News & Features | ISAF | World Sailing | Official Site : SIBELLO Brothers Fight Back

News

14 August 2005, 08:12 am

SIBELLO Brothers Fight Back

Schenker 49er European Championship 2005

Vallensbæk, Denmark

Pietro and Gianfranco SIBELLO (ITA) stormed back into contention at the ISAF Grade C1 Schenker 49er European Championship in Vallensbæk, Denmark yesterday scoring three bullets to move them up to second overall. However, a consistent day by Stevie MORRISON and Ben RHODES (GBR) means they hold the lead and are six points clear going into the final races today.

SIBELLO and SIBELLO began the day as they were to continue it, winning the first race ahead of Eduard SKORNAYKOV and Valery ZATSARINSKY (RUS) with overnight leaders and number one team in the ISAF World Sailing Rankings Chris DRAPER and Simon HISCOCKS (GBR) third. However that was as good as yesterday got for DRAPER and HISCOCKS, with finishes of 9, 12 and 11 following and seeing them drop back to third overall.

In contrast, fellow Brits MORRISON and RHODES could only manage a twelfth in the opening race but went on to finishes of 3, 4 and 2 to take the overall lead. Olympic Champions Iker MARTINEZ and Xabier FERNANDEZ (ESP) also mixed three good finishes with one outside the top ten, ending the day with a 6, 6, 14, 4 record that sees them fall back one place to fourth overall.

After winning the qualifying series, but then having a disappointing first day in the final series, the SIBELLO brothers came back to their top form yesterday. They followed their opening bullet with another, came in seventh in race eight, before ending the day with another bullet to move within six points of the leaders and five in front of DRAPER and HISCOCKS.

The battle for medals today looks set to take place between these four top teams, although Allan NØRREGAARD and Jonatan PERSSON (DEN) are only 20 points off the medals in fifth and will have the backing of the home fans, whilst Olympic silver medallists Rodion LUKA and George LEONCHUK (UKR) are tied with the Danes on 56 points.

Top Ten After Nine Races

Pos	Nation	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	GBR	Stevie MORRISON	Ben RHODES	2	2	1	5	6	(12)	3	4	2	25
2	ITA	Pietro SIBELLO	Gianfranco SIBELLO	1	(23)	5	4	11	1	1	7	1	31
3	GBR	Chris DRAPER	Simon HISCOCKS	3	3	2	2	3	3	9	(12)	11	36
4	ESP	Iker MARTINEZ	Xabier FERNANDEZ	12	8	6	1	1	6	6	(14)	4	44
5	DEN	Allan NØRREGAARD	Jonatan PERSSON	5	(24)	10	3	4	5	14	10	5	56
6	UKR	Rodion LUKA	George LEONCHUK	4	6	11	7	10	8	4	6	(18)	56
7	POL	Marcin CZAJKOWSKI	Krzysztof KIERKOWSKI	8	7	3	6	12	18	(23)	2	3	59
8	USA	Morgan LARSON	Pete SPAULDING	7	1	15	9	2	(OCS)	2	16	13	65
9	DEN	Peter HANSEN	Søren HANSEN	10	14	(17)	8	16	13	10	5	14	90
10	AUT	Nico DELLE KARTH	Niko RESCH	6	4	12	10	8	(OCS)	12	15	24	91