Gilmour dominates leader board

Latest rankings from the Swedish Match Tour

Australia’s Peter Gilmour and his Pizza-La Sailing Team tightened their grip on the Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004 rankings lead following their defeat of Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg and the SeaLife Rangers at last week’s Nippon Cup 2003.

The win in Japan was the fifth consecutive Nippon Cup crown (eighth overall) and second consecutive regatta title on the Swedish Match Tour, following a victory at last month’s Investors Guaranty Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda, for the veteran Australian match racer and his crew of Mike Mottle, Yasuhiro Yaji and Kazuhiko Sofuku.

Gilmour, former leader of the OneWorld Challenge for America's Cup 2003, and his Pizza-La Sailing Team opened the year with a third place finish at Danish Open 2003 in August, and now total 65 points in the race for the Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004 title and the US$60,000 winners share of the overall $200,000 prize purse.

In second place, 20 points behind Gilmour is Holmberg, a former Swedish Match Tour champion (2000/2001) and head of the Victory Challenge, and his long-standing SeaLife Rangers team of Stefan Rahm, Lars Linger and Magnus Augusston. The runner-up result in Japan leapfrogged the Swedes over Denmark’s Jesper Radich, the reigning Swedish Match Tour champion, who now resides in third place with 35 points.

In fourth place is Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and his Omega Match Racing Team. Barker followed up a third place finish in Bermuda with a fourth place finish at Nippon Cup 2003.

The two skippers tied for fifth place were runners-up at the first two stops on Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004. Jesper Bank of Denmark, helmsman for the Victory Challenge, finished second to Holmberg at Danish Open 2003, while Oracle BMW Racing skipper Chris Dickson lost a thrilling five match final to Gilmour in Bermuda.

In seventh place is Dickson’s teammate Gavin Brady of New Zealand. Brady, a regular competitor on the Swedish Match Tour through the years, has joined Oracle BMW Racing for America’s Cup 2007 and has indicated that he, Dickson and teammate John Kostecki will take turns helming entries on the Swedish Match Tour in the build-up to Valencia.

Luc Pillot of France, a member of Le Defi Areva for America’s Cup 2003, is in eighth place following Nippon Cup 2003. Pillot’s position on the rankings comes as a result of his sixth place finish at Danish Open 2003 and seventh place result in Japan.

Three skippers are tied for ninth place, just four points away from the prize purse cut-off. Each of the three finished fifth at the Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004 events to-date, New Zealand’s Kelvin Harrap at the Danish Open 2003, Alinghi’s Russell Coutts in Bermuda and Italy’s Paolo Cian of the Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team in Japan.

The race for the Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004 crown resumes at the next event on the Swedish Match Tour, the Congressional Cup in Long Beach, Calif., April 19-24, 2004.


Current Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004 Rankings
Skipper Points
1.Peter Gilmour, AUS/Pizza-La Sailing Team 65
2.Magnus Holmberg, SWE/SeaLife Rangers 45
3.Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich 35
4.Dean Barker, NZ/Omega Match Racing Team 24
5.Jesper Bank, Denmark 20
=Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing Team 20
7.Gavin Brady, NZ/Oracle BMW Racing Racing 15
8. Luc Pillot, FRA/Team Pillot 14
9.Paolo Cian, ITA/Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team 10
=Russell Coutts, Alinghi Team 10
=Kelvin Harrap, New Zealand 10