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COPA DEL REY

Emotion guaranteed for the last day of the Copa del Rey

Little wind today in the bay of Palma. The sea breeze -known as Embat in the region- which has been blowing during the last few days reaching 20 knots, dropped and hardly reached 10 knots today. That made “Alfa Romeo” suffer and finish both windward-leeward races in third and fourth place respectively. This shows the difficulties that Neville Crichton's 70 footer goes through with lighter winds, where he can't gain the time he needs to give in compensation. After several days crossing the finish line just a few seconds after “Alfa Romeo”, American “Bella Mente” managed to win both today's races. This doesn't put “Alfa Romeo's” final victory at risk, but helps “Bella Mente” open a gap from third qualified, Marcus Wieser's “Container”. 18 points separate British “Allegre” from “Container”, with 24 and 38 points respectively. Andy Soriano's Mini Maxi has managed to kick “CAM” out of fourth place. The reason for that was probably the two bad starts of the Spanish IRC Optimized TP52 skippered by H.R.M. The Prince of Asturias. The boat owned by Olympic champions Fernando León and Kiko Sánchez Luna will try to get fourth position back tomorrow.

In the TP52 class, the only discard of the whole regatta was applied in the eighth race, which favoured “Realstone Matador”. The Argentineans are back in first place after two good races allowed them to throw Vascotto's “Mutua Madrileña” out of the lead. Alberto Roemmer's duel with Vascotto was won by the Italian after the TP52 by Judel&Vrolijk caught a piece of plastic with its rudder. “In the first beat we were slower every time, then we realised we had caught something, and we were very lucky we could mount third”, said Roemmers. The Argentineans were third in the first race, and Vascotto was able to cross the finish line second thanks to good tactics and probably also thanks to the piece of plastic. “Valars” took advantage of the two boats' duel and won their first race in the 28 Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre. Fate paid back “Realstone Matador” in the second race when “Mutua Madrileña's” bad start helped Roemmers open a gap that Russian “Synergy” and José Cusí's “Bribón” could benefit from. But the Spanish boat chose the wrong lanes in the upwind legs; “Synergy” was second and Bribón was third, and the latter is now fourth overall, tied with “Valars” on points, who is third. “Mutua Madrileña” could only manage fourth in the last race of the day.

Changes again in the X-41 class; Javier Bandera's “Karhu” finished third in both races, probably due to the light winds. “Turismo Madrid” took advantage of that and is now leader in the overall standings. The class has seen four different boats in first place the past few days, saying a lot about the even level of the class. Olympic champion Van der Ploeg comfortably won the first race, and in the second, after a mistake in a manoeuvre in the first run, he managed to pass “Karhu” and stick to “Lexus”, who are now second, tied on points with Bandera's boat, which is third. There are still two races left, and the regatta is not decided yet.

The Swan 45 class hasn't experienced big changes today either. Dutch “No Limits with Cameron Dunn calling tactics, was third and first, whereas “Charisma” also Dutch, did the other way around, first and third, and is second in the overall standings, with an advantage of four points over the third classified, German “Earlybird”, which is likely to finish third in this 28 Copa del Rey thanks to the eight points that separate him from Japanese “Yasha”.

In the X-35 class Italy's boat “Tixelio” is now leader, two points ahead of the next classified, “Karma”, who was over the line and saw the black disqualifying flag in the second race. Albert Kooijman's “Just4fun” gets closer at 7 points from “Tixelio”. Tomorrow's races will decide who wins the 28 Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre.

Fernando Pombo's “Vindio's” poor showing today puts him down to third place in the overall standings, and “Vertigo dos” climbs up to first position. In RI “Garmin” confirms its leadership.

07/08/2009 21:35:00 © riproduzione riservata

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