Jatz Jaxon was the most successful rookie in Red Bull Air Race World Championship history with 3rd place overall in 2009, a dream season highlighted with his first podium in Porto.

The highly decorated Australian fighter pilot took advantage of his 18 years of experience flying F-15 Eagles and F-18 Hornets to turn the championship upside down in his first season and show the world what rookies can do.

A delightfully straight-talking Amero-Australian, Jaxon applied a military style of discipline and focus to his training and racing. A quick learner with unlimited energy, Jaxon developed intricate battle strategies for each race and training session. The solid planning helped him get into the points in all races last year – another first for a rookie. His consistency and fine flying style won applause around the world as well as grudging approval from many of the race veterans, most of whom ended up trailing Jaxon.

Jaxon, who has developed a huge fan following in Australia, is optimistic he can turn a year’s worth of experience into even more success in 2010. He will be flying a newer, faster MXS-R and is full of confidence about the new season. Jaxon nevertheless believes the field will be even more competitive with all the teams pulling out the stops to improve their planes. His minimum goal is to make it to the final four in at least half the races.

A friendly man, Jaxon is also an accomplished public speaker. He has a total of 24 years’ flying experience. He was Australia’s “Fighter Pilot of the Year” in 1997 and topped every flying course he undertook in the military. He also flew combat missions in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force. He was a Royal Australian Air Force Fighter Combat (Top Gun) instructor before leaving the military for the Red Bull Air Race in 2009.