MELGES 20 - Magic Number 16

Talamone, Italy - Day Two in Talamone offered up three additional exciting races with more breeze and intense competition. With six races now complete in the third act of the Sailing Series® Melges 20, Richard Davies aboard Section 16 has extended his lead by sixteen points.

The order of the overnight podium did not change, however Matteo Marenghi Vaselli's Raya had a tough day but stays in second. A tenacious day for Corrado Agusta's Customly showed some improvement to remain in third, but now tied in points to close in on Marenghi Vaselli.

Race Four featured a beautiful win for Michael Illbruck's Pinta. From the USA, Drew Freides' Pacific Yankee came on strong for a nice second place finish, followed by Russia's Valentin Zavadnikov and his seasoned SynergyGT in third.

Now fully warmed up, Freides went on to completely redeem himself in Race Five with a big win. Claiming third overall at the 2016 Miami Winter Series and Worlds only a short time away, clearly Freides and crew are progressively getting the team and boat on track for success. Poland's Krzysztof Krempec driving Mag Tiny and Claudio Dutto's Asante Sana had a spectacular race finishing second and third respectively.

Under the breezier conditions, finally Achille Onorato at the helm of his family-famous Mascalzone Latino, Jr. grabbed the bullet in Race Six, a vast improvement in his string of semi-deep, double-digit scores. Freides once more showed strength to finish second, then Davies in third, Guido Miani's Out of Reach was fourth and Igor Rytov's Russian Bogatyrs came fifth.

It was also a good race for Alexander Ezhkov's Pirogovo. After finishing sixth, he now sits fifth overall in the event, tied in points with Freides. Another American team championed by Alexis Michas on Midnight Sun came seventh.

The 'mover of the day' is Freides with a 2-1-2 daily score line. Not only did it make him one of two boats today to maintain single-digit results, but it also sent him from a mid-fleet position after Day One, to fourth place overall in the standings increasing his chances of catching Marenghi Vaselli and Agusta.

Sunday marks the final day of racing in Talamone, which will draw three Sailing Series® Melges 20 events to a close with one more to complete (Riva del Garda) as the fleet inches ever closer to an amazing World Championship in Scarlino on August 25-28.

MEDIA AND RACING COVERAGE
As with other Melges 20 events in Europe and around the world, racing updates will be posted online at the Official Melges 20 Facebook Page. Tune in for the latest racing information, results, video interviews, and photos. Race reports, press releases and photos will be made available online each day post racing at melges20.com.

TOP TEN RESULTS (PRELIMINARY - After Six Races, One Discard)
1.) Richard Davies, Section 16; 1-6-1-10-[12]-3 = 21
2.) Matteo Marenghi Vaselli, Raya; 3-2-15-4-13-[36] = 37
3.) Corrado Agusta, Customly; [12]-11-3-5-10-8 = 37
4.) Drew Freides, Pacific Yankee; [25]-18-18-2-1-2 = 41
5.) Alexander Ezhkov, Pirogovo; 9-19-2-[20]-5-6 = 41
6.) Guido Miani, Out of Reach; 11-15-13-[25]-6-4 = 49
7.) Michael Illbruck, Pinta; 13-10-22-1-4-[36/UFD] = 50
8.) Alessandro Rombelli, Stig; 4-16-7-8-15-[36/UFD] = 50
9.) Marco Franchini, Mezzaluna; 22-1-5-[24]-8-18 = 54
10.) Lauro Bonora, Camay; 6-[26]-10-9-14-19 = 58
View the Full Results