HUNGARIAN ACE FALLS FROM TOP 3 FOR FIRST TIME

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Peter Besenyei epitomizes the ups and downs in the Red Bull Air Race over the last four years more than any other pilot in the World Championship. The 52-year-old, a national hero in Hungary, is the only pilot to finish in the top three in three straight years ˜ from 2005 to 2007. But the steady increase in competition in the World Championship suddenly turned ferocious in 2008 with more pilots crowding into the top with the help of technology and flying breakthroughs as well as faster planes.

Despite the tireless efforts to improve his own plane and performance, the intensely competitive Besenyei will be unable to repeat the feat of getting a top 3 finish overall in 2008. Currently back in 5th place with

31 points, Besenyei has no chance to catch up with American Mike Mangold (4th on 43 points) in the final race in Perth. Instead he will have to worry about staving off challenges from behind by Britain's Steve Jones (6th on 29 points) and even Nigel Lamb (7th on 22 points) behind him.

‘It's obviously not been a good year for me,’ said Besenyei, who has not had a single podium in 2008 after getting four top 3 finishes last year ˜ his best 2008 results were a pair of 4th places: in Abu Dhabi and London. ‘Fifth place is obviously not good but with this plane I can't do any better. Everyone else has got better. I'll be getting a new plane (MXS) for next year. If the plane is good and the engine okay, I'll of course aim for the top 3 again.’

Besenyei, who won two of the first three races in 2007 and had the lead in the championship early on, started 2008 in a new plane, an Extra 300SR, in a bid to get back in front of those middle-of-the-pack pilots who had overtaken him in the second half of the 2007 season. But the German-made Extra proved to be too twitchy in even the slightest of winds and Besenyei jettisoned it after the third race in Detroit. He went back to his Edge ˜ yet the plane that had brought him so much glory in earlier years of the race just wasn't fast enough in the brave new world of 2008.

‘The other planes have all got faster,’ said Besenyei. ‘Mine's just not fast enough anymore. That's the limit of the plane. I flew my best and didn't make any mistakes. With this plane I just can't do any better.’

Besenyei, who helped create the race and is known as its ‘godfather’, finished in second place in 2005, just four points behind American Mike Mangold. In 2006 he was again second, this time three points behind

American Kirby Chambliss. And in 2007 he was third, 16 points behind Mangold and Britain's Paul Bonhomme. This year, Besenyei has watched Austria's Hannes Arch and Chambliss buzz past him. He is 23 points behind Arch.

‘The race has become faster, the tracks require even more technical know-how and the pilots have refined their styles of flying,’ he said. ‘The technical advances played an important role this year and I think this trend will continue. But I don't think we're even close to finding the limit of what's possible. I can imagine there's still a lot we can do to improve the performance of the planes.’