9:57 AM Wed 30 Dec 2009 GMT
Hot, dry conditions and light to moderate winds were punctuated by the dominance of Tom Slingsby on Day 3 of the Australian Laser Championships.
Slingsby has moved well clear of rival and defending Full Rig Champion Ashley Brunning at the top of the standings, showing ice cool resolve in the searing Adelaide heat. Slingsby won Race 3 ahead of Singapore's Colin Xinru Cheng and Poland's Wojciech Zemke. Ashley Brunning finished Race 3 in fifth.
Slingsby's hot streak has proved the forerunner to an Australian resurgence with many moving well into contention for major places.
In 4.7 Class, Western Australian Benjamin Walkemeyer bolted from the middle of the pack to within touching distance of the Top 10 after winning Race 3 ahead of Stephen Collings and New Zealander Jack Collinson.
In the Radials, the competition was keel to keel with equal first, second and third place finishes recorded. Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy continued Malaysia's excellent start to the Regatta with a share of the spoils in Race 3 with Victoria Jinghua Chan of Singapore while Queenslander Benjamin Franklin and Singapore's Elizabeth Yueling Yin shared second. A tie for third occurred between joint leader Seng Leong Koh of Singapore and Tasmanian Zac Pullen.
Race 4 in the Radials had a strong sense of d?j? vu about it with another share of the major places this time between Seng Leong Koh and Malaysia's Romzi Mohd Mohamed. They were followed home by Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy and Elizabeth Yueling Yin who tied for 2nd and Laura Baldwin and Western Australian Youth sailor Luke Elliott who tied for 3rd.
In 4.7 Class, Benjamin Walkemeyer made it back-to-back wins for the day ahead of Stephen Collings and Singapore's Terence Jianjie Choo. Tom Slingsby continued his trend winning Race 4 ahead of Poland's Kacper Zieminski and Colin Xinru Cheng.
The overall standings after Day 3 are as follows:
Radial -
Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy (MAS)/Seng Leong Koh (SIN)(1st - 12pts),
Laura Baldwin (NSW)(2nd - 13 pts),
Romzi Mohd Mohamed (MAS) (3rd - pts)
4.7 -
Terence Jianjie Choo (SIN)(1st - 14 pts),
Stephen Collings (VIC)/Benjamin Walkemeyer (WA)(2nd - 20 pts),
Laszlo Horvath (FRA) (3rd - 22 pts)
Full Rig - Tom Slingsby (NSW) (1st - 2pts),
Kacper Zieminski (POL)(2nd - 16 pts),
Ashley Brunning (NSW) (3rd - 19 pts)
Day 4 kicks off at 13:30 tomorrow with similar conditions forecast to those experienced on Day 3.
by Josh Sampson
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