6 Feb 2009

Barker's boys back to the front

4:35 pm on 6 February 2009

Team New Zealand has resumed their winning ways, beating Italy's Luna Rossa in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series being sailed off Auckland.

Following their first defeat yesterday, Dean Barker's crew got the jump at the start and were never headed on Day Two of the second round.

Russell Coutts BMW Oracle took a win over Team Origin, after the British crew had to retire with gear failure after leading the early stages. Team Origin also lost half a point for sailing too close.

The America's Cup holder Alinghi beat Damiani Italia, while in the bottom ranked grouping K Challenge beat Shosholoza, and China Team comfortably beat the Greek Challenge which suffered two penalties in the pre-start and gear problems.