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Black Sheep Racing with the National Congress Palace Cup. Image copyright Martin Kireev.
by Sails of the White Nights media
Reuben Corbett (New Zealand) matched Eugeniy Neugodnikov (Ekaterinburg) in the finals of the "Sails of White Nights. National Congress Palace Cup 2010", and the team from New Zeland won with confidence.
Round robin clarified who would go further into the semi-finals. That were Damien Iehl, Eugeniy Neugodnikov, Simone Ferrarese and Reuben Corbett. Iehl, winner of the Sails of White Nights 2009 and leader of this round roubin, had a right to choose the opponent for the semi-finals and chose Corbett. But Reuben scored 2 points in a row, leaving Damien no chance.
Thus, teams from New Zealand and Russia met in the finals. The Organizers decided to conduct the finals up to the first team to score two points. Reuben Corbett did all right, scored 2 points and won the Cup!
The final press conference took place shortly in the race village after the finish of the last match. The winners shared their emotions with the public and thanked Organizers, Race Committee and the Jury:
"We came here to participate in the Qualifiers, did well and reached Grade 1. It was our first Grade 1 ever. We are happy to have qualified for this event and even happier to have won it," says Reuben Corbett. "It was great to compete against such strong match racers as Damien Iehl and Eugeniy Neugodnikov."
Black Sheep Racing know how to have fun with the champagne! Image copyright Martin Kireev.
Eugeniy Neugodnikov and Damien Iehl, who took 2nd and 3rd respectively, are a bit dissatisfied with the results shown but admit that the best should always win. And exactly that was the case today.
Tonight the prize giving and the official closing ceremony will take place in the race village. The winner of the international match race "Sails of White Nights. National Congress Palace Cup 2020" gets a right to participate in World Cup Tour lap in Sweden from 5 to 10 July, 2010.
Final Results
1 Reuben Corbett (New Zealand)
2 Eugeniy Neugodnikov (Ekaterinburg)
3 Damien Iehl (France)
4 Simone Ferrarese (Italy)
5 Sergey Musikhin (Ekaterinburg)
6 Alvaro Marinho (Portugal)
7 Keith Swinton (Australia)
8 Andrey Arbuzov (Moscow)
9 Vladimir Lipavsky (Moscow)
10 Manuel Weiller (Spain)
11 Przemek Tarnacki (Poland)
12 Alexis Littoz-Baritel (France)
Sails of the White Nights
