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Desafio Espanol sails into semis

Desafio Espanol clinched the final place in the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup on Tuesday after Emirates Team New Zealand beat Victory Challenge of Sweden in the 10th flight of match racing.

The Spanish team would have advanced with a second round-robin victory over leader BMW Oracle Racing, but the US team controlled the race from the start to win by 55 seconds.

"The main thing is we're in the semi-finals and it wasn't easy," Desafio Espanol bowman Miguel Jauregui said. "We didn't win but no two days are equal and anything can happen. We might have lost today but we had the points."

After coming in on starboard, BMW Oracle Racing skipper Chris Dickson swung up and tacked to port as both teams jostled ahead of a split-tack start.

The Spanish soon tacked to follow the Americans course, but the USA-98 yacht had more pace and won on the southern "Juliet" course.

BMW Oracle Racing maintained its one-point advantage over Emirates Team New Zealand with the win, moving to 37 points. Both have already clinched spots in the semi-finals, as has Luna Rossa.

The Kiwis got off to a bumpy start against Victory Challenge, sacrificing speed off the line as it put its bow down early to take the right side.

The Swedish jumped across the line at pace with a two-boat length advantage knowing only a victory would keep their semi-final aspirations alive, but Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker's decision to guard the right worked as the Kiwis overtook the SWE-96 yacht for the lead on the first downwind leg before sailing to an eventual 34-second win on "Juliet."

"It was a judgment issue and Dean wasn't very happy with himself afterward," Emirates Team New Zealand runner Tony Rae said. "It's a small timing issue ... but we just made the best of that start and chipped away."

BMW Oracle Racing and Emirates team New Zealand were to sail in the final 11th flight of round-robin match racing yesterday to decide which will finish top of the America's Cup challengers series standings. The first-place team gets to choose its opponent for the semi-finals, which run from Monday to May 24.

"You have to think about the matchup rather than which team you think you are the strongest against," BMW Oracle Racing tactician Gavin Brady said. "It might be good to race the Kiwis now rather than the other two. It's not always about a team's position on the leaderboard."

"There are so many Kiwis on our boat that this race was always going to matter," BMW Oracle Racing tactician Eric Doyle said. "That's for hometown bragging rights for a lot of the boys."

Also on "Juliet," Italian syndicate Luna Rossa beat Mascalzone Latino by seven seconds to secure third place in the standings.

+39 Challenge won its second straight race by beating China Team by 1:57 on "Romeo." French boat Areva Challenge also won on the northern course, beating United Internet Team Germany by 0:35.

The Louis Vuitton Cup will decide which of the 11 challengers will sail against America's Cup champion Alinghi in the finals from June 23 to July 4.
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