Tallinn, Estonia - 11 August 2010
Bressani Within Two Races Of
Second World title
At
2010
Marinepool Melges 24 World Championship
Overview
With three races scheduled, the penultimate day of the 2010 Marinepool
Melges 24 World Championship was always going to be a critical one for those
with aspirations of an overall podium position at this regatta. Happily the
weather gods smiled on Tallinn today, providing eight to twelve knot breezes
which enabled the Race Committee to run three excellent races and in the
process, catch up with the original programme. Turning in a seven, five, one
scoreline, Lorenzo Bressani on Uka Uka Racing now takes a thirty-two-point lead
into the final day. Behind him the scrap for the other podium places is likely
to be a fierce one. Despite an inconsistent day, Norway's Kristian Nergaard on
Baghdad has held on to second place overall, but now has just a five point advantage
over Italy's Alberto Bolzan on Hurricane Murphy & Nye in third. Although fourth
placed Italian Flavio
Favini on Swiss entry Blu Moon is some fourteen points adrift of Bolzan,
experience has taught us that Favini can never be discounted and there is no
doubt that he will have his eyes firmly fixed on stealing a podium place
tomorrow.
Corinthian Overview
Local Estonian Tonu Toniste on Lenny flew the Corinthian
flag in style today, taking victory in the overall fleet in Race Eight this
morning followed up with a seventh in Race Nine. Despite a twenty-second in the
final race of the day Toniste has nevertheless moved up to fifteenth overall
and also set up a thrilling finale to the Corinthian Division. Toniste's two
Corinthian bullets today have moved him into second place in that division,
just five points behind the Corinthian leader, Norway's Oyvind Peder Jahre on
Storm Capital Sail Racing Team, who could only manage a disastrous eleven, six,
thirteen Corinthian scoreline today. Third placed Corinthian, Italy's Marco Schirato
on La Besa, also had a difficult day and is now twenty-three points behind
second placed Toniste.
The Detail
Race Eight of the Championship was started in around eight
to ten knots of breeze and immediately saw Toniste taking full advantage of his
local knowledge. Working the left of the first beat predominantly, Toniste was
well up amongst the leading pack approaching the first windward mark. As the
wind faded slightly in the final couple of minutes of the beat, Toniste pushed
hard out to the port layline, a tactic which gave him a jump on the pack and
saw him lead around the first mark by around three lengths. This delighted the
local supporters who cheered their hero enthusiastically along the spreader
leg. Second around the top mark was Finnish Corinthian Jorma Kinnunen on JJ
Team, followed closely by Italian Ricardo Simoneschi on Audi. Down the first run
Toniste played the shifts perfectly and by the leeward gate had extended his
lead significantly. An early gybe from Simoneschi had positioned him nicely for
a little extra pressure and a subsequent right hand shift which moved him up to
second ahead of Kinnunen at the gate. Toniste sailed very composedly for the
final two legs, showing great speed and excellent fleet management to
ultimately take a well-deserved race win. Behind him however, the action was
frenetic on the final stage of the run, with Simoneschi having to fight hard to
hold off the advances of Italy's Andrea Racchelli on Altea. With these two
focused solely on each other, fourth placed Favini saw his chance and coming in
hot from the right, stole second place from both of them on the line by the
narrowest of margins.
Race Nine saw a now fired up Toniste aggressively fighting
for and winning the pin end of the line. However, on the first beat the left
did not pay quite so much as the previous race and at the first windward mark
it was Norway's Eivind Melleby on Full Medal Jacket who rounded first. Second
around was Italian Luca Valerio on All In with Nergaard in third and Bressani
in fourth. By the leeward gate Nergaard and Melleby were almost tied for the
lead as they each rounded opposite sides of the gate. Bolzan also had a good
run and rounded hot on the heels of the leaders in third. On the second beat
Nergaard and Melleby slugged it out for the lead with advantage finally going
to Melleby at the second windward mark. Nergaard rounded second and Bolzan
third. A three way battle for the lead was waged down the final run and at the
line Melleby prevailed to take a narrow win ahead of the rapidly advancing
Nergaard in second and followed a few seconds later by Bolzan.
After having to claw his way from the late twenties up to
seventh in the first race of the day and finishing fifth in the next one, the
final race of the day finally saw Championship leader Bressani hit the front of
the fleet. Leading from the off, Bressani seemed always to be in control
throughout the six-leg race, despite the ever present threat of fellow Italian
Nicolo Bianchi on Saetta. By the final windward mark these two had spurred each
other on into a huge lead over the chasing pack. On the last downwind Bianchi
tried every trick in his repertoire to force a mistake from Bressani. Despite a
being lured into a gybing battle on the approach to the finish, the
Championship leader held his nerve to take his second race win of the series.
With Nergaard slumping to eighteenth in that race and Bolzan only managing
twelfth, Bressani has now extended his lead at the top of the leaderboard to
thirty-two points. You can never say it's over until it's actually over at a
Melges 24 World Championship, but with just two races to sail Bressani's lead
is looking pretty much unassailable. A clearly tired but happy Bressani
commented tonight 'Today we had another good racing day. We ended up with three
good results and in the first race we managed to regain lots of lost ground.
Although we are well ahead on points now we know all too well that anything can
happen at a regatta and we will all have to keep focused until the very end to
secure victory.'
The fight for the reindexing podium positions looks likely to
be a fascinating one, with second placed Nergaard just five points ahead of
Bolzan. Both will also be conscious of the threat of fourth placed Favini who
despite being fourteen points off third, will be more than ready to seize any
opportunity to capitalise on their mistakes.
Justin Chisholm
Provisional Overall Top Ten After Five Races
1. ITA787 - UKA UKA RAcing - Lorenzo Bressani - 30 pts
2. NOR400 - Baghdad - Kristian Nergaard - 62 pts
3. ITA727 - Hurricane - Murphy & Nye - Alberto Bolzan - 67 pts
4. SUI782 - Blu Moon - Flavio Favini - 81 pts
5. ITA783 - Audi - Riccardo Simoneschi - 94 pts
6. ITA807 - Gullisara - Carlo Fracassoli - 97 pts
7. ITA716 - Saetta - Niccolo Bianchi - 102 pts
8. ITA735 - Altea - Andrea Racchelli - 132 pts
9. NOR751 - Storm Capital Sail Racing Team - 136 pts
10. FRA599 - Poizon Rouge - Jean-Marc Monnard - 144 pts
Provisional Corinthian Top Five After Two Races
1. NOR751 - Storm Capital Sail Racing Team - 42 pts
2. EST790 - Lenny - Tonu Toniste - 47 pts
3. ITA780 - La Besa - Marco Schirato - 70 pts.
4. SWE666 - Number of the Beast - Jonas Berntsson - 83 pts
5. FIN529 - Midnight Sun Sailing One - Sami Ekblad - 85 pts
The Championship concludes tomorrow, Thursday 12th August, with two races reindexing
to sail. The first start on the final day is schedule for 10.00 and there will
be no warning signal after 14.00.
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, and in 2011 it will also be the capital of culture
for all of Europe. This will be the biggest cultural event in the history of Estonia.
Welcome to the city of culture! www.tallinn2011.ee
International Melges 24 Class Association | 3 Palmers Road | Emsworth | Hampshire | PO10 7DL | United Kingdom
|
