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Oracle beats Alinghi in a thriller
AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Oracle BMW Racing has beaten Louis Vuitton Cup leader Alinghi by four seconds on day six of the challenger series regatta. In a major upset, France's Le Defi Areva grabbed its first win of the competition defeating second-place OneWorld by 57 seconds after the U.S. team committed a major boat handling error. Oracle's victory over Alinghi is the San Francisco-based team's second consecutive win since its U.S. software billionaire backer, Larry Ellison, demoted helmsman Peter Holmberg last week. Ellison replaced Holmberg with New Zealand Chris Dickson after losing four of five races. The team has not lost since the appointment was made.
The loss was only the second of the regatta for Swiss syndicate Alinghi, which suffered a second blow on Friday. Before racing, it was ordered into a rematch with GBR after the British team protested a race it had with Alinghi on Wednesday, arguing it was forced to sail around submerged rocks and islands due to errors by the race committee. Alinghi was deducted the point it earned when it thrashed the British challenger by seven minutes and 45 seconds during the Wednesday race. The America's Cup international jury erased the result and rescheduled the match for the end of the second round. OneWorld, which was unbeaten coming into round robin two, made an uncharacteristic mistake in its race against Le Defi Areva when it sailed over its spinnaker and caught the trolling sail around its rudder. The win by the French team leaves it tied with Mascalzone Latino, each with one point, at the foot of the nine-team challenger table. Stars & Stripes beat Italy's Mascalzone by one minute and 9 seconds in the morning session and then lost to Oracle by 18 seconds. Veteran sailor Dennis Conner, a four-time America's Cup champion, was back at the helm of Stars & Stripes for the first time in three years. Sweden's Victory beat GBR Challenge by 1 minute 1 second. Other races scheduled for later on Friday -- Oracle vs. Stars & Stripes, GBR vs. Le Defi and Alinghi vs. Prada -- were deferred to Monday due to high winds. At the end of round two, eight teams will advance to the quarterfinals and one will be eliminated. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup will challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup next February.
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