POOLE’S match racing girls gained sweet revenge on world champions Finland on a stunning day for the Elliott 6m crew yesterday.

Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor were beaten to the world title by Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva and Mikaela Wulff in Sweden in June, but gave the Finns a gentle reminder that they, too, are aiming high in the London 2012 regatta.

The trio, dubbed ‘MacLush’, picked up their first double win of the regatta by seeing off France later in the afternoon and are now well placed in third overall with a 66 per cent win ratio.

With five races remaining in the round robin stage, the Poole stars will be hoping to hold on to a top-eight berth ahead of the knockout stage of the class.

Lucy Macgregor said: “It’s certainly very tight across the whole fleet and they are two very good competitors so were really pleased to have beaten them both in what were both really good races. We really enjoyed it out there today.

“The last couple of days we have felt like we have been there or thereabouts but we just weren’t quite nailing it, even in the races we were winning. We felt a bit more like we were in the game today. That last race was certainly tough with Claire Leroy (French skipper). It certainly wasn’t a walkover by any stretch of the imagination but that also made it more enjoyable to then go on and win at the end.”

‘MacLush’ are scheduled to resume their campaign against New Zealand at 3pm today before going head-to-head with Russia at 5pm.

Kate Macgregor added: “The home support has been great so far. It was amazing today even when it started to rain. In the last match with Claire Leroy, we definitely heard the crowd down the last run when it was getting a bit close.

“It’s definitely nice to know they are there supporting us. I’m sure many of them have got the bus down from Poole!”

In the Star class, meanwhile, Sherborne’s Andrew Simpson and skipper Iain Percy held on to their overall class lead.

The duo notched Team GB’s first race win of the regatta, before finishing second in race six to open up a four-point lead on main rivals Brazil.