FINAL RANKING
1. CHRIS LAW
1. (GBR)
2. ED BAIRD
2. (USA)
3. PETER GILMOUR
3. (USA, OneWorld Challenge)
4. PAOLO CIAN
4. (ITA, Mascalzone Latino)
5. KEN READ
5. (USA, Stars & Stipes)
6. ANDY GREEN
6. (GBR, GBR Challenge)
7. JAMES SPITHILL
7. (USA, OneWorld Challenge)
8. JES GRAM-HANSEN
8. (DEN)

 

Official Website

 

 

 

 Chris Law won the UBS Challenge (08/05/02)
 (source : Swedishmatchtour.com)
Great Britain’s Chris Law and his Outlaws defeated American Ed Baird and Team Musto, 2-1, in a thrilling three-match final to win the Swedish Match Tour’s inaugural UBS Challenge today in Newport, RI.

The victory is Law’s first on the Swedish Match Tour and comes just one year after the 50 year old ended a two-year “retirement” from professional racing.

For Baird, it is the second time he has finished as a runner-up at a Swedish Match Tour event, previously coming in second to Denmark’s Jesper Radich at this past May’s Match Race Germany.

His second place finish this week moves Baird up to second on the Swedish Match Tour 2002/3 Rankings just one point behind OneWorld Challenge’s James Spithill who sits on 31 points following his seventh place finish here this week.

In finals action, Law won the start of the first match of the finals but Baird sent him out to the right, past the layline allowing Baird to assume control. Law through a series of ducks and dives then rallied back from being three boat lengths behind on the leeward mark rounding to being ahead by one and a half boat lengths to claim the match.

In the second match Law copped a penalty in the pre-start for not responding quickly enough when Baird headed him up. On the first upwind leg both boats dialed up with each infringing and being assessed matching penalties for their troubles. From there, Baird broke away and built a big lead which he was able to protect to the very end, to tie the series up 1-1.

Following the second match the decision was made by the race committee to shorten the finals to first-to-two-points over concerns of completing racing by the 6:30pm deadline. As a result the course was lengthened to three laps instead of the usual two and the finalists set off for the winner-take-all final match.

Match three began with a dial up with Law being able to maintain the starboard advantage. The two boats crossed the line on a split tack with Law slightly extended above Baird for the initial upperhand. Baird kept it close drawing even but Law countered by taking the air out of Baird’s spinnaker, rolling over on top of him and assuming lead of no more than a couple of meters at the leeward mark rounding.

Oscillating breezes resulted in a course change with the new windward mark being laid 75 meters to the left of the original. Law had the better line at this point and he built his lead from this point, essentially ending the match and claiming the crown.

In the petit finals OneWorld Challenge skipper Peter Gilmour and his Pizza La team put on a textbook match racing demonstration to sweep past Mascalzone Latino’s Paolo Cian 2-0, to claim the $12,000 third place prize.

In semifinal action, Gilmour, the top qualifier from Group A, was upset by Baird 2-0. Gilmour, sailing aggressively as ever, copped a penalty in his first match at the leeward mark rounding to cement his fate and put Baird up 1-0. In the second match, Gilmour’s aggressiveness again proved to be his Achilles Heel as he was flagged for another penalty after battling back against Baird.

In the other semifinal Cian put Law to work. After winning the first match Law was assessed a penalty for having his spinnaker pole out while sailing upwind. The penalty gave the Mascalzone Latino crew the opening it needed to steal the match and stave off elimination. In the third match, however, Law used his years of experience to out-duel his opponent and advance to his first Swedish Match Tour final.

Results

Finals : Law def. Baird - Baird def. Law - Law def. Baird

Petit Finals : Gilmour def. Cian - Gilmour def. Cian

Semifinals : Baird def. Gilmour - Law def. Cian - Baird def. Gilmour - Cian def. Law - Law def. Cian
 
 Gilmour and Cian advanced to the semis (08/04/02)
 (source : Swedishmatchtour.com)
OneWorld Challenge skipper Peter Gilmour and his Pizza La match race team and Mascalzone Latino helmsman Paolo Cian and his crew advanced to the semifinals of the Swedish Match Tour’s inaugural UBS Challenge today in Newport, RI.

Gilmour and Cian will meet American Ed Baird and Team Musto and Great Britain’s Chris Law and the Outlaws, respecitively, who qualified out of Group B on Friday.

Gilmour continued his round robin dominance today winning three of four matches to easily advance. Cian was part of a logjam on the Group A leaderboard to start the day but, after losing his first match of the day to Gilmour, rattled off three consecutive wins to sail on.

Local skipper Ken Read of Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes Challenge entered the day with his back against the wall. Read won his first match against Jean-Claude Monnin of the Alinghi Team but slipped against Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen.

Read and his crew rallied to win their final two matches, against Luc Pillot of Le Defi Areva and Gilmour, but it was too little too late and Read was blocked out of the semifinals.

Following the conclusion of the round robin the race committee held the sail-offs for places five through eight. Andy Green of the GBR Challenge, who finished fourth in Group B defeated Gram-Hansen, who finished third in Group A while Read, who finished fourth in Group A defeated OneWorld Challenge’s James Spithill to determine seeding.

In the sail-offs for fifth and sixth Read then defeated Green to claim the $8,000 share of the prize purse and a bit of satisfaction while Spithill upended Gram-Hansen after the Danish skipper copped a penalty on the final beat.

The Swedish Match Tour’s UBS Challenge concludes on Sunday with the semifinals to be followed by the finals.

