Key West Race Week - Fantastica takes lead on Day 1
by Joy Dunigan on 23 Jan 2013
Key West Race Week 2013 - Day 1 JOY - International Melges 32 Class Association
http://melges32.com/
Premiere Racing's 2013 Quantum Key West Race Week first day of racing got underway today. The eleven-strong Melges 32 fleet participating enjoyed two races on day one of the five-day series placing Italy's Lanfranco Cirillo helming Fantastica in the overall lead. Cirillo, a former Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series Champion, is tied for points with Roberto Tomasini Grinover's Robertissima 1 in second.
The points remain tight at the top with third and fourth occupied by Andrea Pozzi's Bombarda and Japan's Keisuke Suzuki on Swing, also tied with nine points each. 'We've made some changes in our crew this year, in particular we have Chris Nicolson as our new tactician.' commented Suzuki prior to racing. 'We did well last year and hope to do even better this week. This is a tough fleet. We'll just have to wait and see.' Deneen Demourkas' Groovederci rounded out the top five.
Pozzi delivered a command performance in the light air conditions to win the first race of the day, with Grinover constantly challenging for the lead to land second. Demourkas came third.
With the breeze on the increase, Cirillo got the upperhand at the start of Race Two as Pozzi suffered a setback being called OCS along with Terry McSweeney's Flat Stanley, Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino and Joel Ronning's Catapult. Cirillo and Grinover battled fiercely into the last mark of the day, neck-and-neck with the final run making all the difference for Cirillo to take the win. Valentin Zavadinkov at the helm of Team Synergy GT got in on the action, overtaking Grinover for second. Grinover settled for third.
Racing is expected to continue on Tuesday with a little more breeze.
Top five results: (After Two Races)
1.) Lanfranco Cirillo/Michele Paoletti, Fantastica; 4-1 = 5
2.) Roberto Tomasini Grinover/Flavio Favini, Robertissima 1; 2-3 = 5
3.) Andrea Pozzi/Lorenzo Bressani, Bombarda; 1-8 = 9
4.) Keisuke Suzuki/Chris Nicolson, Swing; 5-4 = 9
5.) Deneen Demourkas/Kelvin Harrap, Groovederci; 3-7 =
Full Melges 32 Blog
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/105831
