Valencia, 17 May, 2006
- The American BMW ORACLE Racing team beat Italy's +39 Challenge today to
complete racing in Louis Vuitton Act 10 and extend its lead on the points
table. On Tuesday BMW ORACLE Racing won Act 10, when it was determined it
would win the four way tie-break scenario at the top of the table. With
today's win the Americans are one point clear, their only loss coming to
Alinghi.
It was another good day
for racing in Valencia, with a light Southeasterly breeze providing plenty
of opportunities for gains and losses.
Despite having won Louis
Vuitton Act 10 on Tuesday afternoon, today's race was important to BMW
ORACLE. That's because the 11 challenging teams are also racing for Louis
Vuitton Challenger Ranking Points and for this purpose, ties are not
broken.
This challenger ranking
is used to award bonus points prior to the challenger selection series in
2007. By finishing one point clear of its rival challengers - Luna Rossa
and Emirates Team New Zealand- on the Act 10 leaderboard, BMW ORACLE Racing
drives them further down the Louis Vuitton Challenger Ranking table,
increasing its lead for those important bonus points.
Racing begins again of
Friday with the first fleet race of Louis Vuitton Act 11.
FLIGHT 6 - Make-up
match - BMW ORACLE Racing vs. +39 Challenge
A mild pre-start saw both
boats hit the starting line with speed on starboard tack. BMW ORACLE Racing
looked to be in a windward position where it could force +39 Challenge out
to the layline. But the helmsman on the Italian boat, Iain Percy, was able
to squeeze up and force the Americans to tack to the right hand side of the
course. The boats raced up the centre right of the race course, and the
American team was able to eke out a small advantage over the length of the
leg.
On the first run, the
Americans extended further in the light conditions and built a 38-second
lead that would only increase over the second lap of the course.
provisional
Results and Points Leaderboard
|
|
Flight 6 -
make-up match |
|
|
1
|
BMW ORACLE Racing
beat +39 Challenge |
DELTA 01:31 |
Valencia Louis Vuitton
Act 10 - Leaderboard
|
Position |
|
Matches sailed |
Won |
Points |
|
1 |
BMW ORACLE Racing (USA
87) |
11 |
10 |
10 |
|
2 |
Luna Rossa Challenge
(ITA 86) |
11 |
9 |
9 |
|
3
|
Emirates Team New
Zealand (NZL 84) |
11 |
9 |
9 |
|
4 |
Alinghi (SUI 75) |
11 |
9 |
9 |
|
5 |
Desafío Español 2007
(ESP 65) |
11 |
6 |
6 |
|
6 |
Victory Challenge (SWE
63) |
11 |
6 |
6 |
|
7 |
Mascalzone
Latino-Capitalia Team (ITA 77) |
11 |
5 |
5 |
|
8 |
Team Shosholoza (RSA
83) |
11 |
4 |
4 |
|
9 |
+39 Challenge (ITA 59) |
11 |
3 |
3 |
|
10 |
Areva Challenge (FRA
60) |
11 |
3 |
3 |
|
11 |
United Internet Team
Germany (GER 72) |
11 |
2 |
2 |
|
12 |
China Team (CHN 79) |
11 |
0 |
0 |