AMERICA’S CUP DAILY REPORT : CHALLENGER, DEFENDER TRIALS : New Zealand Moves Out in Front

The America’s Cup challengers are sailing in opposite directions, and it has nothing to do with wind shifts.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that New Zealand, the Italians, Japanese and French are looking like the top four at the moment,” New Zealand tactician David Barnes said Tuesday.

A victory over Nippon by 2 minutes 21 seconds put New Zealand (9-1) atop the heap midway through the second round, followed by Nippon (8-2), Italy (8-2) and France (6-4).

The gulf separating them from the lower four--Spain (4-6), Spirit of Australia (4-6), Sweden (1-9) and Challenge Australia (0-10)--only figures to get wider.

A close race between New Zealand and Nippon became a Kiwi cruise when they overtook the previous match between Spain and Sweden at the first mark. New Zealand skipper Rod Davis steered through the traffic safely, but Nippon skipper Chris Dickson got stuck in Spain’s disturbed air and never escaped.

In other races, Ville de Paris beat Spirit of Australia by 1:48, Il Moro de Venezia defeated Challenge Australia by 6:57, and Spain took Sweden by default.

The day’s only surprise was on the defenders’ course, where Dave Dellenbaugh sailed Defiant to its first victory over its newer, unbeaten stablemate, America 3, with Bill Koch at the helm, by 1:05. In the first race, Koch had steered his boat to a 38-second victory.