| | AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- U.S. teams Young America and AmericaOne and Italy's Prada had easy wins Saturday when racing resumed in the challenger series for sailing's America's Cup.
In the first races of the second round-robin of the elimination series, the big spending favorites showed similar form to that which left them well ahead of their rivals at the end of the first round-robin on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf last month.
|  | | Young America tacks in front of America True. |
There was also no sign of the postponement requests and protests which interrupted the earlier races.
Cloudy skies cleared and a soft northerly breeze strengthened by the time racing began on two 18.5-mile courses.
Ed Baird's two-boat Young America team defeated Dawn Riley's
America True, a one-boat syndicate from San Francisco, by 33
seconds.
America True won the start but Young America benefited from a
windshift on the first upwind leg and Baird built a solid lead over
the first two legs.
Japan's Nippon team built an early lead over Hawaii's
Abracadabra and held on to defeat the Americans by 3 minutes, 29
seconds.
Competition leader Prada continued its perfect record with an
easy, 2 minutes, 19 seconds win over the struggling Swiss boat Fast
2000.
Paul Cayard's AmericaOne also dominated, defeating the Spanish challenge by 1 minute, 15 seconds.
America's Cup veteran Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes overcame
Le Defi Francais' big lead at the start by picking up a wind shift
in the first leg and riding the advantage to a 41-second win.
Young Australia had a bye.
All of the teams made substantial changes to their boats after the first round-robin, generally considered to be a testing ground for equipment setups.
Competition in the second round-robin is expected to be more
intense, as teams race for four points for each win compared to one
point in the first round-robin. A third round-robin will be held
early next year, and the best six teams will race in a finals
series.
Over four months, 11 syndicates will meet all other challengers
in a total of more than 270 races to decide who will take on
defender Team New Zealand in the best-of-9 America's Cup regatta to
begin in February.
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