VON DER BANK Takes Early Lead
Contender World Championship 2005
Travemünder, Germany
The Contender World Championship got underway in Germany yesterday as part of the 116th Travemünder Woche. Jan VON DER BANK (GER) has raced into an early lead and already has an eleven point gap back to his nearest challenger.
A bullet in race one gave VON DER BANK the perfect start and he followed it up with a fifth and a fourth to top the leaderboard on ten points after three races. Britain's Graham SCOTT and Tim HOLDEN are his nearest challengers, eleven and 14 points behind respectively. Italy's defending champion Andrea BONEZZI scored a bullet in race three to move into fourth place, just a point behind HOLDEN, whilst the other bullet of the day went to Australia's pre race favourite Marcus HAMILTON. HAMILTON lies seventh overall after finishing 27 in race one, before showing his true colours with the bullet and a second place in race three
Speaking about his win in race one, VON DER BANK said, 'I had a nice pin end start in the first race when it was pretty much clear that this end would have an advantage.' Looking forward towards his battle against the leaders he commented, 'If the wind stays light there is a good chance to beat them. But in stable conditions the Worlds will be a match race between Andrea and Marcus.'
Top Ten After Three Races
Pos |
Nation |
Helm |
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
Pts |
1 |
GER |
Jan VON DER BANK |
1 |
5 |
4 |
10 |
2 |
GBR |
Graham SCOTT |
3 |
11 |
7 |
21 |
3 |
GBR |
Tim HOLDEN |
5 |
14 |
5 |
24 |
4 |
ITA |
Andrea BONEZZI |
16 |
8 |
1 |
25 |
5 |
ITA |
Giovanni BONZIO |
10 |
2 |
13 |
25 |
6 |
GBR |
Matt ASTON |
12 |
10 |
6 |
28 |
7 |
AUS |
Marcus HAMILTON |
27 |
1 |
2 |
30 |
8 |
AUT |
Günther WENDEL |
9 |
4 |
21 |
34 |
9 |
GER |
Christoph HOMEIER |
15 |
20 |
3 |
38 |
10 |
NED |
Rene HEYNEN |
4 |
7 |
27 |
38 |
Andreas Kling (As Amended By ISAF). Image, Jan VON DER BANK leads after day one of the Contender Worlds:© Nils Bergmann/segelaction.de