Spithill still unbeaten

Semi-finallists decided at Match Race Brazil

The Brazilian skippers tried hard, but the semifinals of the 2006 Match Race Brasil, held at Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, will be decided by foreign helmsmen.

Australian James Spithill, of the Italian Luna Rossa team, will face Danish sailor Sten Mohr of BMW Oracle Racing, while the other Danish sailor Jesper Bank, of Team Germany, will sail against British skipper Iain Percy of the +39 (Italy), this Sunday, starting at 10 a.m., in the great deciding round of the tournament.

Luna Rossa, with Brazilian tactician Torben Grael, was the only boat to remain unbeaten in this phase of the competition and is the favorite for the title. The boat had eight victories in eight races, an impeccable campaign. “I know Guanarabara Bay very well and of course I am of help in certain decisions taken by Spithill," says Grael.

To finish this phase of the qualifying round unbeaten, the crew under skipper Spithill defeated this Saturday the boats of Brazilian sailors André Fonseca and Daniel Glomb. “We did a good job,” said Spithill. “Our focus will be the same on the last day of the competition.”



Danish sailor Jesper Bank finished in second place in the overall results, with only one loss. The other semifinalists were decided in the repechage, that pitted British sailor Iain Percy (third) and Alexandre Paraded (sixth) and Sten Mohr (fourth) and Daniel Glomb (fifth) against each other. Percy and Mohr won 2 against 0.

The four skippers that have qualified for the semifinals are all a part of teams that are participating in the America’s Cup, the most traditional sporting event in the world, with more than 150 years of history. The four are getting ready for the competition that will be held between April and June, in Valencia in Spain.

In the Women's competition US-sailor Sandy Hays managed to beat this Brazilian sailor Fernanda Oliveira this Saturday in the first race of the female Match Race Brasil, which began on Friday. Sandy arrived at the finals of the competition unbeaten. The race is being sailed in J/24s. The decision will be a result of a series of best of five. Fernanda Oliveira, Brazil’s representative in the last two Olympics in the 470 Class, finished in second place.

The third place position is being competed between Carol Bejar and Rossana Ramos. So far, Carol’s crew had won the first of a series of three.

Today's matches:

Fonseca 0 x 1 Spithill
Mohr 1 x 0 Adler
Signorini 0 x 1Bank
Fonseca 0 x 1 Percy
Paradeda 1 x 0 Adler
Glomb 0 x 1 Spithill
Adler 0 x 1 Signorini
Paradeda 1 x 0 Fonseca

Repechage

Paradeda 0 x 1 Percy
Glomb 0 x 1 Mohr
Percy 1 x 0 Paradeda
Mohr 1 x 0 Glomb

The fourth edition of the Match Race Brasil has been organised by Vela Brasil, under supervision of the Brazilian Federation of Sail and Motor (Federação Brasileira de Vela e Motor -FBVM), with support from the Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club.. The race is sponsored by UBS, Piz Buin, Bloomberg, Aracruz and Forjas Brasileiras.