O'Leary and Milne win final race at Star Worlds

by Richard Gladwell on 18 Apr 2008
The final race of the 2008 Star class World Championship was won by Ireland's Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne. The two series leaders Poland's Kusznierewicz and Dominik and Italy's Negri and Viale took the overall Gold and Silver with Scheidt and Prada of Brazil taking the Bronze. The final race had been held up by light winds, eventually getting underway under a black flag, which caught seven competitors.

The two series leaders Kusznierewicz/Dominik and Negri/Viale got away to a good start at the committee boat end of the line. At the first windward mark, neither of these two competitors were placed in the top 15, with Carl and Jamie Buchan of the USA leading and New Zealand's Hamish pepper and Carl Williams in third place and on target to take the bronze medal, or maybe silver.

However there was a complete reversal in the fleet rounding the leeward mark with the Buchans and Pepper/Williams dropping out of the top 15 around, and 2007 World Champion Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada climbing back into second overall behind Marazzi and De Maria (SUI). Series leader Kusznierewicz and Negri were having a match race in ninth and tenth places respectively.

Around the windward mark for the second time, there were some small changes in the order with the Irish crew of Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne taking over the running at the head of the fleet, Scheidt dropped back to third and the Polish and Italian crews were sixth and eight respectively - probably enough to take the Gold and Silver medals.

Around the leeward mark for the second time, O'Leary and Milne retained their lead, with Kusznierewicz and Dominik creeping up into fifth place and Negri and Viale still well in contact in seventh. Robert Scheidt third on the points table after Race 5, was holding third place and looked to be secure for the bronze medal.

The positions remained the same up the final leg, with O'Leary and Milne taking the gun, followed by Marazzi and De Maria. Kusznierewicz and Dominik finished in fifth to secure the Gold and Negri and Vialethe sixth place for Silver. They were a place behind Bronze medalists Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA).

Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson finished a difficult series in 52nd, after being black flagged in race two and breaking a shroud in race four. They recovered to win race five but with only one discard were never going to be able to challenge for the medals. Next event for the GBR Olympic pair will be the Dutch regatta at Medemblik in late May.

