Movin' and Shakin' at 2015 Audi Melges 20 European Championship

by Joy Dunigan on 5 Sep 2015 Four additional races were held on Day Two of the 2015 European Championship/Audi-Tron Sailing Series Act 5 organized by B.Plan Sport and Events (BPSE) in cooperation with Melges Europe, bringing the number of completed heats to eight. Leading the thirty-two strong fleet by a substantial twenty points, Dario Levi's Fremito D'Arja delivered a crushing performance, ending the day with a one-three-two and a thirteen, which served as his discard (effective after six races).

'We are very excited to be watching the grand finale with a certain degree of calmness, especially since the last two days of racing have been very physical,' said Niccolo Bianchi, tactician aboard Levi's Fremito D'Arja. 'Despite the fact that we have sailed very well, the overall standings prove that the competition is very intense amongst this incredible gathering of more than thirty Audi Melges 20s!'

Hanging tough, moving up four places in the overall standings is Corrado Agusta's Customly listed in second place. Russia's Vladimir Prosikhi on Nika had a banner day moving up from eighth to third overall.

Immediately Levi and team showed their strength by winning Race Five, the first race of the day. In full chase was Matteo Marenghi Vaselli on Lucifer who came second, followed by Igor Rytov's RUS-296 in third.

Geoff Cavreth aboard the event sponsored Audi G-Tron Fratelli Giacomel took top honors in Race Six. Prosikhi proved he was getting warmed up nicely finishing second, with Levi in third.

Prosikhi called it perfectly in Race Seven to take the win wire-to-wire, however his lead did not go unchallenged. All race long he held off a tenacious Levi, Rytov, Agusta and Valentin Zavadnikov's Synergy GT for the win.

With the breeze pumping in nicely, Race Eight welcomed Guido Miani's Out of Reach to the front of the line. Miani commanded the fleet around the track defending against Wes Whitmyer's Slingshot, Agusta and Japan's Norikatsu Aizawa's Contious. In the end Miani took the win, Whitmyer came second followed by Aizawa. Yuriy Morozov on Russotrans and Agusta rounded out the top five respectively.

The fleet was definitely on the move today. Besides top finisher Levi, there was great advancement for some, while others slid down the ranks. For example, Agusta graduated the day up six places on the scoreboard potentially granting him podium honors. Prosikhi advanced five spots, while Rytov soared from fifteenth to fourth overall!

On the other end of the spectrum, Mirko De Falco's Peccere went from second to tenth after a tough day on the race course. Oleg Evdokimenko on Kotyara found it hard to keep up falling from fourth to ninth.

From the looks of the scoreboard, more move ups and shake ups are possible tomorrow. Only a few points separate third thru ninth positions.

More racing continues on Saturday, the final day of competition in Trapani.

Top Ten Results (Preliminary - After Eight Races, One Discard)

1.) Dario Levi, Fremito D' Arja; 4-1-2-8-1-3-2-[13] = 21
2.) Agusta Corrado, Customly; 5-2-[19]-12-5-5-7-5 = 41
3.) Vladimir Prosikhi, Nika; [21]-11-5-3-12-2-1-17 = 51
4.) Igor Rytov, RUS-296; 3-8-18-[20]-3-10-3-6 = 51
5.) Guido Miani, Out of Reach; 2-13-1-5-16-15-[17]-1 = 53
6.) Matteo Marenghi Vaselli, Lucifer; [13]-10-11-4-2-7-8-11 = 53
7.) Yuriy Morozov, Russotrans; [23]-16-6-1-11-4-12-4 = 54
8.) Geoff Carveth, Audi G-Tron F.lli Giacomel; 9-5-10-6-8-1-15-[20] = 54
9.) Oleg Evdokimenko, Kotyara; 10-7-3-9-[26]-9-6-10 = 54
10.) Mirko de Falco, Peccere; 6-6-4-2-17-11-[22]-14 = 60

