Valencia, Spain. BMW ORACLE Racing retained its lead in the Louis Vuitton Cup round robins after winning a riveting pre-start battle against the Italian Mascalzone Latino Capitalia team in Valencia today.

All the action was in the pre-start, with skipper Chris Dickson making a hair-breadth judgment to hook USA 98’s bow behind the transom of the Italian yacht and force them over the startline early. By the time Mascalzone Latino Capitalia had circled back to re-start the match, USA 98 had leaped away into an unassailable lead.

“Chris Dickson did a masterful job of judging the time and distance to perfection in the closing seconds of the pre-start,“ said BMW ORACLE Racing navigator, Peter Isler. “After that start, the remainder of the race was pretty much a formality.“

Race summary: All the action came in the last 10 to 15 seconds of the pre-start duel with Mascalzone Latino Capitalia set up to leeward of USA 98 up at the Committee Boat end of the line. The Italians were trying to close the door and prevent USA 98 from squeezing into the narrow gap between them and the Committee Boat. But, at the last possible second, Dickson drove the bow of USA 98 down and then hooked up underneath the Italian boat, turning the tables and forcing them above the line. The advantage to the BMW ORACLE Racing team was too much for the Mascalzone crew to overcome and USA 98 led by 53 seconds at the first mark, 1 minute 15 seconds at the second, 1 minute 14 seconds at the third and finally crossed the finish line 57 seconds ahead.

Quotes from Peter Isler: “Chris Dickson did a great job in the pre-start. There was current sweeping across the line, making it difficult to get the time and distance right. Mascalzone Latino Capitalia were in a strong position, but they got a little greedy and tried to close us out at the Committee Boat. Chris got the bow down and pushed them over the line early. We have practised those moves a lot. Credit needs to go to Brad Webb on the bow as well. He and Chris have great communication going and were able to judge it with split-second accuracy.“

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