KEY POINTS:
It was exactly the start to round two that Team New Zealand needed - a decisive 25 second win over Mascalzone Latino
And in a shock overnight China Team beat BMW Oracle Racing.
The Kiwis beat the Italians in Valencia this morning in what was an action packed day of sailing.
Mascalzone Latino caused the first upset of the Louis Vuitton Cup beating Team NZ in race one of round one after the Kiwis opted for the wrong side of the course.
However there was little to fault in the Kiwis performance this morning.
In a split tack start Dean Barker started to the left of the Italians and powered over the line three seconds ahead.
Up the first beat the two sides engaged in a vigorous tacking duel, the New Zealanders slowly easing ahead.
Team New Zealand rounded the top mark 24s ahead.
On the downwind run Team New Zealand loosely covered the Italians.
NZL92 stretched its lead the New Zealanders gaining 20s to round the gate 44s ahead.
In the shifty breeze the Italians charged back on the second upwind beat coming within a couple of boat lengths of New Zealand.
However the Team New Zealand afterguard did well in the challenging conditions and the side rounded the top mark 33s ahead.
Mascalzone Latino then broke their spinnaker pole and nearly lost their bowman over board in the process which allowed the Kiwis to press ahead.
The Kiwis crossed the line 25s ahead.
Penalty
It wasn't a good day for Mascalzone Latino who were beaten earlier in the day by Areva Challenge after they coped a penalty in the first downwind run for not keeping clear.
Prior to the Mascalzone Latino and Team New Zealand clash, flight two provided some tasty clashes.
The biggest upset of all was China Team's 3m 15s win over BMW Oracle Racing.
Oracle went into the match with almost an entirely new team, choosing to rest their key sailors including skipper/helmsman Chris Dickson, tactician Gavin Brady and navigator Peter Isler.
An understandable move considering the team, like most, have not had a day off since the regatta started on April 16.
Oracle led across the startline dominating China Team. However their comfortable lead was brought to a halt when their headsail tore out of the foil.
Oracle were unsuccessful in rehoisting the sail. USA98 was left sailing the first windward leg under mainsail only, as the China Team overtook and then extended away to a 5m 15s delta at the first mark.
The crew of USA 98 chased hard downwind, reducing the gap to 4m 5s at the leeward mark.
On the second upwind leg, Oracle managed repair the headfoil and hoist a headsail. USA98 gained again, cutting China's lead to 3min 24s at the top of the beat.
Another good downwind leg saw USA 98 make further inroads, but the deficit was too much and China Team recorded its first win of the Louis Vuitton Cup by 3 minutes 15 seconds.
BMW Oracle Racing design coordinator Ian Burns said his team will remove the rig and do a thorough inspection overnight.
"Obviously, we will take remedial action to ensure this does not happen again. We had a similar problem in Act 13, but the two incidents happened in completely different circumstances. We will be ready to race tomorrow," he said.
In other matches Team Shosholoza beat United internet Germany by 1m 23s, Luna Rossa beat Victory Challenge by 27s and Spain's Desafio Espanol came from behind to beat +39 on the last run.
Areva Challenge beat +39 by 1 minute 11s after +39 were penalised after their spinnaker touched Areva.
Team New Zealand face +39 tonight.
