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12 August 2005, 01:19 pm

First Day Of Finals

Laser European Championship 2005

Cartagena, Spain

The gold and silver fleets both completed their scheduled races yesterday at the Laser European Championship in Cartagena, Spain. Laser legend Robert SCHEIDT (BRA) holds on to first posisiton and continues to stretch his lead.

On the first day of the finals the great favourites for the title did not disappoint. The gold group competed on Course One and the silver group on Course Two and both enjoyed excellent conditions between 8 and 12 knots.

The first start for the gold group got away without incident at 14:35 (local time). 2004 Olympic gold medallist and seven times Laser World Champion Robert SCHEIDT (BRA) did not get off to a good start and paid for it dearly in the first leg. However once past the midway section of the race he improved steadily to eventually finish the race in ninth place.

Maciej GRABOWSKI (POL) took the race bullet followed by Mate ARAPOV (CRO) in second and Andrew COMMANDER (GBR) in third.

The second race of the day got underway after two general recalls and a slightly lighter breeze. Felix PRUVOT (FRA) had his best race of the championship and only his second top three finish. ARAPOV took second place again with SCHEIDT coming home in third and maintaining his position at the top of the leaderboard.

ARAPOV had his best day of the championship and now sits at second overall just seven points behind Scheidt. On equal points but with a worse discard is Paul GOODISON (GBR) who could only manage a twelfth and a sixth yesterday.

The points gap back to fourth is much large with 16 points separating GOODISON from Diego NEGRI (ITA) and Gusatvo LIMA (POR) who both have 46 points.

The youth group is lead by silver medallist at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF Wrold Championship 2005 Jean Baptiste BERNAZ (FRA) who had his worst result of the championship which he followed up with a second. Simon GROTELUSCHEN (GER) and Daniel MIHELIC (CRO) lie in second and third respectively.

The last day of racing is today.

Top Ten After Eight Races

Pos	Nation	Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Points
1	BRA	Robert SCHEIDT	4	1	4	(DSQ)	1	1	9	3	23
2	CRO	Mate ARAPOV	(12)	3	4	11	2	6	2	2	30
3	GBR	Paul GOODISON	5	(21)	3	1	1	2	12	6	30
4	ITA	Diego NEGRI	10	11	2	5	(20)	4	10	4	46
5	POR	Gustavo LIMA	16	4	7	(20)	2	1	4	12	46
6	AUT	Andreas GERITZER	8	2	3	2	7	11	16	(23)	49
7	AUS	Tom SLINGSBY	8	7	2	2	3	9	(38)	28	59
8	POL	Maciej GRABOWSKI	15	5	6	4	(26)	19	1	10	60
9	SLO	Vasilij ZBOGAR	13	(23)	10	4	10	3	7	18	65
10	BRA	Bruno FONTES	10	1	22	9	6	5	(24)	13	66