The Red Bull Air Race, which last year flew across San Diego Bay with downtown’s skyline as a backdrop, has skipped town and is headed for the Big Apple. Race officials announced nine international stops for the aerobatic championship racing series and, apparently, New York-New Jersey has replaced San Diego on the schedule. A spokesman for the San Diego Convention and Tourist Bureau acknowledged that they heard about the change, presuming it was a matter of attendance and money. May had been tentatively penciled in for another San Diego Bay event last fall but no news release was issued to indicate it had been canceled. The spectacle, involving 15 flyers from all over the world, drew crowds of approximately 150,000 in San Diego. However, those figures were exceeded by more than twice that number in Perth, Australia; Windsor, Canada; and Dubai. San Diego was not alone, since London and Madrid were also dropped from the schedule. The series format calls for a single race date in each country. The only exception was two years ago when Detroit and San Diego each were on the schedule. Detroit’s race was moved across the border to Windsor. The fifth race of the 2010 calendar will be held in partnership with NYC & Company, Jersey City, N.J. and Liberty State Park over the Hudson River on June 19-20. Other countries include Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Germany, Hungary, France, Brazil and Portugal. “New York City is known for its ability to draw some of the world’s greatest, large-scale events each year, and we’re always happy to welcome new and exciting sporting events that amplify its reputation as one of the most electrifying cities in the world,” said NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta. The Red Bull Air Race is different from all other motorsports in that it takes its race track with it wherever it goes around the world, bringing the action to the spectator. To do this, it takes a logistics operation unparalleled in the sports business to transport 380 tons of infrastructure and race equipment including 15 lightweight, 24-foot wingspan race planes and the sport’s own traveling air traffic control tower. “Staging a Red Bull Air Race in New York City and Jersey City marks an important milestone in the history of the global motorsports championship and we feel privileged to be given this opportunity,” said Bernd Loidl, CEO of the Red Bull Air Race. “We look forward to our partnership with both cities and providing spectators with an incredible experience as well as enabling millions of television viewers around the globe to watch the best race pilots compete against the spectacular skyline of some of the world’s great cities.”