Star Worlds - Final positions

1 POL Kusznierewicz, Mateusz/Zycki, Dominik 1 1 [44] 3 4 5 14.00pts
2 ITA Negri, Diego/Viale, Luigi 3 3 [25] 9 2 6 23.00
3 BRA Scheidt, Robert/Prada, Bruno [37] 12 2 1 14 4 33.00
4 SUI Marazzi, Flavio/De Maria, Enrico 6 14 [47] 10 8 2 40.00
5 GER Pickel, Marc/Borkowski, Ingo 5 [105/BFD] 6 18 5 11 45.00
6 NZL Pepper, Hamish/Williams, Carl 12 [105/BFD] 3 2 15 19 51.00
7 USA Mendelblatt, Mark/Strube, Mark 2 6 [32] 17 11 20 56.00
8 AUS Murray, Iain/Palfrey, Andrew 11 11 5 24 [31] 18 69.00
9 FRA Rohart, Xavier/Rambeau, Pascal 26 21 1 4 20 [27] 72.00
10 USA Merriman, Rick/Sharp, Brian [58] 20 29 19 6 3 77.00
11 SWE Loof, Fredrik/Ekstrom, Anders 27 8 9 5 [49] 30 79.00
12 CRO Lovrovic Jr., Marin/Mikulicic, Sinsa 29 2 [64] 21 25 9 86.00
13 USA Buchan, Carl/Buchan, Jamie 31 7 12 16 [39] 21 87.00
14 IRL Treacy, Max/Shanks, Anthony 7 [105/BFD] 17 15 26 26 91.00
15 CAN Macdonald, Ross/Mitchell, Steve 25 9 7 [105/DNF] 30 23 94.00
16 AUT Spitzauer, Hans/Nehammer, Christian 14 18 23 19/RDG(1) 21 [84] 95.00
17 IRL O'Leary, Peter/Milne, Stephen 19 5 36 [105/DNF] 36 1 97.00
18 POR Domingos, Afonso/Santos, Bernardo 21 10 [37] 14 22 33 100.00
19 USA MacCausland, John/Murphy, Kevin 15 4 8 27 [56] 54 108.00
20 ITA Santoni, Silvio/Natucci, Dodo 22 23 42 12 [47] 16 115.00
21 GER Stanjek, Robert/Koy, Markus 18 [105/BFD] 26 25 18 31 118.00
22 USA Dane, John/Sperry, Austin 10 [105/BFD] 40 6 3 62 121.00
23 USA Szabo, George/Peters, Rick 39 25 [50] 35 12 25 136.00
24 ARG Rigoni, Alejo/Gonzalez, Gustavo 33 29 38 [41] 27 10 137.00
25 BRA Grael, Lars/Jordao, Marcelo 62 [105/BFD] 20 26 17 12 137.00
26 JPN Suzuki, Kunio/Wada,Daichi 9 15 10 [105/DSQ] 19 85 138.00
27 USA Diaz, Augie/Trinter, Phil [49] 13 28 23 32 42 138.00
28 ITA Modena, Luca/Lambertenghi, Sergio 24 17 33 [105/DNF] 53 13 140.00
29 USA Smith, Jud/Yuill, Terry 51 16 14 [105/DNF] 38 22 141.00
30 ARG MacGowan, Fabian/Engelhard, Federico [50] 26 34 33 40 17 150.00
31 SUI Dannesboe, Henrik/Morey, Edward 34 37 11 38 [41] 35 155.00
32 DEN Anderson, Benny/Just, Mogens 36 [105/BFD] 4 29 59 29 157.00
33 BRA Adler, Alan/Seifert, Ronald 16 32 56 7 [105/BFD] 48 159.00
34 USA Macdonald, Andy/Fatih, Brian [52] 27 18 36 29 49 159.00
35 ESP Bermudez, Roberto/Ferreira, Marcelo 28 [105/BFD] 16 13 61 47 165.00
36 CHI Zuazola, Rodrigo/Riegel, Robert 65 [105/BFD] 19 30 43 14 171.00
37 CAN Cramer, Brian/Bjorn, Tyler 47 22 [68] 20 48 34 171.00
38 ITA Chieffi, Enrico/Colaninno, Nando 32 19 45 [105/RAF] 34 56 186.00
39 GER Fritz, Werner/Seeberger, Uli 44 31 15 31 [105/BFD] 67 188.00
40 NOR Melleby, Eivind/Pedersen, Petter 20 [105/BFD] 48 11 105/DSQ(2) 8 192.00
41 USA Horton, Andy/Scott, Andrew 13 [105/BFD] 24 105/DNF 10 41 193.00
42 SWE Lofstedt, Tom/Carlsson, Krister [69] 48 58 39 13 40 198.00
43 BRA Pascolato, Alessandro/Booning, Henry Raul [105/BFD] 43 41 51.3/RDG(3) 16 50 201.30
44 NED Haakman, Sjaak/Zetzema, Weitze 45 40 [53] 43 42 37 207.00
45 GRE Pelekanakis, L/Stylianos, George 38 56 [105/OCS] 42 66 7 209.00
46 DEN Svendsen, Joegen/Jurlander, Jens Christian 46 55 [81] 22 35 53 211.00
47 GER Wilhelm, Peer/Hollweg, Nils 43 41 30 46 [70] 52 212.00
48 RUS Shevtsov, Sergey/Sadchikov, Roman 23 [105/BFD] 59 37 51 44 214.00
49 IRL O'Connell, Maurice/Cooke, Ben 30 [105/BFD] 21 8 105/BFD 51 215.00
50 RUS Tarakanov, Vitaliy/Karelsky, Maxim [105/BFD] 61 51 49 24 32 217.00
51 CRO Lovrovic, Dan/Lovrovic Sr., Marin 40 30 [105/OCS] 28 50 70 218.00
52 GBR Percy, Iain/Simpson, Andrew 8 [105/BFD] 60 105/DSQ 1 45 219.00
53 NED Jorissen, Sander/Veldhuizen, Erik 64 34 71 [105/BFD] 7 43 219.00
54 ARG Labandeira, Julio/Della Torre, Enrique 73 [105/BFD] 13 34 60 55 235.00
55 CAN Lowden, Hunter/Wilson, Brett 35 36 65 58 45 [68] 239.00
56 USA Filter, Henry/Wagner, Will 54 45 74 47 23 [105/BFD] 243.00
57 CRO Arapov, Mate/Uljevic, Ognjen 60 [105/BFD] 57 105/DNF 9 15 246.00
58 USA Watt, Dave/Martin, Dave 42 [105/BFD] 22 55 58 72 249.00
59 UKR Avksentiev, Evgen/Kondratuyk, Kostyantin [79] 33 75 45 65 36 254.00
60 SUI Stegmeier, Daniel/Stegmeier, Beat 48 [105/DSQ](4) 49 64 71 24 256.00
61 HUN Tenke, Tibor/Bendicsek, Jozsef 63 44 43 32 [105/BFD] 74 256.00
62 USA Reynolds, Mark/Haen