Neil Pryde Ltd have announced that as of February 28th 2005 Bjorn Dunkerbeck, winner of 13 Windsurfing World Championship titles under the Neil Pryde brand, will no longer represent the company as a Pro Team rider.
Founder and Managing Director Mr Neil Pryde had the following comments to make: “The relationship between Bjorn Dunkerbeck and the Neil Pryde brand has been long and successful and I would like to personally thank Bjorn for the great contribution he has made to the success of our brand over many years of participation in the windsurfing sport.
“As it is, times change and we all need to move on and while we were unable to reach a mutually acceptable contractual agreement with Bjorn for the coming years, this does not lessen our appreciation for the contribution Bjorn has made to our company and to the sport.”
All at Neil Pryde wish Bjorn every success in the future. So how does the international Neil Pryde Team look for 2005?
INTERNATIONAL TEAM RIDERS 2005
The Neil Pryde Windsurfing International Team is once again headed by the best riders in the world of windsurfing. Last year, Ricardo Campello (2004 PWA World Freestyle Champion for the second time!), Antoine Albeau (2004 PWA Mens Racing Champion), Allison Shreeve (2004 PWA Women’s Racing Champion) and Jason Polakow (winner of the 2004 PWA Hawaii Pro) beat the best competitors, at the best competitions, and showed the world that they know THE DIFFERENCE.
Following closely on Ricardo’s heels in 2005 will be the young duo of Kevin Mevissen from Holland and Norman Günzlein from Germany. Kevin was one of the few riders who managed to beat Ricardo in some heats during 2004, while Norman is showing a lot of promise in Freestyle after his 2nd place in the overall rankings of the 2004 European Freestyle Pro Tour.
In the waves young Spanish rider Alex Mussolini, who finished an impressive 4th in the Wave event at the 2004 PWA Grand Slam, Pozo, Gran Canaria, is continually pushing the style envelope and should be one to watch at the upcoming PWA Hawaii Pro for 2005.
Robby Swift is never far away when it comes to Super-X, and when not going through his paces at Ho’okipa (he will also be one to watch in the waves), he will definitely be battling Antoine Albeau around the Super-X Course.
Finally, on the race course, Neil Pryde Windsurfing will be looking to continue the kind of dominance that gave thrm 8-out-of-the-top-10 finishers at the final PWA Racing event of 2004. With Steve Allen, Wojtek Brzozowski, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Arnon Dagan and the rest of the team chasing the heels of the 2004 PWA World Champions, it looks like it is going to be a tough year. Wojtek Brzozowski has already shown that he is in top form by winning the Oceanic Championships in Formula Windsurfing earlier in January.
Here’s looking forward to a great season for Neil Pryde riders in 2005. Remember, they know THE DIFFERENCE.
Full rider profiles and pictures will soon be updated on the Neil Pryde website.
International Team 2005
Antoine Albeau – Racing / SuperX / Speed
Steve Allen – Racing
Fabrice Beaux – Wave / Travel
Anders Bringdal – Racing
Wojtek Brzozowski – Racing
Ricardo Campello – Freestyle / Waves
Andrea Cucchi – Racing
Gonzalo Costa Hoevel – Racing
Arnon Dagan – Racing
Baptiste Gossein – Waves / Photography / Youth Team Manager
Diony Guadagnino – Wave / Freestyle
Norman Günzlein – Freestyle
Alex Humpel – Freestyle
Sam Ireland – Racing
Kevin Mevissen – Freestyle
Alex Mussolini – Waves
Lars Petersen – Freestyle / Waves
Jason Polakow – Waves
Tyson Poor – Freestyle
Rush Randle – Waves
Allison Shreeve – Racing
Ben van der Steen – Racing / Waves / Speed
Robby Swift – SuperX / Waves / Freestyle
Julien Taboulet – SuperX / Waves / Freestyle
Anick Violette – Photos
Mike Zajicek – Racing
Andrea Rosati – Waves / Freestyle
