#fireball – After two days of scheduled races at the Fireball European Championships in Slovenia with an expectation of six races, we have two completed writes Cormac Bradley. Wednesday was wet and racing was delayed until late afternoon. Thursday was bright, sunny and hot and again racing was delayed until late afternoon.
Matt Burge & Richard Wagstaff (15093/GBR) have scored two first places to lead the fleet with an 8pt cushion. They led from start to finish on Wednesday and had a comfortable margin at the finish. Yesterday they were much closer to the fleet, but the result was the same!
In second place are Tom Gillard & Simon Potts (15091/GBR) who are counting a 3rd and a 7th. Three boats have 10pts - Christian Birrell & Sam Brearey (15089/GBR), Dave Wade & Tim Hartley (15083/GBR) and Chips Howarth &Vyv Townend (15096/GBR).
One point behind the logjam in 6th overall are Matt Rainback & Simon Foskett (15080/GBR), followed by the first non British boat, Joerg Nolle & Clay Poulson (14508/GER). Two Irish boats occupy the next slots, the Rumball brothers, Kenneth & Alexander, (15058/IRL) and Noel Butler and Stephen Oram (15061/IRL), separated by 2pts.
The top ten is closed out by Petr Koran & Milan Kvasnik (14827/CZE).
Race 1: Burge, Birrell, Gillard, Rumball, Howarth, Wade,
Race 2: Burge, Rainback, Skorepova (CZE), Dobson (GBR), Wade, Howarth, Gillard.
This morning's briefing is offering the prospect of an earlier start to proceedings, but already competitors are getting into conversation mode!
