Japanese Red Bull Air Race hero Yoshihide Muroya scored his first ever win in a round of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in front of his home crowd at Chiba on Sunday.
Muroya clocked a 1:04.992 to beat Czech Republic's Martin Sonka (1:05.097) and American Kirby Chambliss (1:05.618) in the Final 4 round. Only Muroya and Sonka had clocked official times below 1:05.000 all weekend.
Britain Nigel Lamb came fourth with a 1:05.743.
"It feels very special," said an ecstatic Muroya. "We prepared well and the team has been working really hard. We were very close to Martin in the times, but the fans pushed us into the win.
"I've been flying for 25 years and this is my first win, so it's taken a long time, but it feels very special – it's a big, big moment for me and the team."
Australia's Matt Hall was classified seventh after pulled g forces beyond the acceptable limit in the Round of 8, which lead to judges calling him off the course. Prior to that, Hall had clocked the second fastest time in the Round of 14 to eliminate Frenchman Fracois Le Vot, but pushed too hard in his battle with Kirby Chambliss to qualify for the final round.
“There was certainly an opportunity to move up the rankings today and it’s disappointing to make the over-G error,” Hall said.
“It was the first race-day over-G of my career but the competition is so close now that you have to be on the limit the whole time. I guess today wasn’t my day.”
The result leaves Hall in eighth place in the championship standings with five races to go. With championship leader Matthias Dolderer on 30 points to Hall's 12, the Australian knows he has some ground to make up.
"People are talking doom and gloom for our season," he said, "and admittedly while we are not where we want to be, we are only eight points out of second place and still within range of Matthias.
"The margin for us to catch up is smaller but with five races to go anything is possible. We will show up for the next race prepared to do our best and challenge for the win."
The next round of the Red Bull Air Race is in Budapest, Hungary on 16-17 July.