Andrea Cucchi wins the EC Cagliari / Sardinia
Triumph for Starboard and Neil Pryde
After the great race yesterday the final day brought perfect racing conditions to the bay of Poetto Beach. The competitors of the EC Cagliari were able to do additional three races to achieve one discard which gives every competitor the chance to drop his worst result in the ranking.
The first race of the day was started in light winds. Italian hero Andrea Cucchi (ITA-1, Starboard, Neil Pryde) dominated this race just from the start. On his heals he had the “baby” of the Fanatic team the Dutch youngster Roy van Koolwijk (NED-97, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) and his youngster from the Starboard team Michal Polanowski (POL-16, Starboard, Neil Pryde) from Poland. On the fourth position followed Wojtek Brzozowski (POL-10, Starboard, Neil Pryde) in front of Pieter Bijl (NED-0, Fanatic, Neil Pryde).
The wind picked up to 13 knots and Andrea Cucchi was also able to win the second race today. Fanatic rider Ben van der Steen (NED-57, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) had a great comeback after the lightwind races before with a second place in front of his Fanatic team mate Roy van Koolwijk, Michael Polanowski and Fanatic top rider Steve Allen (AUS-0, Fanatic, Neil Pryde).
In the last race Michal Polanowski scored a bullet with a great victory. On his heals he had Andrea Cuchi and Steve Allen who was happy to come back to his normal performance after a disappointing start. Roy van Koolwijk was able to finish fourth in front of Wojtek Brzozowski.
In the women’s fleet everything was quite clear: in all the three races of the day Dorota Staszewska (POL-1, Starboard, Gaastra) from Poland was able to win in front of Verena Fauster (ITA-31, Starboard, Gaastra) from Italy and Margit Germany (AUT-88, Starboard, Gaastra) from Austria.
After four races with one discard Italy’s number one Andrea Cucchi was able to win the Windsurfing Euro-Cup Cagliari/Sardinia. He has won two races and scored a second and a third. This adds up to a total of 4 points which gives him a clear lead ahead of Michal Polanowski who scored one victory, one third place and a fourth giving him 8 points. Only one point behind we can find Roy van Koolwijk. The Dutch Fanatic rider celebrates his best result so far. The big favourite Wojtek Brzozowski from Poland dropped down to the fourth position with 11 points while Aleks Grynis (POL-86, Starboard, Neil Pryde) was happy with his fifth position (15 points).
In the women’s fleet the favourite Dorota Staszewska took advantage out of the absence of her main opponents Christine Becker, Christine Johnston and Lucy Horwood and managed to score four bullets in four races giving her a total of 3 points. So she is clear ahead of Verena Fauster who is second with 6 points and Margit Germany with 9 points.
In the manufacturers ranking boards Starboard was able to win with points from Andrea Cucchi (120), Michal Polanowski (119) and Wojtek Brzozowski (117). With a total of 356 points Starboard is slightly ahead of Fanatic who scored with Roy van Koolwijk (118), Ben van der Steen (115) and Steve Allen (114) giving them 347 points. The third place was won by F2 with points from their new teamrider Devon Boulon (ISV-1, F2, Windwing, 111 points), Giuseppe Pugliese (ITA-445, F2, Gaastra , 99 points) and Davide Beverino (ITA-89, F2, Gaastra, 98 points) which added up to 308 points.
In the manufacturers ranking sails Neil Pryde continued its dominance with all the top seven riders using their sails! They are scoring with Andrea Cucchi (120), Michal Polanowski (119) and Roy van Koolwijk (118) and achieve the maximum of 357 points. Gaastra is still suffering from its lack of top level competitors and scores with Ross Williams (GBR-83, Starboard, Gaastra, 112 points), Natale Francesco (ITA-417, Fanatic, Gaastra, 109 points) and David McInnes (NZL-67, Fanatic, Gaastra, 106 points) and has a total of 327 points. YES Sails was able to deliver a strong impression in their home base and scored with their youngster Alberto Menegatti (ITA-456, Starboard, YES Sails, 113 points) who was able to win the first race, sail designer Peter Munzlinger (ITA-200, Starboard, YES Sails, 91 points) and Mauro Covre (ITA-8, Starboard, YES Sails, 88 points). This resulted in the total of 292 points.
The Windsurfing Euro-Cup Cagliari/Sardinia was again a big success for the most important windsurfing racing series of the world. The competitors enjoyed the incredible Mediteranean atmosphere and the perfect hospitality of the people from Sardinia. Many have extended their trip for some holyday and brought their friends to share the experience with them. A spectacular show was presented for the media and the spectators. Thousands of people followed the competition online. Mostly over the official EC Website www.euro-cup.org and the FW Class Website www.formulawindsurfing.org. But many other pages covered the event additionally. Several international Magazines will report over the Windsurfing Euro-Cup event in Cagliari/Sardinia.
The next Windsurfing Euro-Cup will take place in Cascais/Lisbon in the coming week from June 5th to June 8th. Then the action will take place on the Atlantic Ocean in the direct neighbourhood of the capital of Portugal in front of the famous Casino of Estoril.
You can find more information, results, pictures etc. and follow the competitions online on the official Website of the Windsurfing Euro-Cup www.euro-cup.org and on the FW Class Website www.formulawindsurfing.org.
—————————————————————————————————————-
Choppy Water Eventmanagement GmbH
Maßmannstr. 11
24118 Kiel
Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 431 / 971 98 98
FAX: +49 (0) 431 / 971 98 99
Mobile: +49 (0) 170 / 32 29 400
Mobile-FAX: +49 (0) 170 32 25 193
E-Mail: m.regber@choppywater.de , info@choppywater,de
Internet: www.choppywater.de , www.windsurfcup.de , www.euro-cup.org
