Red Bull Air Race Championship wide open ahead of Texas race

Just eight points separate the top three pilots at the top of the Red Bull Air Race Championship standings. With three races to go, the results in Texas will be decisive in deciding who takes this season’s Red Bull Air Race title – could it go to long-shot Matt Hall?

For a while, it looked as if Hannes Arch might run away with this year’s Red Bull Air Race Championship – he had built a healthy lead coming into the previous race in Ascot, England, and a strong performance could have given him a strong push toward locking up the championship.

But two Brits, flying above their home soil, would not be so easily deterred: Paul Bonhomme and Nigel Lamb (first and second in Ascot) are right on Arch’s wing. Arch leads the series with 43 points, with Bonhomme training just two points behind. Lamb isn’t much further back with 35 points.

Full Red Bull Air Race standings

To say the championship was a toss-up between those three would be inaccurate, however. Australia’s Matt Hall, currently in fourth place with 25 points, is not ready to be counted out just yet.

He’s been logging extra hours in his MXS-R racing plane in an effort to gain an edge on his competition in Texas.

"I'm aiming to log up to five hours' training in the plane this week, which is a lot more than previously,” Hall said. “I felt my currency in this plane was too low to be racing efficiently so that's something we've been focusing on."

Hall explains that while the principles of flying are the same in each plane, there are variables, such as the feel of the stick, how quickly a pilot approaches the 10G limit or the lift limit of the wing. A few changes on the ground will help the Australian pilot as well.

"I've come here straight from the UK so it's the first race where I'm not jetlagged, which is a big help to us," said Hall. "I feel awake and alert and that's probably the biggest change I've made for this race."

Technical fine-tuning may give Arch a boost

The race takes place at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, which is home of Big Hoss TV – the world’s biggest HD LED video board. It’s bigger than two jumbo jets stacked together!

The track is usually used for hosting NASCAR races, but with the air gates set up on the infield, fans will be treated to a Red Bull Air Race experience that won’t soon be forgotten.

The course features what Race Director Steve Jones calls “the biggest turn of the year.” He adds that pilots will focus on tight lines and gentle handling to get the best performance.

Read more of Steve Jones’s race preview

The race for the championship title is heating up! After Texas, there are just two more races before the season finale in Spielberg, Austria. Tickets to the race on September 6 and 7 in Fort Worth, Texas are available here. Don’t live near Texas? Check back with the motorsports feed on DHL InMotion for the latest on the close race to the 2014 Red Bull Air Race title!