Peter Bromby and Martin Siese swept to victory in the fifth race of the 2002 Star Class World Championships in California yesterday, writes Matt Westcott.

The Bermuda pair held off a stiff challenge from Iain Percy of Great Britain to win by one second after a tacking duel on the approach to the finish line off Santa Monica Bay.

The result vaulted the Island team up to sixth place in the standings, after previous second, fifth, 32nd and 33rd place finishes. The worst race was dropped.

Bromby and Siese have a total of 40 points and trail fifth placed Rick Merriman and Bill Bennett of the USA by six points.

Percy and crew Steve Mitchell lead the regatta with ten points with one race remaining.

Zan Kirkland finished 19th out of 122 competitors in the Canadian Olympic Training Regatta (CORK) with finishes of 16-15-14-6-28-23-(33)-21.

Although "not feeling fast" in the last two races as on the other days, Kirkland was pleased overall with the progress he is making in the Full Rig Laser.

"I think I actually qualified Bermuda for the Pan Am Games in the Laser by beating the Mexican," he said.

Ben Wicks sailed a creditable regatta with an overall finish of 27th.