Mark Oliver leads lasers

Press, 17 January 1986, Page 3

Mark Oliver leads lasers

PA Tauranga An Auckland civil engineer, Mark Oliver, aged 23, took a commanding lead in the 1986 laser yachting championships off Mount Maunganui yesterday at the end of the sixth race of the series.

He leads the fleet with 10.75 points and a worse placing to date of fifth in the fleet of 57. However, more important, his main rivals have each had a disqualification already in the series which means Oliver, the national champion previously in 1984, needs only one good result today to take the

title. His nearest rival at this stage is a Wellington helmsman, Gary Flynn (11 points), but with no race in hand. Third place over all is Howick’s Rohan Lord on 22 points. The leader after four races, Philip Douglas, from Mairangi Bay, had a bad result yesterday finishing twenty-first in the fleet without a race in hand, after being disqualified on Tuesday and has dropped back to fourth over all. The fifth race off Tauranga yesterday morning was a heartbreaking affair for an Aucklander, Hamish

Atkinson. After his own boat broke up early in the series, he led throughout in a borrowed hull yesterday and was just 100 m from the finish line when the time limit for the race expired and it was abandoned. The race has been rescheduled for this afternoon if time permits. Atkinson showed good form again in the afternoon race to win by a convincing 90 seconds from Flynn, the biggest winning margin of the series so far. A Seatoun helmsman, Andrew Dellabarca, was third ahead of a Tauranga lightweight, lan Williams.