Final day at Sintra
Hubbs and Catarina take Sintra...
After 6 days of non stop action it had come down to this…
The weather was perfect and the waves cleaned up in time for the final day of the 2009 Sintra Portugal Pro. The day began with the men’s quarterfinals in well-shaped glassy waves. The heats were as follows:
Eder Luciano(Brazil) vs Amaury Laverne(Reunion)
Jeff Hubbard (Hawaii) vs Pierre Louis Costes (France)
Hugo Pinherro(Portugal) vs Ryan Hardy (Australia)
Mark McCarthy (South Africa) vs Ben Player (Australia)
A mammoth highlight was Ben Player’s perfect 10 with a backflip and roll. It was the only 10 for the prone riders and showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with on the IBA Tour.
The semi’s showcased the best bodyboarding of the event as the waves were pumping during this part of the day with clean tubing ramps all over the shop.
It looked like this…
Eder Luciano vs Jeff Hubbard
Ben Player vs Ryan Hardy
Highlights from the Semi’s were Ryan Hardy’s 9.25 which began with a back flip out of the bowl, then an ARS and completed with a roll on the inside section. At this point Hardy was behind and BP looked like he was on-song for a final. Ben held his fist in the air and claimed the score for his good mate that he grew up surfing against as a junior.
DK king, Dave Hubb, was the clear leader for the dropknee from the outset in the first final on the DKWT. The four man final saw a lot of jostling for 2nd and 3rd between Dave Winchester and Ardiel Jimenez. The conditions were difficult for the final as the waves failed to produce clean lines that allowed for multiple moves. The final results for the drop knee were:
1. Dave Hubbard (Hawaii), 2. Ardiel Jimenez (Canaries), 3. Dave Winchester (Australia), 4. Nuno Leitao (Portugal).
Isabella Sousa blew minds in the Expression session to take the prize. She was in devastating form at this contest and will be one to watch in the next few events.
The women’s final saw the beach packed and cheering for the Portuguese final. Pandemonium hit as the electricity went out for the second half of the final; the only sounds being the cheers of the crowd encouraging the girls to take advantage of the much cleaner conditions than previous days. Catarina Sousa carried away the women’s novelty cheque with a combination of good waves, scoring a 7.0 for a great roll. Rita Pires failed to find winning waves that would allow for high scores.
The men’s final saw Jeff Hubbard leading early. This theme continued throughout the heat as Ryan Hardy failed to find any waves that were worth more than a take-off. Hubb completed a few good combination moves and successfully managed to pick off every decent wave that came through.
This final has ensured the title race for this years IBA World title pursuit will be even closer. Hardy and Hubb have each won a grand slam event for the year, and with Mike Stewart and Tamega both bowing out earlier in the competition, it has ensured that the tense race to the finish line has become tighter.
Its all going to come down to the wire at the final Grand Slam event of the year at Confital in the Canary Islands.
In the meantime there are 2 events left on the E5’09 leg here in Europe with everyone heading North towards Ferrol for the Deeply Pro before returning back to Peniche’ for the Peniche’ Pro.
Still lots of action coming your way so stay tuned to www.ibaworldtour.com for all the info…
