The San Diego Challenge

San Diego was the second career victory for Ivanoff, who had never finished higher than seventh place in his first four years in the championship but has now turned into a bonafide contender for the 2009 title with back-to-back podiums for the first time in his career.

Arch, who was slowed by a bird strike in a dramatic Final 4 race in San Diego and fell to third place, still leads the championship with 23 points from the two races this year ahead of Ivanoff in second with 21 points and Bonhomme, who was second in both Abu Dhabi and San Diego, on third with 20 points. Canada’s Pete McLeod, one of four rookies in the 15-pilot field this year, will be searching for his first championship points at his home race.

“It’s a new plane and the whole team has worked very hard to make it a really good plane,” Ivanoff said after his first victory since the final race of the 2007 season in Perth. Ivanoff had a superb run in the final and his time of 1:17.21 was the fastest of the weekend, a massive 1.11 seconds ahead of Bonhomme. After finishing seventh overall in 2005 and 2007, Ivanoff fell to a career worst ninth in 2008. After only making it to the top eight in three of last year’s eight races, Ivanoff abandoned his Extra 300SR in favour of a new Edge 540.

“It’s a really good plane. This year I’ve tried to learn how to fly without penalties. That has been the key.”

It’s Only The Beginning Of Season

Ivanoff, who was third in Abu Dhabi only after getting hit with a painful two-second penalty in the final that cost him the victory, said he could hardly wait for the next race in Windsor yet the 41-year-old based in London was guarding against overconfidence with only a third of the season completed. “It’s only the beginning of the season. Everything is still wide open.

It’s important to be in the top three in every race if you want to accomplish anything. Consistency is the key. Clearly that’s what’s important.” Ivanoff would have won in Abu Dhabi as well with the fastest raw time in the Final 4 of 1:24.34 but he picked up a two-second penalty that dropped him to third.

Arch, who proved that axiom about consistency by winning last year’s championship with seven podiums in eight races, was disappointed that his collision with a pelican in the Final 4 which left a grapefruit-sized hole in his horizontal stabilizer cost him the victory in San Diego after he had won one championship point the day before by posting the fastest Qualifying time.

He could have opened a seven-point lead at the top (26-19) over Ivanoff with the victory in San Diego but was forced to settle with nine points for third instead of 12 for the victory and now leads by a narrow 23-21. It was the eighth straight podium for the Austrian.

Lost by hitting a bird

“I got off course by that (bird strike) and was then penalised two seconds at the next gate,” Arch said. “I didn’t have a chance to keep the plane flying on the right line, and had to check to make sure everything was still working. I felt sorry for the bird. It made a loud bang. I checked to make sure everything was still functioning and continued on.”

Arch said he was pleased with the speed of his Edge 540 throughout the race weekend, which gives him plenty of confidence going to Windsor: “I was the fastest in all the training sessions and Qualifying. Obviously I would like to have won. But after hitting the bird the race was lost. At the end of the day I was happy that nothing happened to me and that I was able to finish the race.”

Bonhomme, who had posted the fastest time in the Top 12 competition before slipping to third fastest in the Super 8 and second in the Final 4, said he had long had his eye on the talented Mr. Ivanoff, who has for years been considered one of the most skilful pilots in the competition if not always the most successful. “Nicolas proved that he and his machine can win, something we’ve known for a long while. But it just took time to find the right machine. I think we’ll see lots more of Nicolas this year.”

The British ace acknowledged that Arch is still his main rival. “We mustn’t forget that despite the bird strike Hannes still flew an astonishingly fast round. He’s got something under his bonnet and we’d love to know what.”