• Matt Hall in action at the Red Bull Air Race in Fort Worth, Texas.
    Matt Hall in action at the Red Bull Air Race in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Australian Matt Hall has finished second in round seven of the Red Bull Air Race World Championships at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, to remain in contention for the world title with one race left in the season.

While Hall's runner-up finish ensured the former RAAF fighter pilot might still claim the overall crown, the series leader Paul Bonhomme won the race in Texas to extend his lead at the top of the points table.

Bonhomme, the Brit who has won more Red Bull Air Race events than any pilot in history, won the final on a hot Texan day to move to 67 points, eight clear of Hall.

With 12 points for a race win and nine for second, Hall must finish in the top two and hope for the unlikely event that Bonhomme is outside the top eight in next month’s season closer in Las Vegas, to have any hope of overhauling Bonhomme.

 It was 44-year-old Hall’s sixth podium finish from seven races this season and followed his maiden win in Austria earlier in September.

Hall had mixed emotions after the win – elated with his performance and happy to still be a chance, albeit a long shot, to win his first ever Red Bull Air Race World Championship crown, but disappointed to have seen Bonhomme skip further away.

 “I flew well today,” Hall said. “I had the second fastest time in the round of 14, the quickest in the round of 8 and then finished second to Paul then.  I can’t complain.

 “(But) the title just got a lot harder to win. In fact it’s really more out of my control now than in my control. Paul’s got to lose the title I think for me to win it.

 “I’m not giving up yet though, that is for sure. We will fight until it’s no longer possible to be world champion this year and then we will still fight for the race win in Las Vegas.”

 The series now heads west to Las Vegas for the eighth and final round of the season on October 17 and 18.

 

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