Penultimate day at Merlin Week and Thomas Gillard and Aaron Holman (1, 2, 2, 1, 2) increased their overall lead to eight points.
But Christian Birrell and Ali Potts (7, 1, 2, 3, 1) kept their hopes alive with another win to take it into the final day.
Ian Dobson and Charlotte Fildes were winners of the first black/green flight race, with Gillard and Holman second and Andy Davis and Pippa Kilsby third.
In the second race for the red/blue flights, Birrell and Potts the were winners ahead of Peter Ballantine and Rob Allen, with third going to Chris Gould and Caroline Croft.
Overall Gillard and Holman lead with eight points, second are Birrell and Potts with 14 points, and third Mike and Jane Calvert with 19 points.
Dobson and Fildes move up to fourth with 23 points after their race win, and Roger and Jane Gilbert are fifth tied on 25 points with Alex Jackson and Chris Kilsby.
Friday, the final day with the discard in play, will see if Gillard and Holman can do enough in the morning race to decide the event, or if they leave just enough room for Birrell and Potts to snatch victory in the final afternoon race.
Salcombe Gin Merlin Week – Leaders Day 5 – 10 Flight Races (115 entries)
1st 3759 Black Thomas Gillard and Aaron Holman 1 2 2 1 2 – – 8 pts
2nd 3788 Blue Christian Birrell and Ali Potts 7 1 2 3 1 – – 14 pts
3rd 3691 Black Mike Calvert and Jane Calvert 6 1 4 4 4 – – 19 pts
4th 3804 Green Ian Dobson** and Charlotte Fildes 7 3 5 7 1 – – 23 pts
5th 3722 Red Roger Gilbert and Jane Gilbert 4 2 3 10 6 – – 25 pts
6th 3795 Blue Alex Jackson and Chris Kilsby 4 6 3 8 4 – – 25 pts
7th 3812 Red Peter Ballantine and Rob Allen 9 13 1 2 2 – – 27 pts
8th 3703 Green Richard Whitworth and Jemima Scroggie 1 8 10 1 8 – – 28 pts
9th 3803 Blue Chris Gould and Caroline Croft 3 14 16 2 3 – – 38 pts
10th 3764 Red Tim Fells and Frances Gifford 20 4 5 5 5 – – 39 pts
11th 3801 Black Matt Biggs and Beka Jones 14 9 6 6 5 – – 40 pts
12th 3807 Green Tim Saxton and Mary Henderson 5 11 6 6 14 – – 42 pts
13th 3678 Black Steve Crook and Sally Townend 8 6 7 12 11 – – 44 pts
14th 3611 Red Jenny Dodds and Chris Dodds 8 11 8 17 7 – – 51 pts
15th 3676 Green Antony Gifford and Jo Gifford 6 14 15 16 6 – – 57 pts
16th 3641 Blue Mark Waterhouse and Mat Currel 16 5 12 14 11 – – 58 pts
17th 3679 Blue Nicholas Heginbotham and Will Smith 11 17 9 13 9 – – 59 pts
18th 3796 Red William Warren and Megan Pascoe 28 9 12 3 13 – – 65 pts
19th 3645 Green Steve Hall and Alison Hall 12 10 11 9 29 – – 71 pts
20th 3787 Green Chris Martin and Samuel Bailey 11 26 14 8 13 – – 72 pts
