The race was won by a pair of 17-year-olds from Sea Cadet Corps, Mumbai, Amol Rane and Girish Rao. For the junior national champions, it was their first win in the senior nationals. Mehul Ashar and Rahul Kansare finished second.

But the story today was not Rane-Rao finishing first. It was of Mongia-Garg finishing fourth and virtually kissing goodbye the title they won last year. They had to finish on top and the Yadavs had to sail a badly for Mongia-Garg to have a chance. That, however, did not happen. And even when a plastic bag got stuck in the radar of Yadavs' boat in the final beat, the latter stayed ahead of Mongia-Garg.

Bangkok Asian Games-bound Ashim Mongia complemented the Yadavs for the way they racedtoday. ``They had to stay ahead of us and they did not let us win the race. They did the correct thing.''

Due to shifting winds, the race got 45 minutes behind scheduled. Mongia said they had a good start but when the wind shifted to right, he could not cross the fleet and get to the right side. They were also often crowded out during the rounding of the mark and were never better than fourth throughout the race.

Naresh Yadav, the reserve for Asian Games, said they worked according to a plan. ``We had to cover Mongia-Garg all the time and I am happy we were able to do it. During the final beat, we were losing speed. I quickly realised it could have been a plastic bag and removed from the radar,'' he said. Rane-Rao, also the defending Cadet Class National champions, rounded the first mark ahead of the pack and stayed there till the end. ``It was an easy race,'' said Rane. They (the Yadavs and Mongia-Garg) were fighting among themselves and that definitely benefitted me,'' he said.

Results

Racesix: 1. Amol Rane-Girish Rao (0 Penalty Points); 2. Mehul Ashar-Rahul Kansara (3 PPs); 3. Naresh Yadav-Girdharilal Yadav (5.7 PPs); 4. Ashim Mongia-Pushpendra Garg (8 PPs); 5. Sanjeev Chauhan-Rajesh Dhulaji (10 PPs); 6. Dharmendra Singh-K Ragu (11.7 PPs).

Standings after six races (with discard): 1. 1. Yadav-Yadav (1,1,dsq,2,1,3) 8.7 PPs; 2. Mongia-Garg (2,2,dsq,1,2,4) 17 PPs; 3. Acharya-Rami (4,4,1,4,3,8) 29.7 PPs; 4. Ashar-Kansara (3,10,6,3,4,2) 34.1 PPs; 5. Rane-Rao (8,3,4,15,5) 37.7 PPs.