' data analysis in Windsor that he believes helped him in the rain-truncated Rio race. "I think any small advantage is an advantage these days," said Hall, referring to the overnight data analysis back in Australia by Perkins. "It definitely gave me an advantage in Rio. I can now understand a lot better what is happening to the aircraft in the track and that allows for better pre-race preparation, along with race analysis during the week."
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