2015 Audi Melges 20 European Championship - Audi Tron Sailing Series ACT 5 - Preliminary Cumulative Results

Bow   Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 T O Total European Championship Racing One Design Division Audi Melges 20 1. ITA 50 Fremito D'Arja Audi Melges 20 Dario Levi 4 1 2 8 1 3 2 13 [13] 21.0 2. 81 MON 81 Customly Audi Melges 20 Corrado Agusta 5 2 19 12 5 5 7 5 [19] 41.0 3. 261 RUS 261 Nika Audi Melges 20 Vladimir Prosikhi 21 11 5 3 12 2 1 17 [21] 51.0 4. RUS 296 RUS 296 Audi Melges 20 Igor Rytov 3 8 18 20 3 10 3 6 [20] 51.0 5. 1 MON 1 Out of Reach Audi Melges 20 Guido Miani 2 13 1 5 16 15 17 1 [17] 53.0 6. MON 108 Lucifer Audi Melges 20 Matteo Marenghi Vaselli 13 10 11 4 2 7 8 11 [13] 53.0 7. 265 RUS 265 Russotrans Audi Melges 20 Yuriy Morozov 23 16 6 1 11 4 12 4 [23] 54.0 8. 124 ITA 124 Audi G-Tron F.lli Giacomel Audi Melges 20 Riccardo Simoneschi 9 5 10 6 8 1 15 20 [20] 54.0 9. 36 RUS 47 KOTYARA Audi Melges 20 Oleg Evdokimenko 10 7 3 9 26 9 6 10 [26] 54.0 10. ITA 112 Peccerè Audi Melges 20 Mirko De Falco 6 6 4 2 17 11 22 14 [22] 60.0 11. 276 USA 16 Section 16 Audi Melges 20 Richard Davies 12 15 8 10 4 8 13 9 [15] 64.0 12. MON 713 Synergy GT Audi Melges 20 Matteo Tenti / Valentin Zavadnikov 7 12 9 19 14 12 4 15 [19] 73.0 13. 217 USA 217 Slingshot Audi Melges 20 Wes Whitmyer Jr 11 19 29 15 6 6 16 2 [29] 75.0 14. 277 JPN 277 Contious Audi Melges 20 Norikatsu Aizawa 15 3 17 13 15 22 10 3 [22] 76.0 15. 255 RUS 2 Pirogovo Sailing Audi Melges 20 Alexander Ezhkov 8 21 16 7 9 17 14 12 [21] 83.0 16. 270 ITA 167 Maolca 167 Audi Melges 20 Manfredi Vianini Tolomei 14 4 13 14 10 14 20 16 [20] 85.0 17. 145 ITA 67 Zenhea Audi Melges 20 Marco Cali 1 17 7 18 19 19 11 18 [19] 91.0 18. 180 CZE 180 Aloha Audi Melges 20 Jan Kuchar 16 9 22 17 20 20 5 21 [22] 108.0 19. 149 ITA 149 Camay Audi Melges 20 Lauro Bonora 20 18 15 22 7 13 33/DSQ 33/BFD [33] 128.0 20. 205 RUS 205 Fische Audi Melges 20 Viacheslav Ermolenko 17 25 26 26 13 18 21 8 [26] 128.0 21. 104 USA 131 Le Rescator Audi Melges 20 Erwan Le Gall 25 23 21 23 18 16 9 19 [25] 129.0 22. RSA 219 TNT racing Audi Melges 20 Tina Plattner/ Tony Norris 24 26 24 29 23 25 24 7 [29] 153.0 23. 137 RUS 137 RUS 137 Audi Melges 20 MIKHAYLIK ALEXANDER 18 29 27 16 25 26 18 25 [29] 155.0 24. 107 RUS 107 Leviathan Audi Melges 20 Vadim Yakhinson 30 27 28 11 22 23 23 27 [30] 161.0 25. 189 ITA 189 Sailing Lab Audi Melges 20 Andrea Bruschi 27 31 20 30 24 21 25 22 [31] 169.0 26. 156 RUS 156 Quantum Audi Melges 20 VLADIMIR Sokolov 22 14 12 24 33/DNC 33/DNC 33/DNC 33/DNC [33] 171.0 27. POL 264 MAG TINY Audi Melges 20 Krzysztof Krempec 32 20 31 21 21 24 33/DSQ 23 [33] 172.0 28. 199 RUS 199 VICTOR Audi Melges 20 VICTOR NOVOSELOV 29 30 14 31 28 28 19 26 [31] 174.0 29. SWE 202 Intermezzo Audi Melges 20 Johannes Lind-Widestam 26 22 23 25 29 33/DNC 33/DNC 24 [33] 182.0 30. 275 RUS 275 Victor Audi Melges 20 Alexander Novoselov 28 24 25 27 33/DNF 33/DNF 33/DNC 33/DNC [33] 203.0 31. RUS 185 Phantom Audi Melges 20 Ilya Pavlov 31 32 32 32 27 27 26 28 [32] 203.0 32. 106 ITA 106 Asante Sana Audi Melges 20 Claudio Dutto 19 28 30 28 33/RET 33/RET 33/DNC 33/DNC [33] 204.0