BRIT Paul Bonhomme was unable to repeat his win in the UK round of the 2006 Red Bull Air Race at the penultimate round, held in San Francisco on 7 October. Bonhomme finished third behind race winner Kirby Chambliss and Hungarian ace Peter Besenyei.

Chambliss is now the odds-on favourite to become this year's world champion, with just one round left - in Perth, Australia on 19 November. Besenyei was less than a second behind Chambliss on combined times, but actually set the fastest time of the whole event.

An estimated 400,000 spectators lined the shores of San Francisco Bay to watch the races, which took place between the city's most famous landmarks, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.
Chambliss said, "To win here you need everything - a great crew, a great plane and a good pilot, otherwise you can't win this thing.

"I may have flown a little conservatively and that could have been a mistake. I only won by a half-second. It's not really a fast course but it has its challenges. It's high G and longer duration G."
Fellow American pilots Mike Mangold of California - the current World Series champion - and Mike Goulian of Massachusetts, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The UK's Steve Jones, Spain's Alejandro Maclean and Dutch pilot Frank Versteegh, who flew a new MX2 in San Francisco, were disqualified during the race due to course deviation.

Expressing frustration with the tough track, Versteegh said, "I hate this course. It's really challenging, especially with the new plane. I just need more practice time."
W: www.redbullairrace.com

Watch highlights of the Red Bull Air Race below: