Sintra Portugal Pro
Event 5 of 8, Mens Grand Slam Series
Sintra, Portugal
22-28 Aug 2011
ibaworldtour.com
Praia Grande, Sintra, Portugal (Friday, Aug 27, 2011) - GSS Number 1 seed, Jeff Hubbard (HAW) has been on fire throughout this event, winning every heat convincingly. Hubbard exclaimed: "Just getting to the final day was my first goal, now that I've made it, tomorrow is all business!"
Tomorrow, Hubbard will face an inform Jones Russell (Port Mac/AUS), who started his campaign as a trialist on the first day of the event, victoriously riding his way to the final day of competition and guaranteed a result no worse than 5th. Russell managed to top the young South African, Jared Houston in his final heat of the day, showing that he has what it takes to possibly win this event.
Eder Luciano (Itapema/BRA) will have to defeat Dave Winchester (Mullumbimby/AUS) if he wants to make it out of Round 5 and keep his dream of winning the event alive. Luciano commented: "I look forward to compete against Winny tomorrow. I need a result, so I will do my best and try to win the contest."
Mark McCarthy (Richards Bay/ZAF) will match-up against Uri Valadao (Salvador/BRA), who put on a stellar performance in his Round 4 heat today, launching huge ARS combinations to accumulate a total heat score of 17.3 out of 20. McCarthy is no stranger to this level of riding and is determined to do what it takes. "I am feeling really good after winning my Round 4 heat. Tomorrow is a big day so I will take it one heat at a time," McCarthy added.
Jake Stone (Woodlans/AUS) defeated Diego Cabrera (CNY) to secure a match-up against 2010 World Champion, Amaury Lavernhe (REU). Both Stone and Lavernhe have been able to muscle their way through this event, but know that there is very little separating each other and the other riders. Stone commented: "A lot of the young guys are just blazing! They are all super competitive, super stylish and super fit. Its hard to keep up."
Although Adam Morley (Mossel Bay/ZAF) and Damien King (Port Mac/AUS) had no chance of making it out of the Leaderboard phase and into Round 4 of the event, they both put on an awe-inspiring final performance.
WWT
With the top 8 ladies remaining in the draw, each woman on woman heat will be a battle to the end. Local favourite, Catarina Sousa faces Australian heroine Lilly Pollard in the first heat of the Woman's Quarter finals.
Heat 2 will see Miyo Inoue (JPN) take on 2010 Women's World Champion, Isabella Sousa (BRA).
Heat 3 has two of the fastest and most stylish female bodyboarders matched-up against each other. Eunate Aguirre (ESP) and Neymara Carvalho (BRA) are both well versed in the art of winning and will undoubtably put on a contest to remember.
The last Quarter final heat features Cristina Lourenco (ESP) up against Sare Oohara (JPN).
DKWT
With only a hand full of competitors committing 100% to DK riding, it is always a fiercely contested division as the top guys on the Men's GSS dabble in the DK division, putting up a good contest against the dedicated DK riders.
The DK Quarter finalists are:
Heat 1: Cesar Bauer (PER) vs Ardiel Jimenez (CNY)
Heat 2: Dave Winchester (Mullumbimby/AUS) vs Sacha Specker (Cape Town/ZAF)
Heat 3: Ryan Hardy (Margaret River/AUS) vs Aden Kleve (Kommetjie/ZAF)
Heat 4: Mason Rose (Port Mac/AUS) vs Amaury Lavernhe (REU)
