Sydney 40 World Championships Overall
by John Roberson 4 Jul 1999 19:11 BST
MERIT CUP GRABS VICTORY IN FINAL RACE
Vasco Vascotto and his Merit Cup crew, representing Europe, have grabbed victory in the "Race 1 Sydney 40 World Championships", having completely outsailed Germany's MK Cafe in today's final two races.
In light and shifty winds, Merit Cup put in her bid for the title by finishing second in the first of the two races, while MK Cafe struggled home in seventh place, almost wiping out her six point advantage.
This left a two boat shoot out in the last race, with which ever of Merit Cup or MK Cafe finished first would take the trophy.
On the starting line, these two mixed it up as if there were no other boats in the race, with the match racing experience of Murray Jones on Merit Cup proving better than the tactics of Michael Coxon on MK Cafe, as the two
tacticians tried to position their boats for the start.
When the starting gun fired, the European crew on Merit Cup were well placed, and with good speed, while the Germans on MK Cafe were caught flat footed.
At the first mark Merit Cup was in third place, while MK Cafe was back in sixth, and Vasco Vascotto's crew almost had their hands on the trophy.
The European crew, which had struggled in the light winds earlier in the series, had certainly done some work to improve in these conditions, and by the second windward mark had taken the lead, going on to win by over two
minutes.
Karol Jablonski and his MK Cafe team did well to climb up from the back of the fleet, to finish third, but it wasn't good enough, and the title that had seemed almost their's at the beginning of the day had slipped through
their fingers.
Britain's Arbitrator, steered by Chris Law, finished the series level on points with the Italian boat Invicta, but third place went to the home team on a countback.
FINAL RESULTS (after seven races):
Boat Owner Pts Races
-------------------------------------------------------
1 Merit Cup Marco Greggio 17 1;2;6;7;1;2;1
2 MK Cafe Thomas Friese 11 2;1;2;3;3;7;3
3 Arbitrator Stephen Bailey 29 8;3;5;1;2;6;4
4 Invicta Massimo Mazzaroma 29 5;4;1;8;4;5;2
5 Trust Computer Jochem Visser 30 3;5;3;5;8;1;5
6 Blue Yankee Pride Farley Towse 37 4;8;4;4;6;4;7
7 Sledgehammer Ron Jones 42 7;6;8;2;5;8;6
8 Turbo UK David Walters 44 6;7;7;6;7;3;8
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
On the regatta:
John Roberson
ph:+44 (0)1983 295144
e-mail: robo_bandana@compuserve.com
On Sydney 40:
Louise Bashford
ph: +61 (0)2 9979 8044
website: www.bashford.com.au
On Race 1:
Jonny Falkner
ph:+44 (0)1243 573333
e-mail: sydney40@race1.demon.co.uk
THIS CHAMPIONSHIP IS ALSO SUPPORTED BY:
Bashford International
Jacobs Creek Wines