World Match Racing Tour ACI Cup at Rivinj, Croatia - Day 3

BERNTSSON CONTINUES TO SET PACE IN CROATIA

Swede almost unassailable in round robin, Gilmour climbs ladder

Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson continues to set a blistering pace at the 20th anniversary ACI Adris Match Race Cup, Stage 6 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour.

The Day 1 leader won all eight of his matches today and ran his record to 15-2. He’s won 10 straight races counting back to Round 1 and has almost locked up the top spot in the round robin. Berntsson has three races left in the four flights remaining to complete the double round robin and one win will secure the top spot.

“I’m surprised that we could sail better today than yesterday,” said Berntsson, the 34-year-old from Stenungsunds Segelsallskap, in Sweden’s west near Gothenburg. “We didn’t give away any starts like yesterday and we had the same speed and boathandling. The guys helped me out, they did all the work.”

While Berntsson remains the pacesetter, the reigning event champion Peter Gilmour climbed up to second today after being tied for third yesterday. Gilmour’s only loss was to Berntsson, which gave him a 6-1 record on the day. With the semifinals looming, Gilmour’s feeling more comfortable after a six-month layoff. He hasn’t raced since winning the Monsoon Cup last December.

“We just started warming up today,” said the Australian, who’s gunning for his record 10th career World Tour victory. “Yesterday we were a little rough; we did a couple of silly things. We didn’t do those today. We were much smoother.”

Berntsson and Gilmour weren’t the only ones to have stellar days. Ian Williams of Great Britain equaled Gilmour’s 6-1. Paolo Cian of Italy and Frenchman Mathieu Richard went 5-2. The only top skipper to stumble was Sweden’s Björn Hansen. Second yesterday, he went 4-3 today.

Those performances have created a tussle for the other semifinal places among Cian, Hansen, Williams and Richard. Cian, Hansen and Williams have 11-5 records. Williams lost to Hansen but hasn’t raced Cian yet in the second round. Cian and Hansen have yet to face each other in the second round. If one of them slips up Richard is ready to pounce on the opportunity.

“I’m not helping a lot in the pre-start,” said Cian, echoing his feelings after yesterday. “We only had a couple of good ones in the seven or eight races. We’re sailing fast upwind and downwind, so we if we start better tomorrow we can manage a couple of good races.”

The race committee rattled off another eight flights in conditions that were lighter than yesterday. The wind blew from the west/northwest, but was more in the 9-knot range. The umpires were also busy again, issuing 18 penalties on 50 requests.

“Five or six of those calls were for hitting marks,” chief umpire John Standley said.

Berntsson competed at the ACI Cup once before, in 2003 when he placed eighth. He’s sailing with a different crew this year, but felt his team shifted gears well in the changing conditions.

“There were minor shifts on the course, but my tactician Martin (Strömberg) read them perfectly all day,” said Berntsson. “We didn’t have control of the starts all the time. We started to the left and right, but at the end of the day we wanted to start to the left.”

Berntsson’s performance impressed the veteran Gilmour, who lost to the upstart for a second time in Flight 15 and is hoping for things beyond their control to change his rhythm.

“There’s nothing obvious about what they’re doing,” said Gilmour. “When you get on a roll and get a good feeling you start to sail with confidence. That’s what he’s doing. We need the weather to change to rattle their cages, as we like to do.”

Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow at 11:00 am.

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2006 ACI Cup Provisional Standings: (after 18 of 22 scheduled flights, including byes)

1. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Team Semcon, 15-2
(Crew: Johan Bäckman, Johan Karlsson, Björn Lundgren, Martin Strömberg)
2. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 12-4
(Crew: Rod Dawson, Thierry Douillard, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Yasuhiro Yaji)
3. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 11-5
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Nando Colaninno, Pierlugi Fornelli, Salvatore Pavoni)
T. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 11-5
(Crew: Mathias Bredin, Mathias Hermansson, Pontus Meijer, Johan Qviberg)
5. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 11-5
(Crew: Jesper Feldt, Wade Morgan, Mal Parker, Mark Williams)
6. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 10-6
(Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Jean Philippe Saliou, Yannick Simon)
7. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa, 7-10
(Crew: Paolo Bassani, Tom Burnham, Ben Durham, Andy Fethers)
8. Dario Kliba (CRO) Croatia One, 5-12
(Crew: Slaven Celiã, Hrvoje Koðtiã, Nikola Prlenda, Benèiã Murizio)
9. Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Lord of the Sail, 5-11
(Crew: Alexander Ekimov, Oleg Krivov, Nikolay Kornev, Maxim Taranov)
10. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 3-13
(Crew: Nils Bjerkås, Niklas Carlzon, Peter Krull, Emil Wiberg)
11. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Extreme Team Morbihan, 0-17
(Crew: Vincent Biarnes, Devan Le Bihan, Mathieu Renault, Erwann Taulois)