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11 August 2005, 04:43 pm

PERCY And MITCHELL Take European Title

Ringhals Star European Championship 2005

Varberg, Sweden

Iain PERCY and Steve MITCHELL (GBR) have won the ISAF Grade C1 Ringhals Star European Championship with a race to spare in Varberg, Sweden. Defending champions Frederik LÖÖF and Anders EKSTROM (SWE) were unable to pull away from the Brits in the penultimate race giving the European title to PERCY and MITCHELL, and putting the Swedish team's long time lead of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings seriously under threat.

PERCY and MITCHELL set up their victory with a terrific two races on Tuesday, when the pair scored two bullets to give themselves a 16 point lead at the top. With two fifth places on the first day and the discard after today's race five, the pair knew that a high finish close to their rivals at the top would secure them victory. Whilst Daniel STEGMEIER and Beat STEGMEIER (SUI) took the bullet in race five, PERCY and MITCHELL's nearest challengers, Hans SPITZAUER and Adi LUZLBAUER (AUT) could only manage 20th overall. That left LÖÖF and EKSTROM as the principle threats. The Swedish team could only manage fifth place with the Brits on their tail in sixth.

With the discard, PERCY and MITCHELL now hold a six point lead and with the discarded sixth place are now impossible to catch. The battle for second place is tight behind them with World Champions Xavier ROHART and Pascal RAMBEAU (FRA) finishing second today to move within two points of LÖÖF and EKSTROM. Third place for Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ and Dominik ZYCKI (POL) moves them up one place to fourth, still within range of the medals, six points behind ROHART and RAMBEAU. After their 20th place, SPITZAUER and LUZLBAUER fall back to fifth overall.

One more race in the Championship remains tomorrow, with the battle for second, between the World Champions ROHART and RAMBEAU and number one team in the ISAF World Sailing Rankings LÖÖF and EKSTROM, set to take centre stage.

Top Ten After Five Races

Pos	Nation	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	GBR	Iain PERCY	Steve MITCHELL	5	5	1	1	(6)	12
2	SWE	Fredrik LÖÖF	Anders EKSTRÖM	3	(22)	7	3	5	18
3	FRA	Xavier ROHART	Pascal RAMBEAU	2	(43)	14	2	2	20
4	POL	Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ	Dominik ZYCKI	(14)	12	5	6	3	26
5	AUT	Hans SPITZAUER	Adi LUZLBAUER	9	9	3	7	(20)	28
6	USA	Mark MENDELBLATT	Mark STRUBE	1	(68) OCS	2	9	17	29
7	DEN	Benny ANDERSEN	Mogens JUST	4	(27)	9	4	12	29
8	POR	Afonso DOMINGOS	Bernardo SANTOS	6	1	12	(17)	16	35
9	GER	Alexander HAGEN	Kay FALKENTHAL	17	3	13	13	(19)	46
10	SWE	Mats JOHANSSON	Leif MÖLLER	7	(20)	18	8	15	48