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=2015 Red Bull Air Race of Chiba=

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Beginning in the Japanese city of Chiba, with the famous Mount Fuji in the background, The 2015 Red Bull Air Race of Chiba was the second round of the 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship season, the tenth season of the air race. This location was chosen due to its historical value to Japanese aviation, as it is where aviation began in Japan. Located near the Makuhari seaside park, it had an atmospheric view in every direction. Challenger Class: On average, this is the slower group. These are usually the up and comers for the future years of the event.

Master Class: The Master Class group is the true test of the pilots skills. They must earn their way to the Master Class based on their performance in the Challenger Class. On top of that, these pilots often become owner-operators, who fly their own personal planes, rather than under the banner of a team. This in turn gives them more control over things such as the hiring process for their team, and what tunes the airplane will get. At the same time however, if they crash or go bankrupt, they’re out of luck and are likely without a back

Pilots (Challenger Class)
Petr Kopfstein, a pilot from the Czech Republic, Placed second in the Abu Dhabi event, and also placed first in the Challenger Class Cup the previous year.

Daniel Ryfa, a pilot from Sweden, and was the winner of the 6th FAI European Advanced Aerobatic championship in 2009, and is the most successful Scandinavian pilot. Entering the Red Bull Air Race competition in 2014 as a Challenger Class pilot, finishing in second place.

Cristian Bolton, the leader of the Chilean Air Acrobatic team in 2013-2014, was the nation's leading aerobatic pilot.

Florian Berger, a German pilot, had his first showing in the event, while also being one of the youngest pilots ever to take part.

Francis Barros, the first Brazilian pilot to take part in the event, made his debut in 2015 as well.

Peter Podlunsek, a Slovenian pilot, has a bright history, winning 8 national championships in aerobatics, and made his debut in the Red Bull Air Race in 2014, placing 3rd in the Challenger Class race.

Pilots (Master class): Nicholas Ivanoff, a Corsican pilot, placed 8th in 2014.

Matthias Dolderer, a German pilot, made his debut in 2009. He earned his spot in the event by claiming top standings in 2008 in the international aerobatics competition “unlimited”, and was selected for the super license, and one of the five rookies selected for active race status at the time.

Paul Bonhomme, the one of the most veteran pilots at the event, had been competing in the Red Bull Air Race since 2003, winning the event back to back in 2009 and 2010, returning when the event was held again in 2014, in which he placed third.

Matt Hall, selected to join the Air Race event in 2009, was also the first Australian to participate. In 2010, he had a near death experience after the wing of his aircraft touched the water of the Detroit River, damaging his aileron, though he was able to recover and land safely.

Michael Goulian, another veteran of the series, entered in 2004, placing sixth in his first year.

Martin Sonka, becoming a member of the Czech national aerobatic team in 2005, finally made his first showing in 2010, in which he was nominated for the rookie of the year award, even though he placed fourteenth

Kirby Chambliss, another veteran of the series, debuting in 2003, placing third. Winning the series in 2004 and 2006, and having won multiple national titles in aerobatics, Chambliss was one of the favourites coming into the tournament.

Juan Velarde, entering the competition in 2014 in the Challenger series, he was promoted to the Master Class in 2015.

Yoshihide Muroya, the first Japanese, and Asian pilot in the series, making his rookie debut in 2009. He is currently 12 years, and 170+ airshows without incident

Pete Mcleod began competing in aerobatics in 2003, but did not enter the Red Bull Air Race until 2009, placing fifteenth, but the next year placed fifth.

Nigel Lamb was the winner of the previous event in 2014, acquiring 62 points.

Hannes Arch made his debut in the Red Bull Air Race in 2007, and won the event in 2008.

Peter Besenyei, another veteran of the first event in 2003, Besenyei is the oldest pilot in the competition, winning the inaugural event that year.

Francois Le Vot debuted in 2014 in the Challenger cup, and was promoted to the Master Class in 2015 alongside Juan Velarde.

