VALENCIA, Spain (AP) – BMW Oracle Racing won Act 10 of the Louis Vuitton Cup on Tuesday, the U.S. yacht’s first victory in the America’s Cup warmup regattas since the opening competition in 2004.

BMW Oracle won both its Tuesday races to finish in a four-way tie for the points lead with Alinghi of Switzerland, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge of Italy, all having split their two races.

The Acts are 14 regattas that started in 2004 as a prelude to the 2007 America’s Cup, which will be held off this Spanish port. The results of these races will help seed the competition for the 2007 challenger trials.

All the teams are competing for a chance to challenge Alinghi next year. BMW Oracle won overall on head-to-head results with its co-leaders. It also competed in one fewer race, which was postponed until Wednesday against Italy’s +39 Challenge.

BMW Oracle defeated Spain’s Desafio Espanol by 25 seconds and Luna Rossa by 1:38. Luna Rossa earlier beat Team New Zealand, which in turn defeated Alinghi.

Alinghi also won its first race of the day against Sweden’s Victory Challenge.

Desafio Espanol won its last race against Victory Challenge to draw even with the Swedes on points, winning that countback for fifth place.

Racing conditions were perfect, with a 10-12 knot easterly under sunny skies. More than 100 spectator boats ringed the courses to watch the races.

AP-ES-05-16-06 1540EDT

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