Bundock and Ashby claim Tornado prize

9th January 2008  

Bundock and Ashby have superb downwind speed

Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS) today won both races to take out the Tornado Asia Pacific Regatta at Somers Yacht Club on the Mornington Peninsula.

Multiple Tornado world champion Bundock, who won Silver at the Sydney 2000 Games, and Ashby, a Victorian who won the 2006 Tornado Worlds with Bundock and recently claimed the A Cat World crown, beat their nearest rivals Andrey Kirilyuk/Valeriy Ushkov from Russia by five points.

While Bundock and Ashby have already been selected to the Beijing Olympic Games, the Russian are still battling it out with team mates who also contested the Sail Melbourne Regatta.

Kirilyuk has already represented at three Games and he and Ushkov are thrilled with their second place, scoring a pair of fourth places to overcome the world champions Fernando Echavarri/Antoz Paz from Spain who took the bronze medal on countback from Olympic medallist, Mitch Booth and his crew Pim Nieuwenhuis (NED), on the final day.

“We are trying very hard to go to Beijing and today this result helps us,” said Kirilyuk.

Leigh McMillan/Will Howden from Great Britain rounded out fifth place. The pair is selected for Beijing.

Altogether, international fleet of 32 boats took part in the Regatta. All will have a few days off now before contesting Sail Melbourne’s International Regatta at Sandringham Yacht Club starting on January 14.

Somers Yacht Club hosted the Tornado Asia Pacific Regatta of which all sailors were complimentary of the sailing area and club officials and members, whom they say went out of their way to make the Regatta a friendly one.

Results elsewhere on this site.

Di Pearson