On Hunters and Hunted

The Red Bull Air Race World Series 2006 is in its approach: With more races, more pilots and a favorite, which will make defending the title no easy task.

When Mike Mangold does something, he does it right. He lived up to this motto when he completed the US Air Force Fighter Weapons School, better known as “Top Gun Academy”, with honors. He also did this last year, when he handily won the first Red Bull Air Race World Series with five victories in seven races. And he intends on holding to this in 2006: The American prepared to defend his title, staying consistent with this precept – particularly with his plane there are many new things, as he revealed in the interview.

On March 17, at the season start, the Red Bull Air Race World Series in Abu Dhabi will reveal whether Mike Mangold will be able to increase his lead on the competition – or whether Peter Besenyei, Kirby Chambliss & Co. will be able to move even closer to him.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The Red Bull Air Race World Series 2005 was an enormous success for everyone. The seven races were visited by several millions of fans, and at one race in Budapest in August, there were 1.2 million.

For this reason, eight races are already planned for the 2006 season. These include races in the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Turkey, the USA and Australia. Eleven pilots – instead of the previous nine – will battle between the Air Gates for fractions of seconds. And ten of them will hunt the dominator, Mike Mangold, among them three with particularly good chances of success.

These include Peter Besenyei. The Hungarian has already proven to be the most persistent in 2005 at nipping at Mangold’s heels, but finally had to take the defeat. There is also Kirby Chambliss. The American flies particularly aggressively and this year will probably become dangerous to Mangold from the outset – in 2005, he blew the first half of the season. And then there is the German, Klaus Schrodt, the Indiana Jones of the Air Race pilots, who with his long career of over three decades, is equipped with experience and enormous potential.

These gentlemen mentioned took places two to four in 2005 in the overall ratings. Starting March 17, they will employ all of their means to change the outcome.