Britains Ben Murphy made into the final 8 of the first Masterclass Red Bull Air Race 2018 for The Blades Racing Team.
After qualifying 9th on Friday, Ben faced Spaniard Juan Velarde in the Round of 14 who posted a time of 56.428s with a 2 second Over G penalty. Ben posted a time 55.790s, also with a 2 second over G penalty seeing him into the Final 8.
The former leader of the Blades Aerobatic team was pitted against Japans Yoshihide Muroya and despite taking nearly second off his Round of 14 time, 54.860s wasnt enough to get him into the final with Muroya posting 53.981s.
Ben Scored 5 points for his finish, a result he said on twitter he was “super happy” with.
Muroya went on to finish 2nd with Michael Goulian the overall winner.
Round of 14 Results
| Race | Name | Country | Time | Penalties | Result |
| 1 | Kirby Chambliss | USA | 0:53.759 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Francois Le Vot | FRA | 0:53.823 | 0:00.000 | LOSE | |
| 2 | Mika Brageot | FRA | 0:54.865 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Cristian Bolton | CHI | 0:57.359 | 0:03.000 | LOSE | |
| 3 | Ben Murphy | GBR | 0:55.790 | 0:02.000 | WIN |
| Juan Velarde | ESP | 0:56.428 | 0:02.000 | LOSE | |
| 4 | Yoshihide Muroya | JPN | 0:53.417 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Pete McLeod | CAN | DNF | 0 | LOSE | |
| 5 | Martin Sonka | CZE | 0:54.461 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Petr Kopfstein | CZE | 0:54.928 | 0:00.000 | LOSE | |
| 6 | Michael Goulian | USA | 0:54.301 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Nicolas Ivanoff | FRA | 0:56.168 | 0:00.000 | LOSE | |
| 7 | Matt Hall | AUS | 0:53.948 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Matthias Dolderer | GER | DNF | 0 | LOSE |
Round of 8 Results
| Race | Name | Country | Time | Penalties | Result |
| 1 | Michael Goulian | USA | 0:54.300 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Matt Hall | AUS | 0:54.596 | 0:00.000 | LOSE | |
| 2 | Martin Sonka | CZE | 0:54.825 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Francois Le Vot | FRA | 0:55.111 | 0:00.000 | LOSE | |
| 3 | Kirby Chambliss | USA | 0:54.980 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Mika Brageot | FRA | 0:57.567 | 0:02.000 | LOSE | |
| 4 | Yoshihide Muroya | JPN | 0:53.981 | 0:00.000 | WIN |
| Ben Murphy | GBR | 0:54.860 | 0:00.000 | LOSE |
Final 4
| Rank | Name | Country | Time | Penalties |
| 1 | Michael Goulian – Winner | USA | 0:53.695 | 0:00.000 |
| 2 | Yoshihide Muroya | JPN | 0:53.985 | 0:00.000 |
| 3 | Kirby Chambliss | USA | 0:54.768 | 0:00.000 |
| 4 | Martin Sonka | CZE | 0:54.650 | 0:00.000 |
The next Red Bull Air Race is Cannes, France on the 21-22nd April 2018.
