Williams and Gilmour fall

While Jesper Radich makes his grand return on day four of Match Race Germany

There were a series of quarter final fights for first place today on day 4 of Match Race Germany. Two previous ISAF Match Racing World Champions; Peter Gilmour (AUS) of Yanmar Racing and Ian Williams (GBR) of Team GAC Pindar were knocked out in the quarters while Adam Minoprio (NZL) of ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing and Jesper Radich (DEN) of Radich Racing Team remained.

Radich is back in the game after a two year break from match racing. “It’s great to be back behind the wheel, I can definitely feel that I’ve taken time out but it’s all coming back to me. My crew have been amazing”, he said.

Minoprio, the current World Champion, sailed through to the semi finals after defeating Magnus Holmberg (SWE) of Victory Challenge. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) of Mirsky Racing Team clinched victory over Gilmour after a controversial call by Gilmour’s team which took them round the wrong windward mark and Radich destroyed the hope of a semi-final spot for Williams.

This is a turning point for Mirsky who according to Gilmour has a “long and high profile career ahead of him” – he has beaten his master, who Mirsky back in Marseille said was his ‘inspiration’ to take up this sport.

Minoprio was confident yesterday that he could beat Holmberg and did not disappoint. This is a major achievement for Minoprio as Holmberg is renowned as one of the most competitive sailors in the match racing scene having been involved with the Tour circuit since 1991, representing Sweden in the Olympics three times as well as having two America’s Cup campaigns under his belt. A hungry Minoprio after 10 hours of racing chatted about the time he put in training with Holmberg before Stage 2, “I was worried at one point today that the training I put in with Holmberg would actually have worked against me and that he might beat us”.

The race committee cracked straight on into the semi finals as the skippers’ prayers for a more stable wind were answered. Minoprio came out on top against Mirsky beating him in two matches and Radich is two wins up on Richard.

The umpire team, boasting some high profile names, has had an enthralling start to the semi final with a collision between the youngest contenders. Jack Lloyd current Race Director for the Volvo Ocean Race and originally rules advisor to Emirates Team New Zealand during the 2007 America’s Cup, is enjoying the WMRT work. After a lengthy debrief Lloyd talked through his views on the WMRT, “The World Match Racing Tour is really striving to create an atmosphere for the public, bringing the racing closer in and building the entertainment factor that match racing has, basically what’s not to like”.

Mathieu Richard got racing this afternoon during the start of the semis and has put his continued success down to maintaining a long term relationship with his crew, “I’ve been racing with my crew now for 10 years – in top teams you find that the crews are very stable, the good results come when you have a consistent crew. It’s a really key point to have the same crew. I think Gilmour is an example of what happens when you change your team line up too much”.

Day 4: Results

Day 4 Semi Finals after 3 Races
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team vs Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Sailing Team 1-2
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing vs Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 2-1

Quarter Final results below:
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing vs Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge 3-1
Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar GRB vs Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Sailing Team 3-2
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team vs Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 3-1

Overall Standings:
5 Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar
6 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
7 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge
8 Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia
9 Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Proximo
10 Mads Ebler (DEN) Ebler Matchracing
11 Kathrin Kadelbach (GER) EWE Sailing Team
12 Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Gill Global Team