In an 8 to 10 knot wind the gold fleet got away at the second attempt under a black flag.  Peer Moberg from Norway was leading at the first mark with series leader, Robert Scheidt BRA buried in 15th position.  The leaders went high on the reach whilst Scheidt went low and took 13 boats to get to second before starting the downwind leg. This included his closest rival in the overall points, Michael Blackburn AUS who started the downwind leg in fifth position.  By the end of the downwind and next windward leg Blackburn had pulled up to first ahead of Moberg and Scheidt.
Moberg dropped to third on the second downwind behind Scheidt with Blackburn still in the lead.  There was a twist in the end when Blackburn received a yellow flag penalty from the on water judges and had to do a 720 degree turn. As he did his turns Scheidt passed him but not for long as Blackburn responded to pass Scheidt again before the last short windward leg to the finish.  Behind, Hamish Pepper NZL also passed Moberg on the last reach to finish third.

The wind increased to 13 knots average for the second race.  Andreas Geritzer AUT started at the pin end and went hard left with Andre Streppel  BRA.  These two rounded second and first respectively with Geritzer passing Streppel on the reach. Blackburn and Scheidt were playing catch up in tenth and fifteenth position.  Geritzer extended his lead throughout the race to finish first.  Behind him the battle was on for the runner up positions amongst Streppel, Hugh Styles GBR and Patrick Bergmanns BEL.  On the second downwind this group had been joined by Scheidt and Blackburn who both had good second windward legs and the group traded places in close racing on the downwind.  At the mark Blackburn caught a wave and surfed through Streppel,
Scheidt, Bergmanns and Mark Mendalblatt USA, into second.  On the reach Scheidt passed Streppel as did Mendelblatt.  With no further changes on the short windward to the finish the race ended with Blackburn second, Scheidt third and Mendelblatt fourth as each protected their hard earned positons.

With 4 races to go the Sydney bronze medalist has reduced the overall lead of the silver medallist by two points and narrowed the margin to 4 points to set the stage for an exciting final two days.

Overall results with 1 discard:

1.      Robert Scheidt BRA 14 pts
2.      Michael Blackburn AUS 18 pts
3.      Mark Mendelblatt USA 27pts
4.      Hamish Pepper NZL 37 pts
5.      Andreas Geritzer AUT 38 pts
6.      Karl Suneson SWE 52 pts
7.      Tom Slingsby AUS 62 pts
8.      Peer Moberg NOR 66 pts
9.      Paul Goodison GBR 71 pts
10.     Gareth Blackenberg RSA 74 pts
11.     Thomas Le Breton FRA 83 pts
12.     Milan Vujasinovic CRO 86 pts
13.     Pieter-Jan Postma NED 90 pts
14.     Vasilij Zbogar SLO 94 pts
15.     Brendan Casey AUS 102 pts

Source: Laser International - Event Editor