Kiwi blows into the lead
NEW Zealand's world champion Bruce Kendall shot to the top of the standings after the second day of the Mobil Hong Kong Open Championships with a win and a second place in the two races at Tai Tam Bay off Stanley yesterday.
Kendall, the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games gold medallist and pre-tournament favourite, was second overnight but quickly reasserted his supremacy by winning yesterday's opening race - the fourth in the series.
He shrugged off a stiff challenge from local number one Sam Wong Tak-sum as the two raced away from the rest of the field. Overnight leader Oka Sulalsana was disqualified for a premature start.
Hong Kong's women's world champion Lee Lai-shan finished third in the race ahead of local teenager Anthony Lau Chun-ho.
Wong turned the tables on his more illustrious New Zealand rival in the second race of the day and Lau did remarkably well to hold back Sulalsana, the Asian champion, for third place.
Kendall now leads the chart with 14 points from five races with Wong in second position on 17.4 and Lau holding third place with 51.7.
Sulalsana was officially demoted to ninth position overall because of the disqualification but, in theory, could hold on to second position behind Kendall and dislodge Wong as he is allowed to discard one result.
The Indonesian will have 11 points if his fourth result is discarded - five points behind Kendall and edging Wong by 0.7 of a point.
''It's good to be back at the top but there are another four races and it could still be anybody's title,'' said Kendall, who is still angry for not being declared the champion last year because of discrepancies in the rules.
''Oka is still very much in the title race and so is Sam. They will give me a lot of trouble so I'll have to be very careful not to make any mistakes in the next two days.'' Kendall won seven of the eight races in the Mistrel Class last year but failed to lift the grand prize because he only finished fourth in the funboard race. The overall title went to Wong, who came second in the Mistrel Class races and won the funboard race.
