Ainslie wins in Marstrand

TeamOrigin take out Jesper Radich in the Stena Match Cup Sweden show down

During a penalty flag-festooned semi final today on the last day of Stena Match Cup Sweden, Dane Jesper Radich (smoked Magnus Holmberg 3-0 while TeamOrigin's Ben Ainslie dominated Torvar Mirsky's team, going through to the final on 3-1. The ultimate show down came between Ainslie and Radich And saw Ainslie storming through with two comprehensive wins over Radich in light, twitchy conditions. The Brit got what he wanted today becoming 2010’s ‘Maestro of Marstrand’. Holmberg kept in the picture winning 2-1 over Mirsky appearing on the podium in third place.

Ainslie kept his foot on Radich’s throat at all match moments today giving the Dane no room to breath. There was a constant dialogue onboard TeamOrigin, this tight team sailed smart and fast without any inkling of these professionals freezing up under pressure. Boat on boat contact was registered between Ainslie and Radich during the final stages of the pre-start to match 2. The umpires were quick to act and gave Radich a red flag penalty requiring him to take it immediately. The ball was then very firmly in Ainslie’s court as he took clear advantage and led right round the course.

A forward-thinking Ainslie is looking into building a solid World Match Racing Tour campaign for the final half of this 2010 Tour season: “It looks like we can do a couple more events now, we can do the Argo Group Match Cup in Bermuda and there’s the new Qingdao Match Cup event so it gives us the opportunity to hopefully get enough scores in. I think it’s going to be hard because we’re not doing as many events as the others, so the strike ratio for us has to be a lot higher”.

The Tour will be rewarding Marstrand’s organisers for their branding efforts during last year’s event at the Closing Ceremony dinner this evening. Stena Match Cup Sweden was awarded the ‘ISAF World Match Racing Tour Best Branding Award’ to highlight their commitment to on site event branding during the 2009 Tour event. With such a successful event 2010 could also be an award winning year for this highly organised venue.

At the beginning of Sweden Ainslie and Radich were equal in the WMRT standings at 7th with 20 points. After Ainslie’s win today he now overtakes Peter Gilmour and Yanmar Racing and moves up into fifth place. Radich now actually drops down into eighth position overall even though he was second this week. The rise and falls in the standings demonstrates how every point counts. Richard still remains out on top, 17 points clear of Mirsky.

Stena Match Cup Sweden 2010 Overall Standings
1 Ben Ainslie (GBR) TeamOrigin - 25 Points
2 Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team - 20 Points
3 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Sigma Racing Team - 15 Points
4 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team - 12 Points
5 Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar - 10 Points
6 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra - 8 Points
7 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team - 6 Points
8 Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team - 4 Points
9 Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
10 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
11 Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
12 Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team
13 Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing
14 Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team
15 Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing
- Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team
 
2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour Standings (after Stage 5 of 10)
1. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team - 77 Points
2. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team - 60 Points
3. Adam Minoprio  (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing - 54 Points
4. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar - 52 Points
5. Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN - 45 Points
6. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing - 43 Points
7. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra - 41 Points
8. Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team - 40 Points
9. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Sigma Racing Team - 29 Points
10. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia - 16 Points