Riva Del Garda, Italy – After Garda’s past rainy days and a short morning postponement ashore, the 57-strong Audi Melges 20 World Championship fleet welcomed plentiful sunshine and a nice 8-10 knots of breeze to the Lake Garda racing arena. Three races are now complete in the 10-part racing series with former Gold Cup Champion and Audi Sailing Series Champion Alessandro Rombelli aboard STIG ahead by 7 points.
In second and third overall are the Kilroy’s from California, USA. John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti finished deep in Race One, but had nice fourth place finishes in Races Two and Three to currently sit in second place. Eleven year-old Liam Kilroy on Wildman was by far the story of the day. Fresh off the starting line, he came on strong early to score a 3-2 in the first two races. Despite a deep 20th place finish in Race Three, Liam’s initial great performances helped him preserve his top three position.
The breeze shifted all day starting at 170 for Race One to 190 by days end. Yuriy Morozov aboard Russotrans progressively chased Liam Kilroy around the track in the first race, as did Oleg Evdokimenko on Kotyara. It was on the last run with the best pressure out on the right, Morozov took advantage of clear air getting ahead and the win. Evdokimenko followed suit to overtake for second. Kilroy, who steered a little better than center of the course came third.
The youthful Kilroy kept up the pace to take the top mark in Race Two, this time with Rombelli on his heels. Claudio Dutto’s Asante Sana and Achille Onorato’s Mascalzone Latino Jr. followed closely. Liam held his position through the gate, with Rombelli challenging for the lead. Rombelli was fast upwind eventually taking command and claiming the win at the line. Liam remained in second. Evdokimenko, again came from behind on the last run out on the right side to finish third.
The final race of the day welcomed Aloha, the one and only entry from the Czech Republic helmed by Jan Kuchar around the top in first, Dario Levi’s Fremito D’Arja in second, and Roberto Martinez on Audi e-Tron in third. As the race unfolded, Martinez shifted his Audi Melges 20 into high gear on the first run to take the lead by a couple of boat lengths ahead of Mirko De Falco’s Peccere, now in second and Rombelli in third — all three headed for shoreline speed on the left, then right again as the breeze continued to move. Martinez rounded the final top mark of the race in first, followed by Rombelli and Onorato. The breeze got even lighter for the finish, around 6 knots with Martinez taking the win, Rombelli was second and Onorato took third.
Tomorrow, Championship racing continues with an earlier than previously scheduled 09.00 warning to take advantage of some variations on the breeze.
TOP TEN RESULTS (After Three Races)
1.) Alessandro Rombelli/Daniele Cassinari, STIG; 11-1-2 = 14
2.) John Kilroy/Paul Goodison, Samba Pa Ti; 13-4-4 = 21
3.) Liam Kilroy/Steve Hunt, Wildman; 3-2-20 = 25
4.) Russ Lucas/Harry Melges III, Shimmer; 5-6-16 = 27
5.) Achille Onorate/Malcolm Page, Mascalzone Latino, Jr.; 18-9-3 = 30
6.) Dario Levi/Niccolo Bianchi, Fremito D’Arja; 6-17-8 = 31
7.) Oleg Evdokimenko/Maxim Semerkhanov, Kotyara; 2-3-28 = 33
8.) Matteo Marenghi Vaselli/Leonardo Chiarugi, Lucifer; 16-10-10 = 36
9.) Jan Kuchar/Martin Trcka, Aloha; 25-11-7 = 43
10.) Claudio Dutto/Gianmarco Togni, Asante Sana Sailing Team; 9-7-31 = 47
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