SAILING: Larry  Ellison may be a software billionaire but yesterday the man he installed as skipper five days earlier deleted him from the crew of his own America's Cup boat.

Ellison's name was missing from the Oracle BMW crew list for their race against US rivals Team Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes in the second round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup for America's Cup challengers, on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.

The Oracle Corporation chief executive had shocked his team by replacing world match racing champion Peter Holmberg as skipper last week with New Zealander Chris Dickson, who had himself been sidelined early in Oracle's campaign, reportedly over friction with team-mates.

Dickson has now responded by recalling Holmberg as helmsman after Ellison had sailed most of Oracle's races in the first round robins in a tactical role.

The move, however, came to nothing when the race was postponed after Stars & Stripes suffered gear damage and was unable to make it back to the start line. Oracle, who lie in equal fourth spot, lodged a protest at Stars & Stripes failure to race.

GBR Challenge's boat Wight Lightning was beaten by the Seattle-based OneWorld in their second round robin.

By the time the spray had settled from the dramatic day's action, OneWorld and Alinghi still remained at the top of the leaderboard with 10 points each.

Alinghi beat Mascalzone Latino by more than two minutes.