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USA forces winner-take-all race
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Oracle Team USA won two more races against Emirates Team New Zealand to even up the America’s Cup finals on Tuesday in San Francisco, continuing an epic comeback in a regatta that once looked like a Kiwi cakewalk and will now be decided by a single winner-take-all showdown.
Skipper Jimmy Spithill and defending champion Oracle Team USA extended their almost unimaginable winning streak to seven to force a winner-take-all finale against Emirates Team New Zealand.
Oracle came through a wild start with two collisions to win Race 17, and then sped past the Kiwis after they made a tactical error to give up the lead in Race 18 in strong wind.
All but defeated a week ago, Oracle Team USA tied the faltering Kiwis 8-8 on the scoreboard by winning its 10th race overall. Oracle was docked two points for illegally modifying boats in warmup regattas and Dirk de Ridder, who trimmed the 131-foot wing sail, was disqualified.
If it hadn’t been hit with the harshest penalties in the 162-year history of the America’s Cup, Oracle Team USA’s sailors would be hoisting the oldest trophy in international sports and spraying each other with champagne.
Either Oracle will finish one of the greatest comebacks in sports history or Team New Zealand, marooned on match point for the past week, will get the win it needs to claim the Auld Mug for the second time in 18 years.
Oracle has gotten faster as it’s made changes to its black cat every night in its big boatshed on Pier 80 and has steadily learned to sail it better under the watchful eye of team CEO Russell Coutts, a four-time America’s Cup winner.
But there’s a bigger reason Oracle is still alive.
“Never giving up,” Spithill said.
The 34-year-old Australian has been almost defiant in leading his well-funded team after it was penalized days before the sailing began.
“I really feel it’s because we’ve been through such hard times in this campaign that it’s prepared us for this situation,” Spithill said.
Barker looked deflated after the double losses. “We got beaten today, and that’s tough to handle, but sometimes you just have to accept that,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but we know we can still win this.”
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