During a penalty flag-filled semi final on the last day of the Stena Match Cup Sweden, Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team thrashed Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Sigma Racing Team 3-0, and Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN dominated Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team going through to the final on 3-1.

The ultimate show down came between Ainslie and Radich with Ainslie taking two comprehensive wins over Radich in light, twitchy conditions. The Brit won the event, with Holmberg taking third place – winning 2-1 over Mirsky.

Ainslie kept his foot on Radich’s throat at all match moments giving Radich Racing Team no room to breath. There was a constant dialogue onboard TEAMORIGIN, this tight team sailed smart and fast without any inkling of these professionals freezing up under pressure. Boat on boat contact was registered between Ainslie and Radich during the final stages of the pre-start to match 2. The umpires were quick to act and gave Radich a red flag penalty requiring him to take it immediately. The ball was then very firmly in Ainslie’s court as he took clear advantage and led right round the course.

Ainslie is looking into building a solid World Match Racing Tour campaign for the final half of this 2010 Tour season. “It looks like we can do a couple more events now, we can do the Argo Group Match Cup in Bermuda and there’s the new Qingdao Match Cup event so it gives us the opportunity to hopefully get enough scores in. I think it’s going to be hard because we’re not doing as many events as the others, so the strike ratio for us has to be a lot higher”.

At the beginning of of the Stena Match Cup, Ainslie and Radich were equal in the WMRT standings – in 7th with 20 points each. After Ainslie’s win he now overtakes Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing and moves up into 5th.

Overall Standings:
1 Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 25 Points
2 Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team 20 Points
3 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Sigma Racing Team 15 Points
4 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 12 Points
5 Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 10 Points
6 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra 8 Points
7 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 6 Points
8 Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 4 Points
9 Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
10 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
11 Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
12 Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team
13 Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing
14 Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team
15 Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing
= Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team

For more, visit www.wmrt.com