Rod Davis with his TNZ crew have beaten Dean Barker in the finals of the New Zealand Match Racing Championships on the Waitemata harbour today.

It was nail – biting racing as Davis won the first, Barker the second, Barker the third, Davis the fourth as the final went down to the very last race in the best of 5 series.

The start was even and during the day the breeze had increased to over 20 knots. This increased breeze tested the crews and Davis’s crew of Tony Rae, Grant Loretz, Chris Ward and Richard Meecham were up to the challenge.

At the top mark Davis was around first but Barker was close behind, just a boat length in it. Davis had a good hoist and as the spinnaker set, the boat lurched towards the bottom mark. Barker and team did the same and were right on Davis’ transom. The race was extremely close.

At the top mark for the second time Davis again rounded the top mark in front and kept just in front of Barker to win the race, win the regatta & win the New Zealand Match Racing Championships for the second time.

In the petit final Chris Dickson and his young crew won the first race against Laurie Jury. Jury then went onto to win the next two races in the strengthening breeze and secure third spot in the regatta.

Final & Petit final results

Final : Rod Davis def. Dean Barker - Dean Barker def. Rod Davis - Dean Barker def. Rod Davis - Rod Davis def. Dean Barker - Rod Davis def. Dean Barker

Petit final : Chris Dickson def. Laurie Jury - Laurie Jury def. Chris Dickson - Laurie Jury def. Chris Dickson

Semifinals Results

SF 1 : Dean Barker def. Laurie Jury - Dean Barker def. Laurie Jury

SF 2 : Chris Dickson def. Rod Davis - Chris Dickson def. Rod Davis - Rod Davis def. Chris Dickson - Rod Davis def. Chris Dickson - Rod Davis def. Chris Dickson