Oracle hold off OneWorld

Oracle have beaten OneWorld in the first two races of the best-of-seven repechage and now have a three-point advantage over their Seattle-based rivals.

OneWorld began the repechage on minus one after they were penalised a point in a long-running spy saga. The winners of the repechage will sail leading contenders Alinghi of Switzerland in the challengers final next month.

OneWorld fought desperately to bridge the gap but the $75 million team backed by telecom investor Craig McCaw and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen -- the outspoken Ellison's sworn software enemy -- now need to win five races to stop Oracle's charge.

The winning margin was the narrowest since the challengers regatta began in October.

"You don't get much closer than that and we were extremely happy to get the point," Oracle skipper Chris Dickson said after the victory put his team just two wins away from claiming a spot against Alinghi in the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers final.

TIGHT RACE

"We wanted to keep the race tight and close but would have liked a bit more margin at the end," he told reporters.

Oracle won the start and led around each of the five marks in fresh winds of 10-18 knots on the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand's largest city of Auckland.

But Oracle were never more than about 30 seconds ahead of OneWorld, who closed the gap to 14 seconds as the boats rounded the fifth mark for the run home on the sixth and final leg.

OneWorld's Australian skipper Peter Gilmour and helmsman James Spithill pushed their boat and crew hard down the final leg and overtook Oracle about five minutes from the finish. But Oracle fought back from the left side of the course and, sailing to windward of OneWorld, were able to filter disturbed air on to their rivals, slowing OneWorld's progress enough to squeeze across the finish line barely ahead.

"Our hearts were in our mouths at the finish," said Oracle afterguard member Ian Burns. "We have practised that a few hundred times. I think it might have paid off at last," he said.

DESIGN SECRETS

Oracle thrashed OneWorld 4-0 in the quarter-finals and Saturday's win was their seventh in a row over their U.S. rivals.

An arbitration panel imposed the one-point penalty on OneWorld for all remaining stages of the regatta after they were found to have boat design secrets from other teams.

OneWorld overcame their penalty to defeat defending challengers champions Prada of Italy 3-2 in their elimination semi-final on Tuesday to reach the repechage.

In a further twist, OneWorld said on Saturday they were examining documents leaked to The New Zealand Herald newspaper which suggest Oracle might have obtained prohibited construction drawings when they bought two training yachts from former U.S. team AmericaOne after the 2000 America's Cup.

Oracle have rejected the claim, and spokeswoman Joanna Ingley described the suggestion as pathetic and a waste of energy.

Oracle were forced into the repechage after they were beaten 4-0 by Alinghi in the "double chance" semi-final.

The winner of the challengers series will sail holders Team New Zealand in the America's Cup in February 2003.