1.2 Million Hungarians At Europe’s Largest Sports Event

According to estimates of the Hungarian police, 1.2 million spectators watched the fifth race of the "Red Bull Air Race World Series" in Budapest Saturday, which makes the race probably the largest sports event in Europe and the second largest worldwide after the New York Marathon.

The race course, with a length of 1.7 km and a total of twelve pylons, was set up crossed the river Danube, between the Chain Bridge and the Margaret Bridge. Both at the start and before the finish, the pilots had to pass underneath the Chain Bridge, whose height is currently reduced to only nine meters due to the high water level of the Danube.

The world's ten best stunt pilots reached top speeds of up to 400 km/h and an average speed of 280 km/h on the slalom course that also included aerobatic maneuvers.

American Mike Mangold won the race on his 344 hp Dragon-Edge ahead of his fellow countryman Kirby Chambliss and the Englishman Paul Bonhomme. Hungarian Peter Besenyei finished forth behind Germans Klaus Schrodt.

The former top gun pilot won his third title in the sixth race of the 2005 Red Bull Air Race in Budapest -- and in an impressive manner. In the lead after the first heat, the 49-year-old American was also the fastest competitor in the second heat: his 1:07.32 minutes were four seconds faster than Peter Besenyei, whose excellent  1:11.11 propelled him from seventh to fourth place in the final rankings.

"I felt some pressure in the second heat", Mangold admitted after the race, "but everything went perfectly, I had another clean run." The American was enthusiastic about the atmosphere in the Hungarian capital, in front of approximately 1.2 million spectators: "It was a unique experience. It was particularly fascinating in the second heat, in the magnificent evening light."   

Budapest title-holder Kirby Chambliss placed second, a respectful 7.61 seconds behind Mangold, while Briton Paul Bonhomme nudged ahead of local hero Peter Besenyei by eight hundredths of a second to take third place. Klaus Schrodt, in second place after the first heat, dropped back to fifth place. 

Penalty seconds again played a crucial role in the extremely challenging course above the Danube, as they already had in the first heat: Klaus Schrodt missed third place thanks to an incorrect knife-edge position just before the finish line. Significantly, the only pilot in the field without any penalty points also won the day.

With this weekend's victory, Mangold took the lead in the overall classification of the world series from the Hungarian World Champion Besenyei. The finals will be held in October in San Francisco.

FMI: www.redbullairrace.com