THE finish of the second leg in the Volvo Ocean Race proved every bit as exciting as the previous 6,000 miles, but it was John Kostecki's illbruck which crossed the Sydney finish line first, giving him his second victory in two legs.

Only Team SEB, the Swedish boat with Britain's Matt Humphries as watch leader, was able to compete with illbruck as the fleet crossed the Great Australian Bight.

But when SEB broached at high speed coming into the Bass Straits, it left the way open for Kostecki and his crew to speed freely towards the finish.

The Cape Town to Sydney leg which has proved dramatic and action-packed from the start, remained thrilling to the end as a duel for fourth place developed between Grant Dalton on Amer Sports One and Knud Frostrad on Djuice Dragons.

Dalton was strapped into his bunk below deck having earlier broken some ribs when he was flung across the galley and, with Keith Kilpatrick having earlier been taken off the boat with stomach problems, Amer Sports One were two men down for the final 24 hours.

Without him, the crew pushed too hard on the approach into Sydney Harbour and broached, which cost them their fourth place, explained co-skipper Bouwe Bekking.

He said: "It was full on the last 24 hours and we had a great fight with Djuice and they just passed us outside the Heads.

"We were pushing a little bit too hard and then we were lying on our side and it was all over.

"It was the first time in my life that we made such a bad broach. We'll make the headlines because the helicopters were right in front of us.

"The other guys beat us fair and square. We were nearly 250 miles behind at one stage and then we came back into the race - but it was too late by then."

Dalton, who reportedly took time out during a frantic leg to place an order for a new Porsche, was taken to hospital when they reached the dockside but will be resuming his role as skipper for the third leg.

Lymington's Jez Fanstone came third to go into second place overall and Lisa McDonald, wife of Neal, was last night heading towards Sydney in last place.