KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand went two-nil up on the Spanish, and Oracle evened the score with Luna Rossa, in the second day of the challenger series semifinals in Valencia.
In some ways the second round of the semifinals resembled the first day of racing.
BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa had a humdinger of a battle which saw the Americans pull off a stunning come-from-behind 13 second win.
In comparison Emirates Team New Zealand's win over Desafio Espanol was straightforward, sailing a smart, conservative race to beat Desafio Espanol by a comfortable 40 seconds.
Skipper Dean Barker won the start. Team New Zealand started on the left, crossed over to the right, nailed the first shift and were gone.
The Spanish were fast downwind, making ground on both offwind legs to reduce the gap to 40 seconds by the finish. But never for a moment did the New Zealanders look threatened.
"We got off the line in good shape so that was a good start," said Team New Zealand bowman Jeremy Lomas.
"The boys did a fantastic job up the first beat and that put us in a comfortable position around the top and the crew was pretty solid. Down the first run they came back into us a little bit, we kept it close.
"We are happy in close contact races to keep the boat on boat contact. I think that is one of our strengths. We don't like to give the other boat too much leverage."
In the other race, Luna Rossa helmsman James Spithill took it to Chris Dickson at the start, shutting him out. Oracle set up above the layline, Luna Rossa set up to leeward on the layline and shut the gate. There was nowhere for Oracle to go.
From about 40 seconds to go Oracle were always destined to be behind unless Spithill got his time and distance to the line wrong. He timed it perfectly.
Luna Rossa played the windshifts up the first beat brilliantly and at the top mark were 58 seconds ahead. But, in a similar scenario to day one, Oracle came screaming back on the downwind run.
By the leeward mark the gap was down to 20 seconds. The match was tight up the second beat with Luna Rossa just hanging on to round the third mark 14 second ahead. Oracle's hoist was a lot slicker which helped get them in a position to attack.
Two thirds of the way down the final run it happened. USA98 rolled past. Oracle led to the finish.
"On the first windward leg, we never felt we were out of it," said Oracle owner Larry Ellison.
"We think we are pretty quick and felt we could work our way back into the race. We certainly never gave up. At one stage we were 12-13 boat-lengths behind, but it was a day of big oscillations in the wind and we played the shifts all the way.
"Coming down the final run, Luna Rossa Challenge gybed right onto our wind. Chris Dickson did an amazing job of wriggling out of it, soaking down when he had to and driving up when he had to."
Luna Rossa navigator Michele Ivaldi acknowleged his team "burned" away the lead they had on the first run.
"We then had a good opportunity at the second top mark. The shift gave Oracle a real good advantage and they soaked up the margin. The dial-up at the end of the beat is a classic situation which can occur at the top mark," he said.
"We, as other teams, have been practicing this scenario and decided to perform a 'slam dunk' (tacking on your opponents' wind to stall their sails). One must know how to attack and how to defend in these cases."
The semifinals are a best of nine race series.
Team New Zealand now lead Desafio Espanol 2-0 and Luna Rossa and BMW Oracle Racing are tied up at 1-all.
The teams will square off in race three tonight. Tomorrow is a day off.
