| USA. Allianz Cup: Alingi helmsman Baird snatches win from Cian and Group B |
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; "Paolo Cian (left) follows Ed Baird back to the start line in their Flight 5 match. Baird won the match and the Group B round robin: © Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser")
| Saturday, 28 October 2006 | |
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Sean McNeill: Ed Baird, a helmsman for America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi, won the Group B round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour. Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won all three of his matches yesterday and finished with a 6-1 record. Baird tied for the win with Italian Paolo Cian of Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza. Cian led yesterday at 4-0, but his lone loss was to Baird in Flight 5 which gave Baird the win. “It was pretty light,” said Baird, the only skipper to finish in the Championship 8 every Tour season. “There was some current. The current was changing, and each race was different. That was part of the difficulty, to be comfortable with that. Especially in the starting area, it seemed to be quite different than on the racecourse. My guys did a great job of reading that and timing to the line. It gave me a lot of confidence to be in right place in the starts. We got ahead and stayed there today.” Baird’s timing was the difference in the pre-start against Cian in Flight 5. “They did an incredible job of time and distance to the line and were able to push us up and out of the line,” said Cian. “So the race was probably over at the beginning. I think we were pretty happy with six wins out of seven races. It’s just the way you read it.” Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany, finished third at 5-2 and Australian Peter Gilmour, the reigning match racing world champion, was fourth at 4-3. They advance to today’s Quarterfinal Round, which features some very intriguing matches. Baird will face Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Cian races Ben Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand. Bank takes on Peter Holmberg, another helmsman for Alinghi, and Gilmour goes against Ian Williams, the current leader of the world championship standings. The light winds from the north today inhibited the completion of more racing. The wind blew mostly between 6 and 8 knots, but died away in the afternoon which forced racing to be abandoned after Group B finished its round robin. The event moves on to the quarterfinals without arguably its biggest attraction, Larry Ellison. The CEO of Oracle and founder of the BMW ORACLE Racing Team fell to 0-5 before closing out with two wins. He finished with a 2-5 record and in 6th place in the group. “Actually, we’re kind of pleased with sixth place,” Ellison said to a packed press conference at the St. Francis Yacht Club. “Let’s here it for sixth place!” Ellison said he hadn’t raced in J/105s before but enjoyed the regatta. He said that yesterday was a very humbling experience sailing in a cross current. “It is very difficult and tricky sailing in a cross current,” Ellison said. “And sailing against this caliber of skipper and these quality teams, it’s quite astonishing how good they are at what they do. It was just an honor for me to be out amongst them.” The Allianz Cup may not be Ellison’s last World Tour event. He received an impromptu invitation to Stage 6, the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, from Gilmour, the event’s technical director. “Just yesterday I got word that Russell Coutts is unavailable to come because he doesn’t have a crew,” said Gilmour. “So Larry, there’s an opening for you. It’s known as the world’s richest event in sailing with a 1 million ringet ($275,000) prize money.” “Are you serious?” replied Ellison. “I guess that’s a yes,” Gilmour concluded. Tomorrow’s schedule calls for the quarterfinals to begin at 10:00 a.m. The race committee also hopes to sail the semifinals in the afternoon. The Allianz Cup is sponsored by Allianz. The Presenting Sponsor is Oracle and the Main Partners are Allianz U.S. entities Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, and Allianz Life. Fellow Partners include BMW, NetApp, Pindar Graphics and AlphaGraphics. The World Match Racing Tour is the world’s leading professional sailing series. The events of the World Tour determine the ISAF Match Racing World Champion, who will be crowned in December 2007. A total of 15 events comprise the 2006-’07 World Tour schedule. The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. The World Tour Partner and Official Car is BMW (Munich, Germany). World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponsor. Group B Provisional Standings (After 7 of 7 flights) 1. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 6-1 (Crew: Mike Drummond, Nils Frei, Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen, Craig Satterthwaite) 2. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza, 6-1 (Crew: Ian Ainslie, Nando Colaninno, Pierluigi Fornelli, Nello Pavoni) 3. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 5-2 (Crew: Henrik Blaksjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl, Jan Schoepe) 4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 4-3 (Crew: Bill Colombo, Keith Love, Sean Svendsen, Yasuhiro Yaji) 5. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 2-5 (Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Devan le Bihan, Yannick Simon) 6. Larry Ellison (USA) BMW ORACLE Racing, 2-5 (Crew: Gavin Brady, Rod Dawson, Morgan Trubovich, Brad Webb) 7. Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Race, 2-5 (Crew: Ryan Aubry, Jon Bell, Sunny Gibson, David Hochart) 8. Cameron Dunn (NZL) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 1-6 (Crew: Matteo Auguadro, Maciel Cicchetti, Chris Dougal, Rasmus Kostner) The event Web site can be found at www.AllianzCup.com and the World Tour Web site at www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com. |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 October 2006 ) |
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