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Oracle wins Race 4 to scuttle NZ sweep
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Oracle Team USA scored its first victory of the 34th America’s Cup on Sunday, scuttling a budding sweep by challenger New Zealand.
The defending champion won the fourth race after finishing in the wake of Emirates Team New Zealand in the previous three battles on San Francisco Bay.
“It was huge,” Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill said of the importance of the victory to him and his crew.
“A lesser team would probably have crumbled,” he added, referring to the pressure for a win.
The next two races of the best-of-17 series are set for today.
The Kiwis are in the enviable position of needing only six more victories to take yachting’s coveted Cup back home.
Oracle needs 10 more wins to keep possession of the prize, thanks to a two-point penalty imposed on the team before racing began.
New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said his team remained confident, having sailed “what we thought was a pretty average race” but finishing only eight seconds behind Oracle, which took the lead early in the fourth race and fought relentlessly to fend off powerful thrusts by the challenger to grab the lead.
Oracle nearly lost its advantage early with a slip, dropping a dagger board into the water and sending the bow plunging during a turn at a gate.
New Zealand had won the first race, snatching an early lead from the Americans.
Oracle got a slight jump at the start in the first race of the day and boldly crossed ahead of New Zealand at the first marker, drawing the first racing penalty of the series.
Oracle held its lead on the downwind leg of the race.
The powerful AC72 catamarans dueled fiercely during the third leg with an exchange of tacks and jibes that ended with New Zealand seizing the lead.
The Kiwis built on their lead to cross the finish 28 seconds ahead of the defending champion.
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