Ainslie's back on top in Finn class (From Dorset Echo)

Ainslie's back on top in Finn class

8:30am Saturday 10th December 2011 in News By Echo Reporter

TRIPLE Olympic gold medallist and five-time Finn world champion Ben Ainslie regained control in the battle for the world title in Fremantle.

Ainslie and his Skandia Team GBR stable-mates are continuing to prove a dominant force in the heavyweight dinghy fleet at these Perth World Champion-ships, with the 34-year-old resuming pole position in the overall standings.

Portland’s European champion Giles Scott sits in second and defending world champion Ed Wright in equal third with two days of competition left to run.

Ainslie was on the offensive from the outset in the two gold fleet races, winning the first race to Wright’s second, and then following up with a second place in the second race, which saw four British boats in the first four positions across the finish line. Scott finished first, Wright third and Andrew Mills fourth.

It was a less impressive day for the overnight series leader Dutchman Pieter Jan Postma, with scores of five and nine for the day dropping to third on equal points with Wright, who has a 16-point gap over the fifth-placed sailor.

Portland’s Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell had a better day in the 470 men’s event, consolidating their overall second position with a ninth and a third, while the Australian defending champions Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page pulled away in the world title hunt, scoring two more race wins to extend their points gap over the Skandia Team GBR pairing to 12 points.

Results of six and two for two-time world champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis boosted their overall position from 10th to fifth while Nick Rogers and Chris Grube are just one place behind.

Poole’s women’s match racing trio of Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor were back in action today for the final day of their round-robin Group B racing, with an automatic quarter-finals berth up for grabs.

Although posting four wins and only one loss for their day’s efforts, they ended the round-robin stage with a 10-3 win-loss record and were caught in a three-way tie with the Netherlands’ Mandy Mulder and France’s Claire Leroy for the two quarter-finals places.

The British trio missed out on countback to the other two crews and finish their group in third, so will now have to fight it out through a 15-race repechage round if they are to claim one of the four remaining quarter-finals berths.

Lush, who is defending her world match racing title here with the Mac-gregor sisters, was philosophical about the tough schedule that awaits them.

She said: “Our goal is the Olympics. It’s expensive to be here in Perth so it’s better to be here and racing than to be here sitting around in the hotel – that’s not why we paid to come here.

“I think you can see it both ways but for the long-term goal, it’s probably a good thing that we’ve got a lot more racing to do.”

Today sees the continuation of the women’s match racing event, and also the final day of fleet racing in the Finn, RS:X women, Laser Radial and 470 men’s events where the top 10 spots for tomorrow’s medal races will be determined.

n For the latest news and information from the Skandia Team GBR British team at the Perth Worlds visit <&bh"http://www.skandiateamgbr.com">skandiateamgbr.com<&eh> or follow the action on Twitter (@SkandiaTeamGBR)