The Competition
As per tradition, the event starts off with the qualification round, where all of the Master Class pilots race around a course to decide on seeding. This seeding determines the bracket. The qualification round was very competitive, with the Corsican, Nicolas Ivanoff placing first with a time of 51.102 seconds. Second place was Matthias Dolderer 51.130seconds, and Paul Bonhomme bringing up third with 51.653 seconds. After which the order was: Fourth: Matt Hall, Fifth: Michael Goulian, Sixth, Martin Sonka, Seventh, Kirby Chambliss, Eighth, Juan Velarde, Ninth, Yoshihide Muroya, Tenth, Pete McLeod, Eleventh, Nigel Lamb, Twelfth, Hannes Arch, Thirteenth, Peter Besenyei, Fourteenth, Francois Le Vot, though Le Vot did not show up to the qualifying round, defaulting him to last place of the qualifying round. After the qualifying round, a typical bracket was set up with First place racing Fourteenth, Second racing Thirteenth, and so on. The only special part about this bracket was that due to the bracket being 14 people, there would be an odd number (7) of winners, so the fastest loser would also qualify for the next round of competition. The first race was Goulian (52.976s) vs McLeod (55.782s), with Goulian emerging victorious by nearly 3 seconds. In the second heat, Matt Hall (50.882s) racing against Nigel Lamb (51.826s). Up third was Martin Sonka (54.753s) losing to Yoshihide Muroya (50.779s). Fourth, Paul Bonhomme (51.560s) beat Hannes Arch (54.837s). Fifth up was the closest heat of the first round, Kirby Chambliss (54.106s) defeating Juan Velarde (54.241s). Sixth was Matthias Dolderer (55.050s) against Peter Besanyei (59.928s). Finally the end of the 14 man bracket was Nicholas Ivanoff (55.101s) against Francois Le Vot (1:03.279). This leaves the top 8 pilots who were moving on were: Goulian, Hall, Muroya, Bonhomme, Chambliss, Dolderer, Ivanoff, and leaving Lamb as the fastest loser, allowing him to move on to the quarter finals. In the quarter finals, Hall (51.452s) defeated Goulian (52.917s), Bonhomme (51.392s) defeated Muroya who did not finish the race. Dolderer (52.365s) defeated Chambliss (53.631s), and last up Ivanoff (52.146s) defeated Lamb (52.448s) in the closest race of the quarter finals with a difference of only 0.3 seconds. Moving on to the final four, only Ivanoff, Bonhomme, Dolderer, and Hall remained. At the end, Bonhomme emerged victorious, with a time of 51.502 seconds. Hall placed second with a time of 51.884 seconds, and Dolderer ending third with a time of 53.903 seconds. Unfortunately, even though Ivanoff won the qualifying round, he did not finish this heat and ended fourth.

Challenger Class Race: Kopfstein won the race with a time of 56.584 seconds, Ryfa ending second with 57.176 seconds, Cristian Bolton third with a time of 57.865 seconds. Florian Berger fourth with 58.340 seconds, Barros with 59.053. Unfortunately for Podlunsek ended with a time of 1:01.708 seconds, but he would have ended third if it was not for a 4 second penalty.

At the end, points were allotted for performance. For the Masters Class, Bonhomme was awarded 24 points, Hall 18, Lab 8, Dolderer and McLeod were both awarded 7. For the Challenger Class, Kopfstein was awarded 18 points, Bolton 16, Ryfa 10, Berger 8, and Brageot 6.

Championship leader Paul Bonhomme took his second victory in as many races, finishing 0.382 seconds clear of Matt Hall, who finished second to Bonhomme as he did in Abu Dhabi. The podium was completed by Matthias Dolderer, who matched his career best result with third place. In the Challenger class, Petr Kopfstein took victory by 0.592 seconds ahead of Daniel Ryfa.

Round of 14

 * Pilot received 2 seconds in penalties.
 * Pilot received 4 seconds in penalties.
 * Pilot received 5 seconds in penalties.
 * Pilot received 6 seconds in penalties.

Standings after the event

 * Master Class standings


 * Challenger Class standings


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.