| GAETA, ITALY-(1-5-2004) After a missed day yesterday due to lack of wind, the 102 competitors at the Audi Star class world championship finally had better luck today and managed to complete a further two races in 15 knots of breeze.
After five races, European champions Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom from Sweden have managed to hold onto a small lead going into the final day of racing from the 2002 world champions and Team GBR sailors Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell. Loof and Ekstrom have sailed well enough to guarantee themselves a medal but Percy and Mitchell will be fighting them all the way to make sure they leave Italy with a medal as well.
A ninth and a fourth place for Team Percy Mitchell saw them jump from fifth overall into second place, managing to discard their worst result of a 22nd place. They are now just one point off Percy’s Sydney 2000 Finn rival Loof.
The day was not without casualty with double Olympic medallists Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira of Brazil losing their rig in the first race of the day and with it their hopes of winning another Star world championship.
Tomorrow will see the sixth and final race of the championship and many top sailing names will be battling it out for a chance to stand on the podium and win the elusive gold star for their mainsail.
Provisional results
1, Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom, SWE (3,2,7,3,(9)) 15 pts
2, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell, GBR (1,(22),2,9,4) 16 pts
3, Mark Neeleman/Peter Van Nieherk, NED (10,1,1,(19),12) 24 pts
No other results available
|
