Soling European Championships - Day 4

by Nigel Cherrie 29 Jul 1999 09:22 BST

BEADSWORTH, PARKIN AND SYDENHAM UP TO THIRD

Good starts and sound tactics on the fourth day of the Soling European Fleet Racing Championships at Sandefjord in Norway have paid dividends for Andy Beadsworth, Barry Parkin and Richard Sydenham as they move up into third place overall in the 45 boat fleet.

More importantly, their third place in the first race today, coupled with a close second place in the next means they retain their second place in the Olympic qualification stakes, where the top four non-qualified nations from Norway will all receive a place for next years Olympic Games in Sydney.

While Ukrainians Sergei Pichugin took over the championship lead from Germany's triple Olympic Gold Medallist Jochen Schumann, the German crew, who drop to second, remain the only unqualified team in front of Beadsworth and crew.

Despite winning the second race today Dutchman Roy Heiner (who qualified through this years world championships in Melbourne) drops to fourth, one point behind the British team.

After Beadsworth led them round the top mark, he elected not to cover the Dutch crew who broke away but stay with the majority of the fleet who are also aiming at country qualification. As they converged at the finish, Heiner led Bedsworth by a matter of inches. The fleet have three more races to sail over the next two days.

NORWAY: Soling Fleet Racing European Championships (after 6 races):

1 Sergi Pichugin/Seregei Timokhov/Vlad Korotkov Ukr 14pts
2 Jochen Schumann/Ingo Borkowski/Gunnar Bahr    Ger 15pts
3 Andy Beadsworth/Barry Parkin/Richard Sydenham GBR 18pts

For further information, please contact Nigel Cherrie on:
Tel: (01703) 627469
Fax: (01703) 627417
Mobile:07771 847801
Email: nigel_cherrie@rya.org.uk
RYA Website: www.rya.org.uk
Event Website: www.soling99.no