Australia's James Spithill wins Centro Cup for second time

by Sailsportz on 17 Jun 2003 Sydney sailor James Spithill (23yrs) skippered an all Australian crew to defeat American veteran Ed Baird 3 matches to 1 in the final of the 2003
Pedrini Cento Cup Grade 1 Match Racing series in fresh conditions on Italy's Lake Garda on Sunday.

Spithill had earlier in the day defeated World No. 1 Karol Jablonski 2-0 in the semi final round. The
field for the classic included 7 of the top ten World ranked match racers.

Sailing with Spithill were Joe Newton QLD, plus Andy Fethers and Ben Durham both from WA, the same team who won this event in 2000. The event
proved a fairly savage initiation for Australia's other representative 'new kid on the block' Mike Dunstan. Whilst out for a duck, Dunstan put up
a very credible showing in his first event at this level.

Spithill, who continues a solid run of form with two 1sts, two 2nds and a 3rd from five Grade 1 events contested overseas this season, dashed from
the presentation ceremony to a waiting car for an overnight trip to Trieste where he will today (Monday) face a field including six of the ten
Syndicates from the last America's Cup in identical 50 foot yachts in the Nations Cup.

Triple Olympic gold medallist Jochen Schumann will skipper the Team Alinghi entry whilst Spithill, the former OneWorld helmsman, will skipper an international crew of 10 including Prada afterguard Michele Ivaldi and former heavyweights from the OneWorld campaign.

For information on Nation's Cup see (www.tuttatrieste.it) After Trieste, the team will
take a 1 week break before the finale of the Swedish Match Tour in Marstrand, Sweden. (www.swedishmatchcup.com)

Complete overall placings for Pedrini Cento Cup 2003, nationality and current world ranking;

1. JAMES SPITHILL(AUS) WR 16

2. ED BAIRD(USA) WR 5

3. KAROL JABLONSKI(POL) WR 1

4. BJORN HANSEN(SWE) WR 6

5. PAOLO CIAN(ITA) WR 7

6. MATHIEU RICHARD(FRA) WR 9

7. MICHAEL LINDQVIST(SWE) WR 4

8. JES GRAM-HANSEN(DEN) WR 2

9. MATTEO SIMONCELLI(ITA) WR 20

10. MAXIM TARANOV(RUS) WR 23

11.MICHAEL DUNSTAN(AUS) WR 24

11. MARK CAMPBELL-JAMES(GBR) WR 33

Further Information on Cento Cup: www.centomiglia.it, www.cupineurope.com