Congratulations to Matt Hall on his second place in the 2015 Red Bull Air Race series, following an outright win in Las Vegas. Pipped at the post by Brit ace Paul Bonhomme (who came second in LV), Matt can nevertheless hold his head high. Paul and Matt were clear leaders in the 2015 Red Bull series, with 76 and 71 points respectively, with the nearest competitor in third place – pilot Hannes Arch – managing less than half the points at 34.

As an interesting foot note, Peter Besenyei (who finished 12th this year,  with a career 8 victories) is retiring from the sport at the age of 59. I raise my glass to you, Peter – that’s a pretty good age to still be flying +9 -6 G races/aerobatics! My head starts to go odd at +1.5 G !

As a very small by the side, the Foxbat Australia static display area at Avalon Airshow was right next to Matt’s Red Bull team. I must say he’s a really great guy, with time for everyone. It was interesting to see him ‘walking’ through the aerobatic display he gave at Avalon and the amazing degree of focus he brought to what he was doing. Even more interesting was the post-display high he clearly experienced – I can believe that spinning round and round, with alternating high positive and negative ‘G’ must almost scramble your brains…..personally, I like it upright and steady!

Well done Matt, I’m full of admiration.