| Shocks and surprises mark day two of Pegasus Alaçati PWA World Cup |
| Wednesday, 13 August 2008 08:31 |
|
Starting the day with the second race in the men’s fleet, the 74 man first round was quickly pruned down to two ten man semi finals without major upset. Rolling onto the first semi final, the crowds were dumbstruck when they heard that seven of the ten-man heat had false started. Amongst the perpetrators were Albeau, Finian Maynard (RRD, NeilPryde), Peter Volwater (F2, North) and Ben Van Der Steen (Exocet, Simmer). The mass disqualification left Pritchard, Matt Wemms (Fanatic, North) and Jesper Orth (Starboard, Severne) free to advance without even having to sail the heat. The second semi final was marginally more predictable despite Dan Ellis’ (Fanatic, MauiSails) disqualification thanks to the seemingly contagious spat of false starts. In the rerun minus Ellis, Dunkerbeck stole the heat from Bora Kozanoglu (Starboard), but his victory was by no means handed to him on a plate, as the defiant Turk battled right to the finish line to claim a well-earned second place. In the race final, local Kozanoglu seemed hell-bent on avenging his previous clash with Dunkerbeck. Sniffing his first ever race win, and backed by the ecstatic local crowd, the Turkish racer summoned an almighty performance to fend off Dunkerbeck and defy all the doubters. Rapturous applause congratulated the local hero as he claimed the race as his, leaving Dunkerbeck to settle for second, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel (Exocet, NeilPryde) in third and Pritchard fourth. The twelve strong losers final was won by Albeau, who’d done the best he could to make amends for his semi final shocker. Moving over to the women’s fleet for race two, and Verena Fauster (F2, Gaastra) and Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou, The Loft) made their intentions clear, winning their respective semi finals. Advancing into the final, Karin Jaggi seemed the most determined to take the race win. After a spirited performance she sat untouched at the front of the fleet, leaving Marta Hlavaty (MauiSails) and Lee Korzitz (Tabou, Gaastra) to fight it out for second. On the finish line, Jaggi won by a clear margin, and Hlavaty sneaked ahead of Korzitz to take second. In the women’s losers final, Lena Erdil (Loft) bounced back after narrowly missing out on a spot in the final. A stellar performance awarded her with the win ahead of Annika Gillgren (Severne). Race three saw Valerie Ghibaudo (Tabou, Loft) return to dominance after victory in her semi final. In the ensuing final she laid waste to Jaggi’s advances to add another victory to her name. Jaggi had to make do with second place and Armenia’s Sarah Hébert (Starboard, Naish) mopped up the remaining podium place in third. A depleted losers final thanks to three false starts saw Gillgren take the victory and therefore place eleventh in that race.
|
