Johnie V Good

Swedish skipper wins 3-1 against Mattieu Richards in ACI Adris Match Race Cup finale

Chuck Berry would be proud of Johnie Berntsson. The 34-year-old Swede was the embodiment of one of Berry’s signature songs, Johnny B. Goode, in winning the 20th anniversary ACI Adris Match Race Cup, Stage 6 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour.

Berntsson, from Stenungsunds Segelsallskap, Sweden (near Gothenburg), completed a wire-to-wire event victory with a 3-1 defeat of Frenchman Mathieu Richard in the final. Berntsson won the round robin with an 18-2 record and his semifinal round 3-2 for an overall record of 24-5.

Berntsson and his Team Semcon crew - Johan Bäckman, Johan Karlsson, Björn Lundgren and Martin Strömberg - won the ACI Match Race Cup Trophy, 20,000€ (approximately $25,000) of the 50,000€ (approx. $63,000) prize purse and joined a five-way tie for eighth on the World Tour leaderboard with 25 points.

“I feel great, so great,” said Berntsson. “We have won the Swedish championship and Scandinavian championship, but this is the highest-ranked win.”

Richard, whose runner-up placing was his best career finish on the World Tour, was complimentary in defeat. “I think Johnie and his team sailed very well, during the final of course but also during the whole event,” Richard said. “I was very impressed because they managed to keep a very high level all four days, and that’s very impressive. Congratulations to them, they were very good and it’s a very nice victory for them.”

Richard, 29, Nantes, France, and his Saba Sailing Team crew Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Jean Philippe Saliou and Yannick Simon finished with an 18-10 record and won 10,000€ (approx. $12,500).

Richard won the first match of the final. He trailed at the windward mark by about 8 seconds and then gained the lead near the bottom of the first run. Both crews jibed to starboard but Richard was to windward and simply rolled over Berntsson.

The French team led by about six feet at the leeward mark and extended to more than 20 seconds at the second windward mark. Berntsson closed up to within two boatlengths by the finish, sending a signal that they were far from done.

Indeed. Berntsson and crew won the next three races going away, by no less than four boatlengths. Berntsson’s week wasn’t based on sound match-racing tactics, although he didn’t make many mistakes. His genius lay in boatspeed. His team had blistering speed all week and impressed the likes of Peter Gilmour, the all-time event champion who placed third in his quest for a 10th career World Tour victory.

“It was an exceptional week for them,” Gilmour said. “I think back and can’t recall when I’ve done as well in the round robin, semifinal and final. Well done to them.”

Berntsson got to the final after defeating Paolo Cian 3-2 in the semifinals. Berntsson held a 2-1 lead after yesterday’s opening matches, but Cian evened the series this morning to set up a sudden death match for the final. Berntsson, however, refused to get rattled.

“We were so satisfied coming to the semifinals so we were like OK, we try to do our best all the time,” Berntsson said. “Paolo did perfect starts. We had to try to be even with him and when we did that we managed to beat him. We knew that OK, we sail like it’s zero-zero all the time and we have to win the next match. I think all the guys [fought] hard to win the next match and not get stressed. And I think that’s a key.”

Richard got to the final after becoming the happiest man in Croatia. He took down Gilmour 3-1 in the semis in a come-from-behind win in the deciding race. Gilmour got Richard on the course side before the start gun in Flight 4, which gave him an early lead. But it was short-lived.

Richard quickly got back into the match halfway up the first leg. Then he got a penalty on Gilmour on the second leg, which turned the match in his favor. He went on to win the match, finishing a half length ahead of Gilmour, which was his highlight of the week.

“I’m very happy because yesterday we were very good at the beginning of the semis, we were leading 2-1, but we had to finish job and that’ not easy against such a good team,” Richard said. “We did it this morning. It was incredible because we had a very bad start, I was too early on the start; we were maybe three or four boatlengths behind. We managed to sail back and give him a penalty and get to the finals. That was the greatest thing of the week, to beat Peter Gilmour.”


2006 ACI Cup Final Standings
Prize Purse: 50,000€ (approximately $63,000)
Skipper (Country) Team, Record, Prize Money*
1. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Team Semcon, 24-5, 20,000€ (approx. $25,000)
(Crew: Johan Bäckman, Johan Karlsson, Björn Lundgren, Martin Strömberg)
2. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 18-10, 10,000€ (approx. $12,500)
(Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Jean Philippe Saliou, Yannick Simon)
3. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 18-8, 6,500€ (approx. $8,200)
(Crew: Rod Dawson, Thierry Douillard, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Yasuhiro Yaji)
4. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 13-7, 5,000€ (approx. $6,300)
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Nando Colaninno, Pierlugi Fornelli, Salvatore Pavoni)
5. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 13-7, 3,000€ (approx. $3,700)
(Crew: Mathias Bredin, Mathias Hermansson, Pontus Meijer, Johan Qviberg)
6. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 11-9, 2,500€ (approx. $3,100)
(Crew: Jesper Feldt, Wade Morgan, Mal Parker, Mark Williams)
7. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa, 9-11, 2,000€ (approx. $2,500)
(Crew: Paolo Bassani, Tom Burnham, Ben Durham, Andy Fethers)
8. Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Lord of the Sail, 6-14, 1,000€ (approx. $1,200)
(Crew: Alexander Ekimov, Oleg Krivov, Nikolay Kornev, Maxim Taranov)
9. Dario Kliba (CRO) Croatia One, 6-14
(Crew: Slaven Celic, Hrvoje Koštic, Nikola Prlenda, Bencic Murizio)
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)
(*1 EUR = 1.27395 USD on May 28, 2006)

2006 ACI Cup Final Round
(1) Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Team Semcom, 3
(3) Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 1

2006 ACI Cup Petite Final Round
(2) Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 2
(4) Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 0

2006 ACI Cup Semifinal Round
Match 1
(1) Johnie Berntsson, 3
(4) Paolo Cian, 2
Match 2
(3) Mathieu Richard, 3
(2) Peter Gilmour

World Match Racing Tour Standings
(After 6 of 8 Stages)
1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 63 points
2. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 45 points
3. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 37 points
4. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 32 points
T. Gavin Brady (NZL) Beau Geste Sailing Team, 32 points
6. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 29 points
7. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 28 points
8. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 25 points
T. Dean Barker (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand, 25 points
T. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Team Semcon, 25 points
T. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 25 points
T. James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge, 25 points


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