LONDON,
Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- As the World Match
Racing Tour heads into stage seven at the Argo Group Gold Cup, the
race to become ISAF Match Racing World Champion is as competitive
as ever. Following the cancellation of the 2011 Danish Open, a
points system has been incorporated to award points for that event,
which could yet add a twist to the season.
Those points will come into effect after the Argo Group Gold
Cup when
all nine Tour Card Holders will have competed in all of their
allocated events. The WMRT caught up with Tour Director, Craig
Mitchell to find out how the points system works and what the
possible ramifications are for the Championship race.
WMRT: "Following the cancellation of the 2011
Danish Open, is there a points system in place for the Tour Card
Holders that were allocated to that event? Is it standard ISAF
practice if an event is cancelled, and can you explain how the
system works?"
CM: "The Tour
Card Holders who chose Denmark as one of their 6 allocated events
(everyone except Francesco Bruni) will receive an average points
score based on their other 5 allocated events. If that
average is one of their best 5 scores this season it will count
towards their Championship total.
"I'm not sure it's standard ISAF
practice as the points system is created by the World Match Racing
Tour management team, but the average points system was introduced
a few years ago in case this eventuality occurred."
WMRT: "Do any
teams stand to gain or lose from the cancellation of the 2011
Danish Open?"
CM: "For sure
most Tour Card Holder teams will gain from this system, some more
than others if they have currently included a very low scoring
event in their top 5 scores which combine to make up their total
Championship points. Amongst the Tour Card Holders, it's only
Francesco Bruni whose score won't change either way as he didn't
select Denmark as one of his six allocated events. Equally, as
Bjorn Hansen is not a Tour Card Holder, his score won't change
either.
"The potential gain ranges from plus
3 points for Mathieu Richard to plus 16 points for Ian Williams. As
it stands, Williams would benefit the most as he could replace the
tenth place (2 points) he scored at Match Race France with his
average which is high at 18 points because he has two firsts and
two third places to his name. That would give him a 16 point
advantage over his current total score of 90."
WMRT: "When do
these points changes come into effect?"
CM: "These
points changes will come into effect after next month's Argo Group
Gold Cup because there are two Tour Card Holders, Johnie Bertnsson
and Phil Robertson, who selected that event as one of their six
allocated events. We won't know their average until they have a
score for that event. That said we can obviously do the
calculations for all the other Tour Card Holders now."
WMRT: "So will
the current standings in the World Championship race remain the
same?"
CM: "I'm
pretty sure there will be some interesting shifts. If we put the
average points in right now Ian Williams would maintain his overall
lead and actually increase the gap between him and second, from one
point to 17. Torvar Mirsky would pull almost level with Francesco
Bruni in second on 89 points. Damien Iehl would overtake Bjorn
Hansen by moving into fourth behind Peter Gilmour and Jesper Radich
would leapfrog Mathieu Richard into sixth. It would remain close
though with only 23 points separating seventh and second.
"All this is conjecture of course as
things will change when the points are re-calculated after the Argo
Group Gold Cup where all the Tour Card Holders are in action. It's
clear though that Ian Williams' Team GAC Pindar will be the team
everyone will want to beat in Bermuda so they can stay within
overtaking distance going into the finale in Malaysia."
WMRT: "Ian
Williams is leading the Tour now and there will be plenty of
pressure on him to maintain that lead and win his 3rd World
Championship. Do you think he will or will the pressure get the
better of him?"
CM: "Ian
Williams is a double World Champion and has experienced the
pressure that will inevitably come his way going into the Monsoon
Cup so he'll be prepared I'm sure. He also has a very experienced
crew. Everyone is fallible though and the hunger of the chasing
pack combined with the attention from the world's media could
easily get under his skin. We saw that last year with Mathieu
Richard who led the Championship right from the start only to fall
at the last hurdle in Malaysia. In match racing, it's important to
be able to get inside your opponents head but even more important
to not let them get inside yours!"
For more information, please
contact:
Audrey Lakai
Communications Department
World Match Racing Tour
+60-12-502-2206
[email protected]
SOURCE World Match Racing Tour