Tamega wins the Sopelana BBK Pro
posted by Terry McKenna on 22nd August 2010
The third day of the Sopelana BBK Pro got underway in Spain and the swell had dipped overnight leaving Sopelana with clean 2 footers.
The first heat of the day saw young Australian Tom Rigby victorious over the local Aritz Larrinaga.
"That was so scary out there" said Rigby.
"Its weak, inconsistent and exhausting because you have to work hard to generate your own power"
"I heard the scores for Lucas come through at 5 point something and started to panic. Lucky that I was out there by myself and the other competitors were surfing down the beach"
In the next heat the Spanish duo of Aitor Romo and Alex Uranga defeated Portugal’s Manuel Centeno and Gastao Entrudo.
Heat 7 R3 and Jacob Romero continued his good form with a win over local legend David Perez and the last heat of the round saw Luis Perez (Spain) and Helliton Loureiro (Brazil) progress.
Round 4 is know as the “Money Round” as it contains the top seeds from the IBA World Tour.
Current ratings leader and defending champion Amaury Laverhne was eliminated in the first heat as Yeray Martinez and Rui Ferreira dominated.
Other heat winners included Dave Winchester (Aus) Dave Hubbard (Haw) Uri Valadao (Brz) Guilherme Tamega (Brz) Aritz Larrinaga (Basque) Pierre Luis Costes (France) and Eder Luciano (Brz)
At this point the event went man on man and organizers decided to host a “Tow-Sho” with Damian King on the ski and Jake Stone on the rope.
These two thrilled the crowd for almost an hour with high flying moves in the shallow shore-breaks and were treated like rockstars by the massive crowd.
When the competition resumed, the action was red hot with Dallas singer losing to an inform Yeray Martinez.
Dave Winchester struggled against Rui Ferreria and had to settle for second.
Dave Hubbard, coming off a win in Mexico, looked sharp with a last second comeback against Benat Elosua.
The forth heat was the biggest clash of the day. Diego Cabrera V Uri Valadao. These two guys have a strong rivalry and this was evident from the opening second when both riders caught a wave prior to the hooter.
The heat was a game of cat & mouse where both riders pushed each other to the max. In the closing seconds Valadao had secured a win when, on the countdown, Cabrera took a small right hander and Uri dropped in after the hooter thinking he had won only to receive an interference and hand the heat to Cabrera.
In the following heats:
GT beat BP
Larrinaga defeated Uranga
PLC smoked Hardy
Eder snuck past Romero
The event finished around 9pm and the crew all headed into Bilbao for the start of the local festival that celebrates the Basque country.
The final day of competition was a gloomy day weatherwise but the competition was heating up as the quarters hit the water in small sloppy 2 footers. The swell had peaked overnight and the organizers started early to catch the low wind and tide.
Yeray Martinez looked comfortable in the tiny mush and took the first heat against Rui Ferreira. Yeray is in amazing form and will be a real threat on this years e3x leg.
“ I am just feeling relaxed and enjoying my surfing”
Dave Hubbard continued his golden run in the second with a win over Diego Cabrera.
GT brought the local riders run to an end when he disposed of Aritz Larrinaga.
In the last heat PLC looked in sizzling form against Eder Luciano. Eder is always the man to beat in small waves. He pretty much re-wrote the record books last year on the Euro leg with his amazing technique and great equipment so when Pierre took this heat with relative ease it showed the crowd that he meant business.
Semi one and Yeray V Dubb.
Yeray starts strong with a 4.5 & 6.5 average and Dave Hubbard holds priority looking for the winning waves.
Dave snagged a 6.5 but Martinez answered back with a 9.0 and Dubb went on the back foot needing an 8.76 that never came.
Yeray is the first rider in the final.
In the next semi the French wiz-kid PLC was taking on the Brazilian machine known as GT.
GT opens with a 8.0 and Pierre holds priority looking for a 7.51.
He found a 6.75 but it was not enough and GT moves into the final against Martinez.
The final was held in fun glassy 2 footers with the clouds parting and the surf surging just in time for a 30 minute clash between the two most consistent riders of the 4 day event.
In the final Tamega netted a nine pointer and backed it up with a 6.9 to leave Yeray chasing a 7.5
“ I am stoked to have a start like this” said Tamega.
“ I always wanted the winners hat and now I have one”
Overall the Sopelana BBK Pro was a fun event and the perfect start to the IBA’s e3x Euro leg.
The crew now roll into Portugal for the Sintra Portugal Pro that starts on Tuesday.
Check in is tomorrow (Monday) at Praia Grande between 12 noon - 5pm.
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