Mirsky Racing Team in action in the Troia Portugal Match Cup quarter-finals against the French Match Racing Team (Philippe Presti). Image copyright Wander Roberto/World Match Racing Tour.
MRT qualify for the semi-finals of the Portugal Match Cup
by Kinley Fowler
Mirsky Racing Team went into the day knowing they were one win away from a guaranteed top 4 placing and a semi final berth.
Facing the French Match Racing Team (Philippe Presti) in the moderate Portuguese sea breeze, MRT dominated the prestart and rounded the first top mark with a 5 boat length lead.
MRT displayed strong crew work to defend and even extend their lead to sail to victory over the French veteran.
"Although on paper, our last 2 regattas results have not been so great, we did learn a lot and we are now putting those lessons into practice. We are sailing quite well and are happy with our progress and really look forward to the semis" said MRT helmsman Torvar Mirsky after their morning quarterfinal victory.
The victory early in the day allowed MRT to sit back and watch the other quarterfinals battle it out a much sought after semi-final place.
Once the quarterfinals were completed MRT were paired up to race the other French Match Racing Team skipper Mathieu Richard in the semi-finals.
The breeze shut down and the competitors were not able to start the semis.
The semi-final races will be held tomorrow morning followed immediately by the finals to decide the 2009 Troia Match Cup champion.
Results:
Semi-finalists
Mirsky Racing Team (Torvar Mirsky) vs French Match Racing Team (Mathieu Richard)
ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing (Adam Minoprio) vs Bahrain Team Pindar (Ian Williams)
5th – 8th Sail off held tomorrow:
Yanmar Racing (Peter Gilmour) AUS
K-Challenge (Seb Col) FRA
French Match Racing Team (Philippe Presti) FRA
Team Onboard (Bjorn Hansen) SWE
9th Waka Racing (Phil Robertson) NZL
10th Seth Sailing (Alvaro Marinho) POR
11th Team Proximo (Ian Ainslie) RSA
12th Andrew Arbuzov RUS
Mirsky Racing Team
World Match Racing Tour
No comments:
Post a Comment