Another fantastic day concludes at the PKRA 2008 World Tour in Matanzas, Chile dubbed Movistar Kiteboard World Cup 2008. The same weather condition as yesterday prevailed today with cloudy to overcast skies in the morning but bright, sunny weather in the afternoon. The wind was also light during the first half of the day so the games started an hour and a half later than the original schedule of 10:30 a.m. Most of the competitors rigged their 9-meter kites during the start but went on to downgrade to their 7-meters later in the day.

In today’s notable heats, Maciek Kozerski (Naish, POL) was defeated by Michael Schitzhofer (JN, AUS) in a tough heat #27a with more powered moves, higher tricks and faster moves. Tom Court (North, GBR) defeated Andy Yates (Slingshot, AUS) in the same heat with a fairly solid run, landing a regular and switch mobe, back to blind air pass, kiteloop handle pass, slim, shifty 3, and a blind judge with aerial handle pass. Yates on the other hand, landed a slim, 313 5, blind judge with aerial handle pass, back to blind air pass, front mobe and mobe to wrapped.

Alvaro Onieva (Best, ESP) took a decisive win over countryman Cesar Portas (North) in the 28th heat with more power and cleaner execution while Tom Hebert (Airush, New Caledonia) defeated Madison Van Heurck (Naish, USVI) in a super stylish heat, riding smoothly and more powered.

Alex Pastor (Naish, ESP) lived to fight another day and moved a step closer to challenging Mikael Blomvall for the 4th place overall by knocking out Shitzhofer in heat #29 with high technical difficulty score and better execution and Pastor in heat #30b. Russian Petr Tyuskevich then defeated Tom Court in the same heat with more varied tricks and a higher technical difficulty score.

The 30th heat saw Onieva pounced Hebert, riding super-powered moves and clean tricks, going against Hebert’s big moves with grabs. With a much lower kite throughout this moves plus more variation, Onieva took the heat win and moved on the next round only to be defeated by countryman Pastor who is bent on getting the 4th place overall win. With a higher technical riding score, landing a regular and switch slim/back to blind air pass, mobe, front mobe, blind judge, and front mobe to blind, Pastor won the heat. However, his luck ran out in the 32nd heat when he landed hard on the water and hurt his ankle and headed back to the beach. Pastor landed only a blind judge, mobe, non-inverted slim while his opponent, Sebastien Garat (RRD, FRA) landed a blind judge, hasselhoff, 313, s-bend to blind, slim and kgb thereby taking the win. Pastor settled for 5th place in the overall PKRA rankings as a result of his loss.

In the 33rd heat, Garat won over Blomvall with a 3-2 decision to inch his way back to 3rd. The French kiteboarder landed a regular and switch slim, blind judge with aerial handle pass, mobe 5, front mobe, back to blind air pass, mobe to wrapped and front mobe while Blomvall landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, slim, s-bend to blind, kgb and mobe. A higher technical score for Garat coupled with bigger moves gave him the win.

The 34th heat saw a fired up Kevin Langeree (Naish, NED) taking down Garat with a regular and switch kgb, blind judge with aerial handle pass, front mobe, s-bend to blind, front mobe to blind, double s-bend to blind, front side 360, 313, mobe, non-inverted slim, mobe 7 and kiteloop handle pass winning via technical riding and bigger moves.

The men’s double saw two final heats between Langeree and single elimination round winner Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, GBR). The first final heat saw Langeree outscoring Hadlow with more variety and higher moves coupled with double pass moves, outweighing Hadlow’s slightly powered moves. The second final round went to Hadlow after a strong heat from both riders. The UK’s pride landed a regular and switch slim/mobe, blind judge with aerial handle pass, front mobe to blind, shifty 3, kiteloop handle pass and mobe 5 while Langeree landed a regular and switch kgb, blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind air pass, double s-bend to blind, front mobe 5, front side 360, 313, non-inverted slim, mobe to wrapped and kiteloop handle pass. Hadlow performed with a lot more power and took home the crown.

The ladies division on the other hand, saw the PKRA Tour regulars dominating the podium, with Susi Mai (Cabrinha, GER) defeating Russian Alexandra Maslova (North) in heat #17 with a higher technical riding heat. However, Mai was stopped in the 18th heat by top-ranked Bruna Kajiya (Best, BRA) in the 18th heat with a blind judge and back to blind air pass.

The ever unstoppable Gisela Pulido once again took home the glory in the doubles final, defeating Kajiya with a blind judge, front mobe, slim, 313 and s-bend to blind. Kajiya landed a s-bend to blind, front to blind, blind judge with aerial handle pass and had a few kite troubles after a crash. Pulido won with a higher technical difficulty score.

The freestyle awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday. Congratulations to Aaron Hadlow and Gisela Pulido – the 2008 PKRA World Champions!

Freestyle Men’s Result:

1.    Aaron Hadlow (Flexifoil, GBR)
2.    Kevin Langeree (Naish, NED)
3.    Mikael Blomvall (Nobile, SWE)

Freestyle Women’s Result:

1.    Gisela Pulido (Slingshot, ESP)
2.    Bruna Kajiya (Best, BRA)
3.    Susi Mai (Cabrinha, GER)

SOURCE: PKRA