40th Contender Worlds in Brisbane, Australia

40th Contender Worlds in Brisbane, Australia - Day 4

by Suellen Hurling 11 Jan 2010 08:36 GMT 3-12 January 2010

Down to the wire

Current Contender World Champion Italy's Andrea Bonezzi (ITA11) hopes of winning his eighth world title yesterday came under siege from Australia's Jono Neate (AUS 2323) and the question on everyone's lips today was 'can Neate do it again?'

Competitors left the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron this afternoon on a day straight out of the Contender brochure - 10 to 15 knots of breeze under brilliant blue skies. The fleet headed for the Northern Course, located towards the tip of Green Island.

Race 7 was a clear start. Defending Champion Andrea Bonezzi (ITA11) was third from the pin, slightly back from a cloud of Contenders.

When the fleet eventually tacked, Bonezzi seemed to be controlling Jono Neate (AUS232) but at the top mark Neate rounded first as he had done in the two races yesterday. Behind Neate came Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron local Phillip Evans (AUS1753) with fellow RQ sailor Geoff Fisher (AUS2468) third.

At the wing mark Christoph Homeier had come into the picture while Bonezzi was buried back in eighth.

With the series leader Neate clear ahead at the end of the second reach, the group behind him went the other way. They were never going to catch Neate by following him up the centre of the course. Instead they went hard left.

By the top mark Simon Mussell (GBR2420) had sailed into second place ahead of Evans. Bonezzi had clawed his way back to fourth place with Fisher about to be overtaken by Homeier.

At the bottom mark for the last time it was Neate - then day light, then Mussell and Homeier, who had a good run, then Bonezzi and Gary Langdon (GBR2421).

Neate crossed the finish line first and said 'I started at the pin again. I crossed the fleet. It worked yesterday, so I thought I'd do it again.'

British sailor Simon Mussell was pleased with his second place. He started just above Neate as did Christoph Homeier who looked like he just pipped Bonezzi at the finish.

Race 7 Results: (provisional, top five)

1. Jono Neate (AUS2323)
2. Simon Mussell (GBR2420)
3. Christop Homeier (GER551)
4. Andrea Bonezzi (ITA11)
5. Phillip Evans (AUS1753)

The wind was at 105 and the course more east at the start of Race 8.

Jono Neate chose the pin end again and came in from course side at the last minute. Three up from Neate was Simon Mussell, another three up to Christoph Homeier with Andrea Bonezzi about 15 up the line.

Again Neate crossed the first half of the fleet and for a few minutes it seemed that Neate could win again and that would have been the Championship decider.

But he fell down in the pack trying to cover Bonezzi and Mussell who was close by and worked the shifts better to round the mark first with Chris Peile (AUS2204) showing up at the party for the first time in this regatta to be second round. Homier was third, but surprisingly Neate was back in the pack.

At the top mark with one lap to go, the course was changed to 090 and in what may have been a world championship piece of action, Bonezzi came hurtling in on port tack and just managed to get powered up again to hold out Mussell and a group that included Homeier.

Determination was etched on the seven times World Champion's face. Bonezzi vowed he would be more aggressive today and he certainly was. Jono Neate was back in sixth.

At the bottom mark for the last time as they worked the beat, Homeier had overtaken Bonezzi with Steven Grimes (AUS2179) just ahead of Simon Mussell and Chris Peile.

The little trapeze dinghies scattered, right across the course. There were some big gambles on the final beat but in the end the winners came in from the right.

It was Steven Grimes by half a boat length from Christoph Homeier and Andrea Bonezzi. Jono Neate was seventh.

Race 8 Results: (provisional, top five)

1. Steven Grimes (AUS2179)
2. Christoph Homeier (GER551)
3. Andrea Bonezzi (ITA11)
4. Gary Langdon (GBR2421)
5. Chris Peile (AUS2204)

Results after Day 4:

