Holmberg heads to Bermuda

Holmberg will be looking to hold on to his grip on the Swedish Match Tour leader board...

Magnus Holmberg enters the Swedish Match Tour’s Colorcraft Gold Cup, 14-21 October in Hamilton, Bermuda, in the same position he did last year, top of the Swedish Match Tour leaderboard with two consecutive victories to start the year and a double-digit lead over the nearest competition.
Wasting no time in starting a run for the Swedish Match Tour Year Three Championship, Holmberg defended his title at the first event, the Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini Match Race in Ravenna, Italy. This was just one week after raising the Swedish Match Tour Year Two Championship trophy in Marstrand, Sweden. Holmberg continued his jaunt at the Danish Open 2001 as the Victory Challenge skipper and his Team Stora Enso match race crew recorded their second consecutive victory on the Swedish Match Tour.

If history holds true however, Holmberg will have his work cut out for him in Bermuda. Holmberg started Swedish Match Tour Year Two in similar fashion, clinching back-to-back victories in Italy and Denmark, but stumbled last year at the Colorcraft Gold Cup with a disappointing tie for seventh place, one of his worst finishes on the Swedish Match Tour.

This year Holmberg will not be facing either of his runner-ups from his previous two victories as both Victory Challenge teammate Jesper Bank and Team New Zealand boss Dean Barker have taken a pass on the Colorcraft Gold Cup. He will have fierce competition from the skipper currently sitting in second place on the Swedish Match Tour championship leaderboard, Peter Holmberg. Peter Holmberg, the Oracle Racing skipper who tied the Swede for seventh place at last year's Colorcraft Gold Cup, is Magnus Holmberg's closest competitor, with consecutive third place finishes in Italy and Denmark to start Year 3.

Another regular on the Swedish Match Tour, Gavin Brady, is currently fifth on the leaderboard after a solid fourth place finish at the Danish Open. After second place finishes at the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup, the Sun Microsystems Cup and the ACI Cup during Swedish Match Tour Year Two, Gavin Brady has his sights set on the Colorcraft Gold Cup to record his first Swedish Match Tour victory.

Those also competing from the leaderboard are illbruck’s Morten Henriksen, OneWorld’s James Spithill and Team Marienlyst’s Jes Gram-Hansen. Born in Denmark, Henriksen has participated in two Swedish Match Tour events during breaks from coaching Germany's illbruck America’s Cup 2003 Challenge. Spithill is coming into the Colorcraft Gold Cup with a number four match race world ranking while Gram-Hansen enters the event looking to improve his position. Gram-Hansen is currently tied for eighth with Alinghi Challenge’s Russell Coutts on the championship leaderboard.

The leaderboard does not tell all though, as one of the toughest competitors on the Swedish Match Tour, Team New Zealand’s Bertrand Pace, is making his first appearance on Swedish Match Tour Year Three at the Colorcraft Gold Cup. Pace, one of the most decorated skippers in Swedish Match Tour history with back-to-back victories at the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup in 2000 and 2001, and numerous high place finishes at other events, won the inaugural Swedish Match Tour Championship.