Conner held in suspense

Dennis Conner went out to sail a vital race against the rival 15 women and one man of Bill Koch's America3 yesterday still not knowing if he would be disqualified from the America's Cup defence trials even if he won.

The fate of both syndicates would then lie in the hands of an international jury headed by Britain's John Doerr, which has already spent 13 hours hearing a complaint from Koch that Conner is sailing illegally, having changed a damaged keel mid-series instead of repairing it.

Koch's other lifeline was to win yesterday, so square the Citizen Cup semi-final series at three wins each and qualify for a sudden-death sail- off with Conner. Kevin Mahaney's Pact '95 syndicate, who have joined the chorus of protest against Conner, have already won their place in the final of the trials to find the US defender.

Behind the scenes there were suggestions that the jury should admonish the organisers of the US defence trials for giving Conner permission in the first place to change the keels, and for the defence committee to negotiate a compromise sail-off between Conner and Koch, perhaps a best of three, with Conner returning his yacht to the format it was in at the start of the semi-finals.

The jury was due to resume its hearing last night, but it can only rule on the case brought before it and if Koch wins his case, which the defence committee tried to prevent him from making by ordering the jury not to hear it, there is no reason for him to compromise. Whichever way the jury moved, and in theory there is no appeal, if it produced a winner and a loser it was expected that the loser would not let the matter drop. Koch has already forced the issue by threatening legal action.

In the challengers' Louis Vuitton Cup semi-final, from which Team New Zealand have withdrawn, having secured their place, to work on their boats, John Bertrand had only to beat the winless Nippon Challenge to make unnecessary today's final race against Chris Dickson's Tag Heuer.

CITIZEN CUP Semi-finals day 11: Pact '95 bt Stars & Stripes 44sec. Standings: 1 Pact '95 8pts; 2 Team Dennis Conner 3; 3 America3 2.

LOUIS VUITTON CUP Semi-finals race 10: Tag Heuer bt Nippon Challenge 55sec; oneAustralia bt Team New Zealand walkover. Standings: 1 Team New Zealand 9pts; 2 oneAustralia 6; 3 Tag Heuer 5; 4 Nippon Challenge 0.