The USA’s Howie Hamlin and Andy Zinn came back into the frame to tie the lead with Britain’s Michael Sims and Carl Gibbon who won two races but had to discard a 12.
Going into the final day of the 505 UK Open Nationals at Portland these two will need to avoid racing each-other out of the Title, and allowing the third placed Aussie pair Michael Quirk and Tim Needham to snatch victory at the post.
Sims and Gibbon won th first race of the day ahead of Hamlin and Zinn with Nathan Batchelor and Sam Pascoe in third.
The second race went to Hamlin and Zinn with Sims and Gibbon down in 12th, putting the American’s back in the lead by a point . . . But not for long.
Sims and Gibbon recovered to win the final race of the day with Hamlin and Zinn taking second ahead of Mike Holt and Reeve Dunne USA, to tie the overall lead on 13 pts, and take the championship title into another day.
International 505 UK Open Nationals – Leaders after 8 races (26 entries)
1st GBR Michael Sims and Carl Gibbon 5 2 2 1 1 1 -12 1 – – 13 pts
2nd USA Howie Hamlin and Andy Zinn 1 1 3 -4 3 2 1 2 – – 13 pts
3rd AUS Michael Quirk and Tim Needham 2 3 1 2 4 -8 3 5 – – 20 pts
4th GBR Nathan Batchelor and Sam Pascoe 4 4 5 5 2 3 -7 4 – – 27 pts
5th GBR Roger Gilbert and Ian Mitchell 3 5 4 3 7 5 -13 6 – – 33 pts
6th USA Mike Holt and Reeve Dunne 6 -10 6 7 9 4 6 3 – – 41 pts
7th GBR Ian Pinnell and Charles Dwyer 7 6 8 -10 5 7 8 8 – – 49 pts
8th FRA Philippe Boite and Tim Chiron -11 8 9 9 10 6 2 7 – – 51 pts
9th GBR Rob Gullan and Paul Childs 8 7 -12 6 6 12 9 9 – – 57 pts
10th GBR Andy Smith and Jonny Mildred 10 9 7 12 11 11 11 -22 – – 71 pts
