Swedish
Match Tour - Nippon Cup 2003 Finals To Feature
Gilmour, Holmberg
Hayama, JAPAN (November 22, 2003) – Australia’s
Peter Gilmour and the Pizza-La Sailing Team and
Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg and the SeaLife
Rangers survived thrilling five-match semifinals
to advance to tomorrow’s championship round
of the Nippon Cup 2003, the third event on Swedish
Match Tour 2003/2004.
Gilmour
and Oracle BMW Racing’s Gavin Brady traded
wins in their semifinal action, with Gilmour winning
the fifth and final match to advance.
“The
racing was extremely close, Gavin and his team
were sailing very well and it took us a while
to figure out how they were bringing the races
back to us,” said Gilmour.
Regarding
the fifth match, the strategy was simple according
to Gilmour. “We decided, whatever we do,
we’re going to try and grab the right hand
side and keep it. The starts were crucial today
and decided the matches. You wanted to get off
the start line in the best possible position and
then look for the closest puff of breeze to give
you some boat speed.”
Holmberg
meanwhile, defeated his opponent, Team New Zealand
skipper Dean Barker and his OMEGA Match Racing
team in the first two flights, only to see the
Kiwi crew battle back to even the scoreline 2-2.
“It
certainly was five very tough races – a
long semifinal – and exciting racing,”
summed up Holmberg. “Dean and his team always
sail very well and they did today. But, my crew
worked hard and didn’t give up even after
we lost the two races.”
When
asked what changed the momentum in their semifinal
Holmberg offered, “We were struggling a
little bit with the height in the third and fourth
races, so we changed the trim in the fifth race
and it seemed to make a bit of difference. Luckily
we came out on top today.”
Tomorrow’s
duel will be the first time the two veteran match
racers, with nine Swedish Match Tour event titles
between them, will square off in a championship
final.
“It’s
certainly going to be interesting, we both went
10-1 in the round robin and 3-2 both of our semifinals,”
said Gilmour.
“We
have a slightly different style than Magnus. He
and his team are smooth, around-the-course sailors
and you can’t afford to let him get any
sort of a jump.”
“We
tend to start a little bit better and have a little
bit better local knowledge. Tomorrow will really
depend on the conditions and how we can roll into
it all,” concluded Gilmour.
“If
it gets windy its probably a bit more favorable
to Gillie and his team,” responded Holmberg.
“We expect him to be a bit more aggressive
than Dean was in the pre-starts today, on the
other hand, we’ve done a bit more sailing
than when we met him in the round robin (Homberg’s
only loss), so it should be very close tomorrow.”
Today’s
action began with the conclusion of round robin
racing. France’s Luc Pillot began the day
with his fate in his own hands, but lost all three
of his matches, including his re-sail with Barker,
to get shut out of the semifinals.
The
Nippon Cup 2003 features a single round robin
with the top four skippers advancing to Saturday’s
first-to-three points semifinals. Semifinal winners
advance to Sunday’s first-to-three wins
finals, while the losers square off in the petit
finals.
Semifinals
Results
Flight
1
Gilmour
def. Brady
Holmberg
def. Barker
Flight
2
Brady
def. Gilmour
Holmberg
def. Barker
Flight
3
Gilmour
def. Brady
Barker
def. Holmberg
Flight
4
Brady
def. Gilmour
Barker
def. Holmberg
Flight
5
Gilmour
def. Brady
Holmberg
def. Barker
Final
Round Robin Standings
Skipper
Wins Losses
1.Peter
Gilmour, AUS/Pizza-La Sailing Team 10 1
2.Magnus
Holmberg, SWE/SeaLife Rangers 10 1
3.Dean
Barker, NZ/OMEGA Match Racing Team 8 3
4.Gavin
Brady, Oracle BMW Racing 7 4
5.Paolo
Cian, ITA/Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team 7 4
6.Jesper
Radich, Denmark 6 5
7.Luc
Pillot, FRA/Team Pillot 5 6
8.Staffan
Lindberg, FIN/Team Henri Lloyd 4 7
9.Andy
Green, GBR/Team Racing Green 4 7
10.Yautaka
Funazawa, Japan 3 8
11.Eiichiro
Hamazaki, Japan 2 9
12.Takao
Ninomiya, Japan 0 11
Today’s
Round Robin Results
Flight 19 – re-sail
Barker def. Pillot
Flight
21
Cian def. Pillot
Gilmour
def. Radich
Holmberg
def. Lindberg
Flight
22
Gilmour def. Pillot
Holmberg
def. Cian
Radich
def. Lindberg
For
all the latest news and information about the
Swedish Match Tour, visit www.swedishmatchtour.com.
About
the Swedish Match Tour
·
The Swedish Match Tour is comprised of nine of
the world's leading professional sailing events
and is proving to be the ultimate battleground
of sailing.
·
In addition to more than US$800,000 in individual
event prize money, the Swedish Match Tour awards
US$200,000 to the top eight sailors on the Swedish
Match Tour, with the first-place skipper netting
US$60,000.
·
In addition to a US$60,000 first prize, the winner
of the Swedish Match Tour receives the official
Swedish Match Tour Championship Trophy, 15"
(30 cm) high with 22 carat gold gilding, produced
by Swedish Match Tour sponsor Wedgwood. Additionally,
Wedgwood supplies runner-up prizes for second
and third places as well as commemorative plaques
to each event organizer.
·
The Swedish Match Tour produces 155 hours of television
coverage reaching more than 427 million households
worldwide.
·
Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match,
Octagon and the Match Race Association.
·
Swedish Match Tour sponsors include Colorcraft,
Champagne Mumm, Musto, Selden and Wedgwood.
