Dean Barker defended his title at the ACI Ronhill Cup, beating Prada Challenge's Gavin Brady two wins to one loss in the championship final. This is the third time in 2001 that Brady has lost a grade 1 final, going down to Frenchman Bertrand Pace in Auckland's Steinlager Line 7 regatta and to Peter Gilmour in Perth's Sun Microsystems Australia Cup.

Magnus Holmberg and Team StoraEnso, by virtue of their third place finish against Bertrand Pacé at the event, clinched the Swedish Match Tour Championship with two events remaining. The 15 points Holmberg picked up in Split eliminated his closest competitor and defending Swedish Match Tour champion who will not be contesting the next event on the Tour, the Match Race Lake Constance, due to America's Cup obligations and will not be able to close the point gap even with a victory at the Swedish Match Tour's final event the Swedish Match Cup.

FINAL RESULTS

Dean Barker (Team New Zealand) def. Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge)
Gavin Brady def. Dean Barker
Dean Barker def. Gavin Brady

PETIT FINAL RESULTS

Magnus Holmberg (Team StoraEnso) def. Bertrand Pace (Team New Zealand) Bertrand Pace def. Magnus Holmberg
Magnus Holmberg def. Bertrand Pace

SEMI FINAL RESULTS

Flight 1 : Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge) def. Bertrand Pace (Team New Zealand) Dean Barker (Team New Zealand) def. Magnus Holmberg (Team StoraEnso)

Flight 2 Gavin Brady def. Bertrand Pace Dean Barker def. Magnus Holmberg

Finally there was some wind today which made it possible for the quarterfinal races and for 2 flights of the semi final to be completed. The sailing started early in the afternoon. Wind up to 10 knots. They were sailing to two victories in the quarterfinal.

QUARTER FINAL

Team New Zealand's Dean Barker and Bertrand Pacé led their Kiwi crews into the semi-finals of the Swedish Match Tour's ACI Ronhill Cup in Split, Croatia this afternoon. Both Barker and Pace defeated their Danish opponents, Jesper Radich and Jes Gram-Hansen, respectively, two races to zero.

Joining the Kiwi couple were Prada Challenge's Gavin Brady who similarly swept past GBR Challenge's Andy Green.

The only pairing needing three matches to determine a victor featured Magnus Holmberg of Team StoraEnso and the Victory Challenge against Rod Davis of Prada. Holmberg and crew dropped the first match to the Italian team before rallying to take two in a row, winning the deciding match by one minute and twelve seconds and denying Prada a chance to send two teams on to the next round.

RESULTS

Flight 1 : Bertrand Pacé def. Jes Gram-Hansen - Dean Barker def. Jesper Radich Johansen - Gavin Brady def. Andy Green - Rod Davis def. Magnus Holmberg

Flight 2 : Bertrand Pacé def. Jes Gram-Hansen - Dean Parker def. Jesper Radich Johansen - Gavin Brady def. Andy Green - Magnus Holmberg def. Rod Davis

Flight 3 : Magnus Holmberg def. Rod Davis


SEMI-FINALS

The semi finals started at 4:30 p.m. S wind up to 15 knots. Only two flights were completed due to lack of wind in the late afternoon. They are sailing to 3 wins in the semi finals.

RESULTS

Flight 1 : Dean Barker def. Magnus Holmberg - Gavin Brady def. Bertrand Pacé

Flight 2 : Dean Barker def. Magnus Holmberg - Gavin Brady def. Bertrand Pacé


FIFHT TO EIGHT PLACES (RESULTS)

Rod Davis - Jesper Radich Johansen 2:0
Andy Green - Jes Gram Hansen 1:1

RESULTS

flight 4 : Dean Barker def. Rod Davis - Bertrand Pacé def. Paolo Cian - Andy Green def. Yasutaka Funazawa

flight 5 : Bertrand Pacé def. Rod Davis - Yasutaka Funazawa def. Karol Jablonski - Dean Barker def. Paolo Cian

flight 6 : Paolo Cian def. Yasutaka Funazawa - Bertrand Pacé def. Andy Green - Karol Jablonski def. Dean Barker

flight 7 : Paolo Cian def. Rod Davis - Andy Green def. Karol Jablonski - Dean Barker def. Bertrand Pacé

GROUP A - FINAL RANKING (Skipper / Wins / Losses)

Dean Barker 5 1
Bertrand Pacé 5 1
Andy Green 4 2
Rod Davis 2 4

Karol Jablonski 2 4
Paolo Cian 2 4
Yasutaka Funazawa 1 5

SECOND STAGE (QUARTER-FINALS) PROGRAM

Bertrand Pacé vs Jes-Gram Hansen
Jesper R. Johansen vs Dean Barker
Andy Green vs Gavin Brady -
Rod Davis vs Magnus Holmberg

Today, the group B round robin series on the second day of ACI Ronhill Cup was completed with NW wind up to 16 knots (Skippers was divided into two groups, Each group /All skippers will sail a Round Robin - each skipper sails each other skipper once / The four highest scoring skippers from each group shall qualify for the next stage).

Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge), Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge) and the two danish Jesper Radich Johansen et Jes-Gram Hansen progress to the quarter-finals as Chris Dickson (Oracle Racing) and James Spithill were eliminated .

RESULTS

Flight 1 : Magnus Holmberg def. Gavin Brady - James Spithill def. Ante Vanjaka - Jes-Gram Hansen def. Tonci Antunovic - Jesper R. Johansen def. Chris Dickson

Flight 2 : Chris Dickson def. James Spithill - Magnus Holmberg def. Tonci Antunovic - Jesper R. Johansen def. Ante Vanjaka - Gavin Brady def. Jes-Gram Hansen

Flight 3 : Magnus Holmberg def. Jes-Gram Hansen - Gavin Brady def. Tonci Antunovic - Jesper R. Johansen def. James Spithill - Chris Dickson def. Ante Vanjaka

Flight 4 : Jes-Gram Hansen def. Ante Vanjaka - Gavin Brady def. Jesper R. Johansen - Magnus Holmberg def. Chris Dickson - James Spithill def. Ante Vanjaka

Flight 5 : Gavin Brady def. James Spithill - Jes-Gram Hansen def. Chris Dickson - Tonci Antunovic def. Jesper R. Johansen - Magnus Holmberg def. Ante Vanjaka

Flight 6 : Tonci Antunovic def. Chris Dickson - Gavin Brady def. Ante Vanjaka - Magnus Holmberg def. James Spithill - Jesper R. Johansen def. Jes-Gram Hansen

Flight 7 : Tonci Antunovic def. Ante Vanjaka - Gavin Brady def. Chris Dickson - Jes-Gram Hansen def. James Spithill - Jesper R. Johansen def. Magnus Holmberg



GROUP B - FINAL RANKING (Skipper / Wins / Losses)

Magnus Holmberg 6 1
Gavin Brady 6 1
Jesper R. Johansen 5 2
Jes-Gram Hansen 4 3

Tonci Antunovic 3 4
Chris Dickson 2 5
James Spithill 2 5
Ante Vanjaka 0 7

The Swedish Match Tour's ACI Ronhill Cup commenced today with very light winds. A delayed start resulted in only the first three flights of Group A's Round Robin to be completed.

At the close of racing, Team New Zealand teammates Dean Barker and Bertrand Pacé were undefeated with two wins apiece. Just behind the two Kiwis were Rod Davis of the Prada Challenge and Andy Green of the GBR Challenge at two wins against one defeat.

With the light winds there was no damage to the boats today. In fact the only damage on the day was to Swedish Match Tour leader Magnus Holmberg's head. On his way to the docks Holmberg ducked between a car and a statue and banged his head, resulting in a medium-sized gash to the left side of his forehead. After receiving treatment from the event's doctor, it was declared the injury was "merely a flesh wound" and the hearty Swede was on his way.

Racing continues on Sunday morning at 10am. ACI Ronhill Cup event director Damir Milos anticipates a very busy day on the waters just north of the Sustipan Peninsula.


RESULTS

Flight 1 : Andy Green (GBR Challenge) def. Rod Davis (Prada Challenge) Karol Jablonski (POL) def. Paolo Cian (Mascalzone Latino America's Cup Challenge) Dean Barker (Team New Zealand) def. Yasutaka Funazawa (JPN)

Flight 2 : Andy Green def. Paolo Cian Bertrand Pacé (Team New Zealand) def. Yasutaka Funazawa Rod Davis def. Karol Jablonski

Flight 3 : Bertrand Pacé def. Karol Jablonski Rod Davis def. Yasutaka Funazawa Dean Barker def. Andy Green

GROUP A - LEADERBORD (Skipper / Wins / Losses)

Dean Barker 2 0
Bertrand Pacé 2 0
Rod Davis 2 1
Andy Green 2 1
Karol Jablonski 1 2
Paolo Cian 0 2
Yasutaka Funazawa 0 3

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Instead of the Swedish Match Tour's sixth regatta commencing with a marquee "match up" between defending ACI Cup and World Champion Dean Barker and defending Swedish Match Tour champion Bertrand Pacé, action on the water began with the humanitarian regatta "Sailing to Smile," organized by the Croatian Sailing Federation.

As part of this regatta the event's top 12 seeded skippers were matched up with Croatian public figures from the worlds of politics, entertainment and media. Winner of the Sail to Smile fleet race was Swedish Match Tour regular Jesper Radich who was paired with Bruno Filipi, general manager of Coca-Cola Beverages. The event raised 50,000 kn for Josipovac, a Croatian institution taking care of more than 120 orphans all under the age of seven.