Riptide Magazine

Japan Wins at Soldiers

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The Japanese sweep the 2011 Soldiers Beach Pro
The second event on the 2011 Rebel Sport Pro Tour has been won by Japanese high-flyer Hayato Enokido. He took down some of the world's best riders on his way to the four man final with former champion Mark McCarthy (South Africa) second; third place went to Dave Winchester (Byron Bay) with Mitch Rawlins (Qld) fourth.

“I'm so happy” said Enokido. “Now I will try to go to the Box Pro in West Australia” he added.

Enokido finished second in the preceding event in Qld, so he now has a healthy lead on the rest of the riders chasing points on this year's Tour. Last year’s winner and former World Champion Damian King from Port Macquarie was bundled out in the quarterfinals in the small clean surf. “It is a good beach, but today it was weak and inconsistent,” said King. “It's very different to the Grand Slam events on the IBA World Tour which are all held in extreme reef break locations, but everyone has to surf the same conditions I guess” he added.

IBA Australasian General Manager Terry McKenna says that the four-day event attracted the best riders in Australia. “In 2011 the National ranking from this tour is directly linked to the World Tour so a win here increases a riders chances to qualify for the elite IBA World Tour Grand Slam Series (GSS) in 2012” said McKenna. “It’s an innovative move from the IBA to attract the best riders back to the national level and it’s working with some big names rolling back off the World Tour to compete at this level,” he added.

The Pro Women’s division also went to a Japanese rider with Sari Oohara making for a clean sweep in the finals for Japan. “Thankyou everyone. It was such a good competition” said the smiling Oohara.

Dave Winchester was the winner of the DK final and commented that the event was successful. “Yes, it was another awesome event at Soldiers with a real carnival atmosphere” said Winny.

The best amateur riders in NSW were also on show with R1 of the State tiles running in conjunction with the tournament with ten divisions contested over the four days.

The final results are as follows:

Pro Men
1st Hayato Enokido, Japan
2nd Mark McCarthy, South Africa
3rd Dave Winchester, NSW
4th Mitch Rawlins, QLD

Pro Women
1st Sari Ohara, Japan
2nd Lilly Pollard, NSW
3rd Nicole Fleming, TAS
4th Lauren Fletcher, NSW
5th Jane Keel, NSW

Pro DK
1st Dave Winchester, NSW
2nd Damian King, NSW
3rd Grant Molony, NSW
4th Dane Pope, QLD
5th Adam Cheers, NSW
6th Dylan Short, NSW

The next stop on the Rebel Sport Pro Tour is the IBA BOX Pro, which despite being an IBA Grand Slam event also offers a 5 Star rating for Australians. The dual rating will once again be a big attraction to the best riders in the world. The trials for this event get underway Monday 11th April with the main event window starting on Wednesday 14th.

The Soldiers Pro was proudly supported by: Wyong Shire Council, Rebel Sport, The Beachcomber Hotel, Dunes, GTV, 104.5 StarFM and ibodyboard.com