Riptide Magazine

The Encanto Pro - Day Five

Last Updated on Thursday, 10 November 2011 21:53

Jeff Hubbard.
All Photos // Specker/IBA

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

Day Eight of the Encanto Pro
Middles, Isabella, Puerto Rico
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
The final eight GSS riders, WWT finalists and DKWT finalists were decided in wedging two meter glassy waves at Middles Beach today.

The top three 2011 GSS World Title contenders have been eliminated from competition in Round 4.  Jeff Hubbard, Guilherme Tamega and Ryan Hardy will all walk away with a 9th place finish, postponing the title race showdown to the final stop of the 2011 IBA GSS World Tour, at El Fronton in the Canary Islands (December 6th to 16th).

With the completion of the Leaderboard stage followed by Round 4, the field of 32 riders has been cut down to the final eight.


Pierre-Louis Costes.

Standouts of Round 4 included, Pierre-Louis Costes, who defeated number one seed Jeff Hubbard and helped open up the title race to six of the remaining eight riders. Costes and Hubbard were neck on neck throughout the heat, with each rider seemingly getting a deeper barrel and launching bigger airs than the other. When the final buzzer sounded, it was the young Frenchman who walked away with less than half a point higher score than Hubbard; 17.45 vs 17 points.


Pierre-Louis Costes & Jefff Hubbard.

Dave Hubbard seemed to have found his rhythm today. Only narrowly making the cut into the Top 16 where he managed to knock out a very inform Mitch Rawlins who surfed a total of seven heats from trials to Round 4. Hubbard posted an incredible heat score of 18 points.

The view from the judges booth.

Jared Houston was matched up against fellow South African Mark McCarthy. Having only surfed against McCarthy once before in the "man-on-man" format this year, Houston lost to McCarthy in the quarter-finals of the Box Pro, but today managed to top his fellow country-man with a stellar performance.

2010 World Champion, Amaury Lavernhe  showed incredible consistency throughout the event, especially today in his match-up against nine-time World Champion, Mike Stewart.

Coming from a second place finish in Reunion a month ago, Jake Stone has been unstoppable throughout the Enncato Pro, taking out fellow Aussie and title contender Ryan Hardy.  When asked about his performance, Stone commented:"It feels good, but I just did not expect them (the top three title contenders) to drop out of the comp so quick. I guess I have got to do well for them. I will try my best!"


Jake Stone.

Stone is one of the six riders remaining in the event, looking for a good result to keep their dream of a 2011 World Title alive. The other five riders in contention are: Lavernhe, Houston, Costes, Uri Valadao and Magno Oliveira.

Roberto Bruno (BRA) is the only trialist remaining in the event, narrowly defeating six time World Champion, Guilherme Tamega, securing his spot in the quarter-finals.


Roberto Bruno after knocking out Guilherme Tamega.


Isabella Sousa.

The WWT semi-final 1 was arguably the most action packed heat in Women's bodyboarding history. Isabella Sousa (BRA) raised the level of riding on the WWT to new heights, posting an 8.75 for one of the biggest rolls of the event and backed it up with a perfect 10 point ride for a deep barrel to flawless reverse-Air. Sousa defeated Karla Costa Taylor (BRA) who did not go down without a fight, attempting to launch a huge ARS on one of the bigger sets of the day, which if completed, could well have scored the only other 10 point ride of the event.

Semi-final 2 saw Lilly Pollard (AUS) take on local favorite Natasha Sagardia (PUR). It seemed the previous heat got all the waves, leaving Pollard and Sagardia searching for scores in a wave starved heat. Pollard managed to find a good pocket in the dying seconds of the heat, allowing for a combination of rolls and was awarded the score to take out the heat.

Pollard will face Sousa in the final.


Amaury Lavernhe.

The DKWT Final will feature current Dropknee World Champion, Damien King against multiple Dropknee World Champion Dave Hubbard in what is set to be one of the most anticipated heats of the event.

A call will be made tomorrow at 06h15 local time for a 07h00 start to decide whether the all the finals will run.

Mark McCarthy.

The Final Match Ups:

Women's Divsion Final
Isabella Sousa (Bra) vs Lilly Pollard (Aus)

DK Division Final
Damian King (Aus) vs Dave Hubbard (Haw)

Men's Quarter Finals
Dave Hubbard (Haw) vs Jake Stone (Aus)
Magno Oliveira (Bra) vs Jared Houston (Saf)
Amaury Laverhne (Fra) vs Uri Valadao (Bra)
Pierre-Louis Costes (Fra) vs Roberto Bruno (Bra)