Sail-offs standing

5. Ken Read (Stars & Stripes)
6. Andy Green (GBR Challenge)
7. James Spithill (OneWorld Challenge)
8. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN)

Results

Green def. Gram-Hansen - Read def. Spithill

Sail-off for 5th Place : Spithill def. Gram-Hansen

Sail-off for 7th Place : Spithill def. Gram-Hansen

Group A Final Rounds Robin Standings (Skipper/Wins/Losses)

1. Peter Gilmour (OneWorld), 12/2
2. Paolo Cian (Mascalzone Latino), 10/4
3. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), 10/4
4. Ken Read (Stars & Stripes), 9/5
5. Luc Pillot (Le Defi Areva), 7/7
6. Mason Woodworth (USA), 4/10
7. Jean-Claude Monnin (Alinghi), 2/12
8. Ben Cesare (USA), 2/12


Group B Round Robin Standings (Skipper/Wins/Losses)

1. Chris Law (GBR), 10/4
2. Ed Baird (USA), 9/5
3. James Spithill (OneWorld), 9/5
4. Andy Green (GBR Challenge), 8/6
5. Andy Lovell (USA), 6/8
6. Jesper Radich (DEN), 6/8
7. Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge), 5/9
8. Dawn Riley (K-Challenge), 3/11


Complete results

Group A

Flight 4 : Read def. Monnin - Pillot def. Cesare - Gram-Hansen def. Woodworth - Gilmour def. Cian

Flight 5 : Gram-Hansen def. Read - Cian def. Cesare - Woodworth def. Monnin - Gilmour def. Pillot

Flight 6 : Cesare def. Monnin - Cian def. Woodworth - Gilmour def. Gram-Hansen - Read def. Pillot

Flight 7 : Woodworth def. Cesare - Read def. Gilmour - Gram-Hansen def. Pillot - Cian def. Monnin

Group B

Flight 7 : Green def. Lovell - Baird def. Brady - Law def. Radich - Spithill def. Riley
 
 Two semifinalists set up at UBS Challenge (08/03/02)
 (source : Swedishmatchtour.com)
0n the third day of round robin racing at the Swedish Match Tour’s UBS Challenge in Newport, RI, two semifinalists from Group B were determined with Great Britain’s Chris Law clinching a spot and American Ed Baird and his Team Musto advancing in a countback scenario over OneWorld Challenge’s James Spithill, with one flight still to be raced.

In a reversal of fortune, Oneworld Challenge’s James Spithill, leading Group B to start the day, dropped his first five matches before defeating amateur Andy Lovell to finish 1-5 and fall into third place.

GBR Challenge’s Andy Green, who rattled off six straight wins today to get himself back into the thick of things, momentarily placed himself in a tie with Spithill. Unfortunately for Green he was deducted one-third of a point for a collision during his match with fellow Brit Chris Law.

Now atop Group B is Great Britain’s Chris Law, a match racing veteran who has recently returned to the Swedish Match Tour after a two-year “retirement.” Law guided his Team Outlaws to a 4-2 record on the day to establish control of the group.

In Group A, three flights were completed with OneWorld Challenge skipper Peter Gilmour and his Pizza La team continuing to lead the way. Gilmour went 3-0 on the day to improve his overall record to 9-1. In the morning’s racing Gilmour dispatched of amateurs Ben Cesare and Mason Woodworth as well as Alinghi Team’s Jean-Claude Monnin.

Posting equally impressive records today were Luc Pillot of le Défi Areva who registered three wins and needs a strong showing in his remaining matches to be one of the two teams to advance to the semifinals.

Registering two wins on the day, and now sitting on seven points, were Paolo Cian of the Mascalzone Latino Challenge and Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen and his Team Victory Lane.

Also notching two wins was local skipper Ken Read, helmsman for Team Dennis Conner. Read brought his point total to six.

Group A Round Robin Standings (Skipper/Wins/Losses)

1. Peter Gilmour (OneWorld), 9/1
2. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), 7/3
3. Paolo Cian (Mascalzone Latino), 7/3
4. Ken Read (Stars & Stripes), 6/4
5. Luc Pillot (Le Defi Areva), 6/4
6. Mason Woodworth (USA), 2/8
7. Jean-Claude Monnin (Alinghi), 2/8
8. Ben Cesare (USA), 1/9

Group B Round Robin Standings (Skipper/Wins/Losses)

1. Chris Law (GBR), 9/4
2. Ed Baird (USA), 8/5
3. James Spithill (OneWorld), 8/5
4. Andy Green (GBR Challenge), 7/6
5. Andy Lovell (USA), 6/7
6. Jesper Radich (DEN), 6/7
7. Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge), 5/8
8. Dawn Riley (K-Challenge), 3/10

Complete results

Group A

Flight 1 : Pillot def. Cian - Gram-Hansen def. Monnin - Gilmour def. Cesare - Read def. Woodworth

Flight 2 : Cian def. Gram-Hansen - Gilmour def. Woodworth - Pillot def. Monnin - Read def. Cesare

Flight 3 : Gilmour def. Monnin - Pillot def. Woodworth - Cian def. Read - Gram-Hansen def. Cesare

Group B

Flight 1 : Law def. Spithill - Riley def. Radich - Green def. Baird - Lovell def. Brady

Flight 2 : Radich def. Spithill - Lovell def. Baird - Law def. Riley - Green def. Brady

Flight 3 : Baird def. Riley - Law def. Lovell - Brady def. Spithill - Green def. Radich

Flight 4 : Brady def. Riley - Green def. Law - Radich def. Lovell - Baird def. Spithill

Flight 5 : Radich def. Brady - Green def. Spithill - Riley def. Lovell - Baird def. Law

Flight 6 : Green def. Riley - Spithill def. Lovell - Baird def. Radich - Law def. Brady