SANTO DOMINGO -- Zander Kirkland proved he was not going to be bossed around by the big names yesterday as he continued his rise up the Laser standings at the Pan-Am Games.

Kirkland (20) came in eighth and sixth in yesterday's pair of races at Boca Chica to move up to eighth overall, an improvement of one place on the day before.

And just for good measure he managed to upset gold medal shoe in Robert Scheidt of Brazil with a piece of nifty manouevring.

"In the first race I pinched off the six time world champion and I rolled the Canadian (Luttmer)," he said. "As I was pinching Robert off he was screaming at me in Portuguese . . . I was really happy with that."

Kirkland has shown steady improvement each day and he is starting to show the potential everyone knows he has.

"I don't think on the first day I was really there," he said. "I didn't have much confidence and I'm getting a lot more confident now, especially downwind.

"I'd like to consolidate where I am right now and if I continue sailing this way, maybe come up a little bit more," he added. "But I am pretty much where I thought I would be coming into it. Anything more would be great, but if I can just hang in here it would be nice too."