Pos	Nat	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	GER	GER551	Schroeder	Christoph Homeier	5	1	2	[12]	3	2	3	2	18
2	ITA	ITA11	Ronstan	Andrea Bonezzi	1	2	[5]	1	4	4	4	3	19
3	VAUS	AUS2323	AUS2323	Jono Neate	[8]	4	4	2	1	1	1	7	20
4	QAUS	AUS2179	AUS2179	Steven Grimes	4	[61O]	1	4	5	5	8	1	28
5	UK	GBR2420	Carrie2	Simon Mussell	2	[12]	3	7	6	7	2	6	33
6	QAUS	AUS2468	Bella Anna	Geoff Fisher	3	5	7	3	[17]	3	6	9	36
7	QAUS	AUS2408	Chewbacca	Matt Mulder	11	3	6	6	2	8	9	[15]	45
8	UK	GBR2421	No Name	Gary Langdon	6	[13]	9	5	13	10	7	4	54
9	VAUS	AUS2204	Erica's Diamond	Chris Peile	7	10	8	10	9	15	[17]	5	64
10	QAUS	AUS1753	Stacey	Phillip Evans	9	6	12	8	19	[20]	5	8	67
11	UK	GBR2406	Mako	Ed Presley	12	17	[23]	20	14	11	10	10	94
12	WAUS	AUS2443	(V)AUS2443	Chris Sutherland	[61O]	8	14	14	12	6	27	14	95
13	ITA	ITA40	Stealth	Luca Bonezzi	17	26	19	9	11	[36]	11	11	104
14	ITA	ITA315	Gnuzzender	Antonio Lambertini	10	[21]	17	17	16	12	20	12	104
15	UK	GBR2383	Bit of Wet	David Davies	[33]	9	15	11	24	16	13	19	107
16	GER	GER531	Fajrant	Joachim Harpprecht	15	20	10	[27]	15	17	14	17	108
17	VAUS	AUS2136	Ro Shambo	Grant Robinson	14	14	[32]	28	7	18	15	13	109
18	GER	GER1421	Kabbelwasser	Dirk Mueller	22	19	11	[35.50]	10	9	23	16	110
19	NED	NED232	(V)Ristretto	Mark Thorborg	[32]	16	16	15	18	13	21	21	120
20	UK	GBR694	Rock n Rolla	Chris Boshier	29	11	[35]	18	8	14	24	18	122
21	NAUS	AUS2238	(V)Neopnee	Alan Griffith	19	[61O]	13	16	28	22	22	20	140
22	QAUS	AUS1306	Got Wood	Chris Somers	16	27	21	13	21	21	[32]	22	141
23	GER	GER1789	(J)Flyer	Alexander Groehlich	21	29	26	21	23	[31]	12	26	158
24	CAN	CAN2398	HoneyBun	Neil Smith	20	23	18	23	27	29	[34]	30	170
25	WAUS	AUS2411	(V)Cruising	Ross Brennan	23	15	29	19	25	[33]	33	33	177
26	UK	GBR2152	(V)One Jump Ahead	Mike Denham	18	[32]	28	29	32	19	28	23	177
27	WAUS	AUS2105	(V)Mojo	Greg Barrington	13	24	[61O]	26	31	32	36	25	187
28	ITA	ITA111	(V)Valiant	Emilio Betta	31	28	24	[43]	22	34	19	32	190
29	NAUS	AUS2375	Butterfly Sandwich	Brett Holly	[61O]	7	27	22	26	23	25	61F	191
30	DEN	DEN2425	(V)Jolly Jumper	Henning Wermuth	35	25	22	24	33	28	[37]	28	195
31	UK	GBR2407	(V)RB Sport&Travel	Richard Buttner	36	35	[38]	33	20	24	16	34	198
32	QAUS	AUS1364	Blubber Boy	Trevor Monaghan	26	30	34	[44]	36	25	18	35	204
33	UK	GBR2314	(V)Foxy Lady	Rodger White	34	31	[61O]	37	29	30	26	27	214
34	GER	GER2235	(V)Sailoraptor	Michael Koch	27	36	33	[48]	30	26	35	29	216
35	UK	GBR2432	(V)Syringa	Jerry Hone	24	[47]	25	25	35	42	39	41	231
36	QAUS	AUS2281	Don t Know	Scott McInerney	25	22	36	41	41	38	29	[46]	232
37	ITA	ITA15	Calaf II	Luca Gusmeroli	28	38	20	30	[61R]	50	41	44	251
38	DEN	DEN1628	DEN1628	Lars Bo Rasmussen	48	39	31	39	[61R]	40	30	24	251
39	NAUS	AUS2174	The Big Kahuna	David Leask	39	40	[61O]	46	34	27	38	36	260
40	ITA	ITA20	c'e le secche	Antonio Martini	40	33	37	34	37	37	47	[48]	265
41	QAUS	AUS225	(J)Sticky Side Up	James Dahl	41	[45]	30	40	42	44	45	37	279
42	QAUS	AUS226	Gopher Shuffle	Ian Bowman	[52]	43	39	31	46	35	42	43	279
43	QAUS	AUS1244	Random	Scott Bowman	44	44	40	38	39	43	[48]	31	279
44	QAUS	AUS1540	AUS1540	Roger Grimes	37	37	44	42	40	[49]	40	40	280
45	UK	GBR2318	(V)U-Beaut	Alan Mollatt	38	42	43	45	[47]	39	31	47	285
46	WAUS	AUS2164	Juche'	Richard Shallcross	30	34	[61F]	61F	38	41	46	45	295
47	UK	GBR2310	(V)Mzungu	Tony White	45	46	45	35.5	[48]	46	44	38	299.5
48	VAUS	AUS2296	Maho	Matthew Kee	47	18	46	49	44	53	43	[61F]	300
49	QAUS	AUS1327	(V)BabyBoomerOnBoard	Jan Mulder	43	41	42	32	49	48	49	[52]	304
50	GER	GER2400	(W)Herz aus Gold	Ann Seidel	46	49	47	47	45	47	[50]	39	320
51	ITA	ITA316	MagicBoxSailingTeam	Matteo Brescia	42	[61F]	41	50	43	45	61F	42	324
52	NAUS	AUS2338	(V)Spider Pig	Peter Murphy	49	48	49	51	52	52	52	[61F]	353
53	QAUS	AUS1329	(V)Frantic@SupaIGA	John McLean	53	52	48	52	50	[56]	54	49	358
54	QAUS	AUS166	Gavin	Dan Haydon	50	50	51	56	54	51	[57]	51	363
55	UK	GBR589	Sherbet	David Henshall	54	51	55	[57]	51	54	55	54	374
56	VAUS	AUS232	Gogolomobile	Sean Managh	56	[61S]	52	54	55	57	51	53	378
57	CAN	CAN80	(W)Sweet Pea	Stephanie Mah	55	[61F]	53	58	56	55	58	50	385
58	QAUS	AUS830	Get Me A Bucket	Rod Hieatt	51	[61S]	50	53	61S	61S	53	61F	390
59	QAUS	AUS2169	(V)Carbon Credit	Stephen Toms	[61F]	61S	54	55	53	58	56	55	392
60	QAUS	AUS21	Colly Wobble	Tony Debney	57	53	56	59	57	59	59	[61F]	400