Sail-World.com : TP52 - Mutua Madrilena leads Murcia Trophy Regatta
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TP52 - Mutua Madrilena leads Murcia Trophy Regatta |
Action, excitement, thrills, spills and tension right to the finish line, Mutua Madrilena's two solid scored sees them top the leader board at the Region of Murcia Trophy regatta.
From what was undoubtedly one of the most challenging and exciting coastal races of the last couple of years on the MedCup Circuit it was the consistency of Vasco Vascotto and crew of Mutua Madrilena today which sees them top the overall leader board of the Region of Murcia Trophy Regatta.
Historic Cartagena has seen many, many important sea battles over the years, with the rich local mineral resources nearby and strategic importance of the city at stake, but today’s coastal race produced an epic finale over the final two miles, in shifty, puffy breezes when a three way battle to the line was won by Alberto Roemmers (ARG) Matador, holding off Jochen Schuemann (GER) and the crew of Platoon powered by Team Germany, who in turn had their hands successfully containing Mutua Madrilena to take third.
Vascotto’s Mutua Madrilena a crew lead through the first scoring gate. Adding their third place through the finish line they lead Matador by three points going in to the penultimate day of racing at what is fast becoming one of the most popular and challenging venues on this Circuit.
In 18-23 knots of NE-E’ly breeze Bribón’s hard work to lead around the windward mark and to the first leeward turn was undone when their spinnaker refused to come down due to a halyard clutch malfunction. This forced them out to the right of the course when the left was favoured, and they dropped to 10th by the second round.
Matador’s tactician Thierry Peponnet (FRA) called a good first run and second beat and when they turned on to the four miles reaching leg out to a gybe mark, they looked to have good lead. But as the breeze headed and increased it became a frenetic battle to choose the right sail and to preserve it in the blustery conditions. They lost out slightly to Quantum on this leg, but were always in contention.
Comeback kings were Platoon who fouled Quantum Racing when their gennaker hit the circuit leader’s backstay on the drop and the 720 turn dropped them to 12th. But despite splitting their gennaker on the reach they pulled back six places on the reach and four more places on a thrilling broad reach to round the scoring gate in second place which they held all the way to the finish line in the harbour.
Two second places compensate Platoon in a small way for the disappointment of missing Race 4 due to gear failure in their rig.
Bribón, too made a steady recovery down the long broad reach to the scoring gate to take fifth place points, gaining one more place through the second half of the 31.7 miles course to lie third in the regatta.
Keeping Artemis (SWE) behind them in both sections of the race sees Bribón regain second place overall on the Audi MedCup Circuit 2.8 points ahead of their Swedish rivals.
For Audi MedCup Circuit leaders Quantum Racing (USA) it was a day to ponder and de-brief their weaknesses. There was nothing easy or straightforward in the split breeze which favoured both sides of the course at different times, but in the middle stages Terry Hutchinson (USA) and team dropped three places after leading the race at the mark immediately before the scoring gate and then they slid back to sixth by the finish.
TP52 - Region of Murcia Trophy - Overall standings after 5 races.
1 Mutua Madrileña SPA (6,5, 2, 2,1,3, 19)
2 Matador ARG (2,6,6,5,3,1, 22)
3 Bribón SPA (1,3,9,3,5,4, 24)
4 Quantum Racing USA (5,1,4,8,4,6, 28)
5 El Desafio SPA (9,4,3,1,7,5, 29)
6 Platoon powered by T. Germany GER (11,2,1,15DNF,2,2, 33)
7 Artemis SWE (3,9,5,4,6,8, 45)
8 Caixa Galicia SPA (4,10,7,6,13,7, 46)
9 Audi Q8 ITA (8,7,8,7,8,10, 47)
10Tau Ceramica SPA (7,14,10,10,11,12, 64)
TP52 - Audi MedCup Circuit 2008 - Overall standings after 40 races, Alicante, Marsiglia, Cagliari, Maiorca and Cartagena
1 Quantum Racing USA 189
2 Bribón SPA 233,2
3 Artemis SWE 236
4 Matador ARG 260
5 Platoon by Team Germany GER 275
6 Mutua Madrileña SPA 287,4
7 El Desafío SPA 330
8 Mean Machine MON 350
9 CxG Corporación Caixa Galicia SPA 374,6
10 Audi Q8 ITA 404
by Audi Event media
9:12 PM Thu 28 Aug 2008 GMT
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