America's Cup: Emirates Team NZ sets pace on Day 1 of Match Racing

8:39 PM Wed 10 Aug 2011 GMT

'Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Racing Spithill in their match race on day three of the first America&rsquo;s Cup World Series event, Cascai Portugal. 10/8/2011' Chris Cameron/ETNZ

Emirates Team New Zealand is setting a torrid pace at the Cascais AC Match Race Championship, the third stage of the America's Cup World Series competition, and is leading after the first day of the match racing section of the series.

Following a two-hour postponement due to unusually light and fickle winds in Cascais, the three seeding fleet races were packed with thrills and spills, the most dramatic of which was a start line collision between ORACLE Racing Coutts and the Kiwis.

The day would culminate with a one-on-one duel between the Emirates team and the American defender, ORACLE Racing Spithill - the first match race of the America's Cup World Series. At stake was top spot on the day, and the race didn't disappoint with the lead passing back and forth until late in the match.

Barker, the Kiwi skipper, stormed away off the starting line to lead at the first mark, only to see the American team find a shift on the opposite side of the race course. By the bottom gate, ETNZ was in the lead again. But approaching the halfway point of the race, there was an important cross between the two boats, which resulted in a classic match racing set piece, giving the advantage back to Spithill.