Mike Goulian and Team #99 collected another 6 points towards the Red Bull Air Race World Championship with a 5th place finish in Chiba, Japan. Goulian narrowly missed passing through to the final four by a mere 1/10th of a second, edged out by Martin Sonka.

Goulian was disappointed but recognized the positive indications of progress. “We did one of the fastest times of the day, the second fastest in the Round of 8…it would have been the fastest round in the Final Four. When you come up against Martin like that and he’s just flying so well, 1/10th of a second is zero, or hero.”

Japan’s Yoshi Muroya was the overall victor of the weekend, making it his second consecutive win at his hometown race. Muroya now sits tied with Martin Sonka at the top of the overall leaderboard with 30 points for the season so far. Fellow American Kirby Chambliss currently resides in 9th overall.

Goulian and the team will have another opportunity to test their skills and determination when the Red Bull Air Race returns to Budapest, Hungary on July 1 – 2. The site of Goulian’s win in 2009, the team is determined to carry its compounding momentum back to the podium.