By JULIE ASH
Oracle BMW Racing have questioned the sportsmanship of their fellow Americans in Team Dennis Conner who cried gear failure just minutes before the two teams were to race yesterday.
Team Dennis Conner were beaten by Sweden's Victory Challenge yesterday morning - their third consecutive loss in the second
round - and were scheduled to race Oracle yesterday afternoon, but claimed they had a problem with their genoa car system 15 minutes before the 10-minute gun.
It is understood the damage occurred during their race against Victory Challenge.
When there are two races a day and a team suffers gear failure in their first race, they can apply to the race committee to have their second race delayed.
When there is just one race a day, teams have just 45 minutes to fix the problem.
Team Dennis Conner say they informed the race committee of the damage, but managed to repair it during the break.
But minutes before the start they decided the repairs might not hold, so they asked the race committee for the postponement.
An umpire and chief measurer Ken McAlpine went aboard USA66 to inspect the problem, which appeared to be related to the port-side genoa car system.
Because racing could not resume before the 4pm deadline, it had to be abandoned.
The crew on Team Dennis Conner said they were not willing to agree to a start after 4pm, even though Oracle and the race committee were prepared to continue.
This raised the question of whether Team Dennis Conner wanted to avoid racing in the heavier conditions which were more suited to Oracle.
Immediately after Team Dennis Conner declined to extend the deadline, Oracle launched a red-flag protest that will be heard today.
In their protest Oracle claim "USA66 used this ploy in an attempt to get today's afternoon race with USA76 'killed'."
Oracle are also disputing that Team Dennis Conner suffered damage during their first race.
"USA66 failed to comply with the recognised principles of fair play and sportsmanship," Oracle said.
Team Dennis Conner operations manager Bill Trenkle said his team definitely had a problem and were within their rights to seek a delay because their yacht was not 100 per cent.
"They were anxious to go racing and we were anxious to go racing as well, but unfortunately it is the way the rules are set up," Trenkle said.
"We could have limped around the course, but what would that have accomplished?
"They can say what they want, but we know what happened. They shouldn't be so quick to make comments like that."
Trenkle also said it was dangerous to continue in case the genoa lead car broke.
"It was scary. It could have ripped out and done some serious damage."
Along with Team Dennis Conner, Le Defi Areva and Prada also suffered gear failure yesterday in winds ranging between 12 to 19 knots.
Prada suffered damage to a winch and Le Defi Areva ripped a jumper strut at the top of the mast.
Both yachts had the umpires on board immediately after the race and the two sides had their second events postponed.
Victory Challenge, OneWorld, Prada and Alinghi all claimed victories in the first flight, which was started just after 10.30am.
After a win over Le Defi Areva last week, Victory Challenge were eagerly awaiting their clash against Team Dennis Conner to gauge the performance of their second yacht, SWE73.
It didn't disappoint, leading Team Dennis Conner around every mark and gaining on the upwind legs.
They were, however, lucky to escape with a 13s victory after a problem with their spinnaker sheet in the final leg.
The problem was not major because they then turned around and beat Mascalzone Latino by 1m 17s yesterday afternoon in the only race that went ahead in flight four.
Prada had a relatively close battle with Le Defi Areva who led them around the first mark by 5s.
But the Italians were gunning for their third consecutive win in the second round and gained on the next three legs to win by 1m 4s.
Alinghi downed Mascalzone Latino by 2m 11s and OneWorld Challenge secured their 10th victory in the series, beating GBR Challenge by 1m 5s.
Alingi leads the field with 10 points, followed by One World (9) and Prada (7).
Flights five and six are planned today. Race organisers are expecting 12 to 19-knot north-westerly winds, gusting to 22 knots.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
By JULIE ASH
Oracle BMW Racing have questioned the sportsmanship of their fellow Americans in Team Dennis Conner who cried gear failure just minutes before the two teams were to race yesterday.
Team Dennis Conner were beaten by Sweden's Victory Challenge yesterday morning - their third consecutive loss in the second
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