The 2008 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam – Day Nine

Untouchable, Sarah-Quita and Marcilio Browne are confirmed event winners, despite a spirited performance from Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo, who took victory in the third men’s single elimination on the penultimate day of competition.

Rolling onto the third successive elimination, day nine of competition served up a feast of freestyle trickery for the action hungry crowds. Looking dangerous, Antxon Otaegui (JP, NeilPryde, MFC) made his intentions clear as he crushed the hopes of rivals Tine Slabe (Naish) and Quincy Offringa (Starboard, Severne) thanks to his crazy air chachoos.

Otaegui’s downfall came when he met Jose ‘Gollito’ Estredo in the quarter finals. Despite a solid performance from the Lanzarote local, he failed to match the former World Champion’s barrage of mind blowing moves, granting Estredo right of passage through to the semi finals. Joining him there were Ricardo Campello (JP, NeilPryde, MFC), Marcilio Browne (Mistral, Gaastra) and Tonky Frans (F2, Gaastra).

Pairing off, Estredo challenged Campello, and Frans squared up against Browne in a clash that would decide who would advance into the final. The subsequent brawl was laced with jaw dropping moves, and was undoubtedly the finest heat of the day.

Exploding out the gates on the green flag, Campello threw a monster air chachoo, provoking rival Estredo to deliver his own version. Following suit, Frans then launched into the same move. Browne’s rebuttal came in the form of a super smooth one-handed air funnel.

High caliber moves provided an action packed backdrop to the monumental clash, but sadly only two of the four competitors would be awarded positions in the elimination final. After a tense few minutes in the judging tower, the winners were announced. Browne and Estredo bulldozed on through to the final, leaving Campello and Frans to duel in the losers final.

Fighting for third position, Campello threw everything he had at Frans, including a backloop, and a pushloop. Calm and collected, Frans bided his time and was eventually rewarded with a steep ramp to throw a towering air chachoo. This, combined with some polished sliding moves on the inside, was eventually enough to defeat Campello, who’d slightly lost his rhythm from previous days.

In the winners final, Browne sailed a solid heat, but had nothing on rival Estredo. More determined than ever, the Venezuelan threw down the biggest, and without a doubt, the best air chachoo seen all competition. Also landing a spock 900, a sky-high air flaka and a pushloop, Browne was eventually condemned to second position.

If Estredo can hold onto his lead in tomorrow’s double elimination, he has the opportunity to rob Campello of second place. The pressure is now on Campello to climb the ranks if he wants to keep hold of the precious number two podium spot.

Sitting pretty, Browne has already done enough to guarantee him the event win, regardless of what happens on the final day of competition.

In the women’s fleet, Yoli De Brendt (Fanatic, North) slipped out of the running after defeat by Junko Nagoshi (Simmer, Dakine) in the second round. Nagoshi then moved into the semi final to take on Offringa (Starboard, NeilPryde). The other side of the semi final saw Treboux (Fanatic, North) take on Daida Moreno (North).

In the ensuing bouts, Offringa was on her usual dominant form, sparing Nagoshi no mercy. The Japanese freestyler subsequently made her way to the losers final, alongside Moreno, who had been dispatched by Treboux.

In the day’s finale, Offringa continued her assault, landing an air flaka and a ponch. Treboux dug deep to reply, but some costly crashes haunted her score sheet, meaning she’d have to make do with second.

In the losers final, a destructive display from Moreno, who was flying high with whopping forward loops and slick spocks, met little reply from Nagoshi. Moreno went on to claim third position.

With the current standings, Offringa is guaranteed the event victory, but it could be all change to positions two and three, depending on the double elimination’s outcome on day 10.

Tomorrow’s skippers meeting is scheduled for 10.30 am, with the freestylers hitting the water from 11.00am onwards. Be sure to tune into pwaworldtour.com to follow all the action from the final day of competition. On the site you’ll be able to:

    * Use our live ticker service
    * Check elimination ladders
    * View results
    * Watch amazing video action clips
    * Read the daily news summaries
    * Browse awesome action photo galleries

For more information please contact the PWA office via [email protected]

© PWA / Andrew Buchanan / [email protected]