Louis Vuitton Trophy, il giorno di Mascalzone Latino Audi Team
LV TrophyVela 22 Novembre 2010 Zerogradinord 0
Louis Vuitton Trophy – Dubai – Il Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai prepara un finale mozzafiato tra i team più forti al mondo. BMW Oracle Racing ed Emirates Team New Zealand già qualificati. Lotta tra il team di Gavin Brady, All4One e Artemis.
Non poteva esserci un finale più combattuto di questo, in cui ogni regata può cambiare le sorti dei team per una piccola imprecisione o una distrazione fatale. Tutto questo è normale in una competizione che allinea i più forti campioni di questo sport in un evento che definire storico è retorico. È questo infatti l’epilogo per gli ACC5, gli yacht di Classe Coppa America che vengono utilizzati per l’ultima volta in un evento di rilevanza mondiale. Logico che tutti stiano lottando come tigri per accedere alle semifinali che inizieranno venerdì prossimo.
Prima di allora occorre però archiviare questo secondo Round Robin che vede la classifica stravolta ogni giorno. Per ogni vittoria ci sono infatti 2 punti in palio ed è quindi più facile salire e scendere clamorosamente. Oggi è stato Mascalzone Latino Audi Team a registrare la performance migliore, con 2 vittorie fondamentali contro Artemis e Synergy, suoi diretti avversari. Grazie a questi successi il team di Vincenzo Onorato mette una fortissima ipoteca sulle semifinali, che – a meno di pesanti penalizzazioni che potrebbe decidere la giuria domani a seguito di “catastrofi” tra le barche – non dovrebbero sfuggire a Gavin Brady&Co.
L’ultimo match di domani dei Mascalzoni sarà contro BMW Oracle Racing (che continua a macinare punti, oggi a spese ancora di Emirates Team New Zealand), mentre Synergy di Francesco Bruni se la dovrà vedere contro i kiwi. La sorte più dura è per Artemis, che con un match solo da disputare (contro All4One), ha le chance minori di restare in gara.
Dopo la fine del Round Robin 2 i team riposeranno una giornata e torneranno in mare giovedì per disputare tre regate di flotta. Le semifinali sono in calendario venerdì.
Classifica provvisoria
1. BMW Oracle Racing, 12-2, pt. 15
2. Emirates Team New Zealand, 7-6, pt. 8,5*
3. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 6-8, pt. 8**
4. All4One, 5-8, pt. 6
5. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 6-8, pt. 6***
6. Artemis, 5-9, pt. 5
* -0,5 pt.
** -1 pt.
*** -2 pt.
LOUIS VUITTON TROPHY, MASCALZONE LATINO’S DAY
[Louis Vuitton Trophy Press Release] Two come-from-behind victories boosted the fortunes of Italy’s Mascalzone Latino Audi today at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai. Racing in a light northerly breeze on a soft, late autumn day, Kiwi skipper Gavin Brady guided the Italian team to a comfortable victory against Sweden’s Artemis Racing after overtaking them a few minutes into the first beat.
Brady’s second match proved tougher after he conceded a start to the Synergy Russian Sailing team and then fought for more than half the race to gain the upper hand.
Their performance today lifted Mascalzone Latino Audi, the challenger of record for the next America’s Cup, from a distant fifth-equal place to third.
The Italian team is only half a point away from overtaking second-placed Emirates Team New Zealand which lost today after botching a spinnaker takedown and flying the giant sail like a flag from the top of their mast.
Hosted by the Dubai International Marine Club the 14-day-long regatta is being sailed close to the shore in waters between the fan-shaped man-made islands of the Palm Jumeirah and the southern entrance to Dubai Creek.
Today was the penultimate day of the second round robin with each win worth two points and any penalties carrying a two point deduction. Only the top four teams will go through to the semi-finals which start on Friday.
“We’d done the math and we knew we had to win those two races today to keep control of our own destiny,” Brady said. “We had a race where we led comfortably and one where we had to come from behind.
“I messed up the end of that second start. We had full control of Synergy. I had 20 decisions to make in that pre-start and dropped the ball. I made 19 good ones and messed up the last one. And that was the one that counted. From there, our tactician Morgan Larson did a really good job and called some good shifts on the run that got us to the leeward gate with a chance.”
The two boats at the top of the leaderboard raced today and the USA’s , skippered by America’s Cup winner James Spithill, took control at the start and fended off attacks from his Kiwi rival Dean Barker.
New Zealand’s chances of a victory plummeted when a messy takedown saw them flying their spinnaker like a giant out-of-control flag from the top of their mast before they were able to cut it free.
“It was a disappointing loss,” said Ray Davies, tactician for the New Zealand boat. “It was a very close race and we made nice gains down the run. We gybed for the right-hand gate, feeling pretty comfortable but then the breeze lifted 15 degrees. It changed the bottom mark rounding for us and we ended up with a very difficult rounding because we had to change the call for the bowman. It was a pretty bad situation for us. When we let the spinnaker go it got caught inside the mast so we had to cut it free.”
Four matches tomorrow will wrap up the round robin and confirm the four semi-finalists. BMW Oracle Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand and Mascalzone Latino are all poised to go through to the semis but, with all races counting for two points and the possibility two penalty point deductions for infractions or collisions, nothing is certain.
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