BlackMatch Racing Match Race France - Day 3 Cruise to Quarterfinals

by BlackMatch Racing on 10 Apr 2010 Current World Match Racing Champions, BlackMatch Racing, report on the first event of the 2010 season, the Match Race France:

Hello all from BlackMatch,

A cruise? Well perhaps it wasn't a quite a cruise but the BlackMatch team have qualified for the quarterfinals in a respectable third position at the Match Race France event, in Marseille. Rounding out the day with 7 wins and 4 losses after completing the round robin, this was enough to finish in third behind Ben Ainslie on 8 wins and the table topping Mirsky Racing Team, who have been showing form all week with an impressive tally of 9 wins.

Our day today saw us suffer two disappointing losses to Torvar Mirsky and Francesco Bruni, however we rounded out the day with concisive wins over Peter Gilmour and Ben Ainslie, our win against Gilmour sending him out of the regatta. An error in the start against Torvar which saw us over the line when the start gun went and having to return to the line meant we were always playing catch up and although we managed to make gains all around the course, it was too little too late. In our loss against Bruni he came out firing in a must win match for him and despite forcing a penalty on him in the pre-start, they sailed brilliantly around the course to take the win that sent them through to the final 8.

Effectively the regatta now starts over again with the slate wiped clean and teams set to go into a first to 3 wins quarterfinal series. The high flying Mirsky Racing Team have earnt the right to choose their quarterfinal opponent while Ben gets the next choice followed by us, so it will be an interesting night for the teams as they decide who they are going to pick to race in the morning. It will be a tough choice with such a competitive group qualifying for the next stage, the other 5 teams of the quarterfinals being made up of 3 French teams and the two Italian teams, but it is perhaps fitting that the top 3 teams are the podium teams from the overall 2009 Championship.

For all media please visit www.wmrt.com or www.blackmatchracing.com . Our website is now updated daily, and has all the video news releases from the media team here in Marseille, as well as daily podcasts from the team. During the final stages of the regatta on Saturday and Sunday we will have live coverage of the racing on our website, which if all goes well tomorrow, we will be featuring in.

As always we would like to thank FedEx Express for their awesome sponsorship and Emirates Team New Zealand for their support as well as friends and family back home and around the world.

BlackMatch Racing this week is Adam Minoprio, David Swete, Tom Powrie and Nick Blackman.

About the World Match Racing Tour

Match Race France, April 6 - 11, 2010
Match Race Germany, May 19 - 24, 2010
Korea Match Cup, June 8 - 13, 2010
Troia Portugal Match Cup, June 22 - 27, 2010
Match Cup Sweden, July 5 - 11, 2010
St Moritz Match Race, Aug 31 - Sept 5, 2010
Danish Open, Sept 8 - 12, 2010
Vietnam Match Cup, Sept 21 - 26, 2010
Argo Group Match Cup, Oct 4 - 10, 2010
Monsoon Cup, Nov 30 - Dec 5, 2010

2010 Tour Card Holders

Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch – ISAF Match Racing World Champion (2009)
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team – Finished second in 2009
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin – Finished third in 2009
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzura
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team
Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
Ian Williams (GBR) Sail Bahrain

Tour Standings in 2009

1. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 138 Points
2. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 97 Points
3. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin 95 Points
4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR 93 Points
5. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team Racing 89 Points
6. Ian Williams (GBR) Sail Bahrain 83 Points
7. Sebastian Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team 55 Points
8. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 48 Points

Count down:

Stage 1 - Match Race France, in 5 days (April 6-11, 2010)

The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the leading professional sailing series featuring 10 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with 'Special Event' status.

The World Tour awards over US$1.5million in prize money with points awarded at each event culminating in the crowning of the 'ISAF Match Racing World Champion'. In addition, an incentive to compete in the world’s premier sailing series just got bigger. A US$250,000 overall prize pool for the top nine teams with a $50,000 bonus for the outright winner of next year’s World Match Racing Tour is now on offer.

Events utilise the same 'match race' format used in the America’s Cup with racing taking place in identically supplied racing yachts which places a focuses on team work and skill. Racing takes place close to the shore for the general public to follow the races as virtual on-the-water stadiums.

Media and television highlights coverage reaches over 600 million households in excess of 100 countries around the world.