ORACLE Racing Spithill to meet Energy Team in Final of Match Racing Championship
November 19, 2011
ORACLE Racing Spithill to meet Energy Team in Final of San Diego Match Racing Championship at America’s Cup World Series
Both Semi Final pairings saw convincing 2-0 sweeps for the winners, as ORACLE Racing Spithill and Energy Team advanced to the Final of the Match Racing Championship at the America’s Cup World Series.
The first Semi Final pairing featured two heavyweight teams – Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE Racing Spithill who came into the regatta as the top ranked crews on the World Series leaderboard.
On Friday, it was Spithill’s team who won the first race in the pre-start, pushing the New Zealand boat over the starting line early and then leading the Kiwis around the race track after they paid off their start penalty. The second match was closer, with Dean Barker’s Kiwis winning the start before Spithill escaped a tight New Zealand covering position to find a pleasing wind shift on the left side of the race course to move into the lead. With team principal Larry Ellison on board for both races, Spithill and crew swept their way into the Final.
In the second Semi Final, Energy Team trailed early in both races before using a similar passing move on the first downwind leg. With Artemis Racing leading the two boats towards the course boundary, new Energy Team skipper Yann Guichard was able to gybe his boat inside the Swedish challenger in both races, each time getting a favorable puff of wind at a critical moment to power ahead of Artemis to make the pass. From there, Energy Team extended in each contest to advance to the Match Racing Final on Saturday.
Results – San Diego Match Racing Championship – Semi Final Matches
SF1 – Match 1. ORACLE Racing Spithill beat Emirates Team New Zealand
SF1 – Match 2. ORACLE Racing Spithill beat Emirates Team New Zealand
ORACLE Racing Spithill wins SF1, 2-0
SF2 – Match 1. Energy Team beat Artemis Racing
SF2 – Match 2. Energy Team beat Artemis Racing
Energy Team wins SF2, 2-0
Saturday’s program (racing starts with a warning signal at 1305 PST)
Green Comm Racing vs. Team Korea (7th/8th)
Aleph vs. ORACLE Racing Coutts (5th/6th)
Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Artemis Racing (3rd/4th)
Finals – Energy Team vs. ORACLE Racing Spithill (first to win two)
