World Match Racing Tour ACI Cup at Rivinj, Croatia - Day 4

BERNTSSON, RICHARD UP 2-1 IN ACI CUP SEMIS

Cian and Gilmour facing elimination when round resumes tomorrow

Johnie Berntsson of Sweden and Frenchman Mathieu Richard have been the hottest sailors for the past two days at the 20th anniversary ACI Adris Match Race Cup, and tonight they stand on match point in the Semifinal Round at Stage 6 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour.

Berntsson leads Italy’s Paolo Cian 2-1, the same score by which Richard leads reigning event champion Peter Gilmour of Australia. The winners will be the first to 3 points in the series that will resume tomorrow morning.

Berntsson rolled into the semis as the winner of the double round robin with an 18-2 record. He’s been regarded by fellow competitors as the fastest on the racecourse, and showed it with an 11-race winning streak. Even if Berntsson doesn’t advance from here, he said he’ll be very satisfied.

“We’re very surprised. It’s the first regatta where we’ve done so well and gone so far,” Berntsson said. “In the past we’ve done a few good races, but never altogether. We’ve proved to ourselves we could win.”

Richard got to the semis in similarly impressive style to Berntsson. Richard went 9-1 in Round 2 and finished with a 14-6 record. He was placed sixth at the beginning of the day with a 10-6 record and needed to win all four matches today to advance. Mission accomplished.

“I felt we sailed good the past two days but we missed some points, sometimes due to the umpires, sometimes due to mistakes,” said Richard. “If we get one more point I’ll be the happiest man in Croatia.”

The wind blew from the southeast today between 12 and 14 knots and was very steady. With the direction different from the past two days the race committee shifted the racecourse to the south of Rovinj and in site of the regatta village. The competitors felt the conditions were ideal for match-racing.

“Today the wind was a bit stronger and not too shifty. We like those conditions. With good starts it’s easier to keep the lead,” said Richard.

Richard had good starts against Gilmour. Or, in Gilmour’s opinion, he gave them away, particularly the second and third races. In the second race he hit the pin end resulting in a penalty, and in the third he was on the course side before the start gun. That gave Richard leads he wouldn’t give up.

“At this level you must start well,” said Gilmour. “I made a meal of the third one. The boys are sailing well. I need to start better.”

Gilmour thought Richard took proper advantage of his opportunities.

“He sails smooth,” Gilmour said. “He’s quite a smooth operator. When he’s in the groove he doesn’t make mistakes.”

Cian might’ve been up 2-1 on Berntsson instead of down if not for two penalties in the first flight. Cian was penalized on the first run for jibing too close to Berntsson, which he didn’t understand since he thought Berntsson’s boom grazed his spinnaker in the jibe.

Cian opened a healthy lead over the next two legs and seemed to have enough in hand to complete the penalty turn on the finish line and win the match. But he came out of his turn on port while Berntsson approached on starboard. Berntsson had to alter course to avoid hitting Cian, and Cian received a second penalty.

“The call at the finish was correct,” said Cian. “But I was surprised at the penalty on the first run. His boom hit our spinnaker and we got a penalty. I was surprised by that.”

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

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2006 ACI Cup Semifinal Round:

Match 1:
(1) Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Team Semcom, 2
(Crew: Johan Bäckman, Johan Karlsson, Björn Lundgren, Martin Strömberg)
(4) Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 1
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Nando Colaninno, Pierlugi Fornelli, Salvatore Pavoni)

Match 2:
(3) Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 2
(Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Jean Philippe Saliou, Yannick Simon)
(2) Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 1
(Crew: Rod Dawson, Thierry Douillard, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Yasuhiro Yaji)

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

1. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Team Semcon, 18-2
2. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 15-5
3. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 14-6
4. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 13-7
5. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 13-7
(Crew: Mathias Bredin, Mathias Hermansson, Pontus Meijer, Johan Qviberg)
6. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 11-9
(Crew: Jesper Feldt, Wade Morgan, Mal Parker, Mark Williams)
7. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa, 9-11
(Crew: Paolo Bassani, Tom Burnham, Ben Durham, Andy Fethers)
8. Dario Kliba (CRO) Croatia One, 6-14
(Crew: Slaven Celic, Hrvoje Koštic, Nikola Prlenda, Bencic Murizio)
9. Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Lord of the Sail, 6-14
(Crew: Alexander Ekimov, Oleg Krivov, Nikolay Kornev, Maxim Taranov)
10. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 4-16
(Crew: Nils Bjerkås, Niklas Carlzon, Peter Krull, Emil Wiberg)
11. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Extreme Team Morbihan, 1-19
(Crew: Vincent Biarnes, Devan Le Bihan, Mathieu Renault, Erwann Taulois)