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Gisborne set to host tightest finish in BBSNZ Tour History |
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Written by Kevin McAlister
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Thursday, 23 October 2008 |
 The 2008 NMD/Mountain Dew Gissy Pro is set to take place over this coming Labour Weekend (25 – 27 October) and it is shaping up to be the tightest finish to the 5 event BBSNZ tour in recent history. This is the 4th consecutive year that the event will take place in Gisborne and the 3rd year that it will be the final event of the BBSNZ tour. The event is mobile along the Gisborne coastline which provides competitors with the best opportunity to ride some of the amazing waves that the Gisborne region is famous for.
The 2008 NMD/Mountain Dew Gissy Pro is set to take place over this coming Labour Weekend (25 – 27 October) and it is shaping up to be the tightest finish to the 5 event BBSNZ tour in recent history. This is the 4th consecutive year that the event will take place in Gisborne and the 3rd year that it will be the final event of the BBSNZ tour. The event is mobile along the Gisborne coastline which provides competitors with the best opportunity to ride some of the amazing waves that the Gisborne region is famous for.
In the hotly contested Mountain Dew Open Men’s division it is a very tight race with any one of the riders place from 1st – 9th on the current ratings able to take out the 2008 BBSNZ Open Men’s tour title. Floyd Smith of Piha currently holds a narrow lead in the Open Men’s division and will have to finish highly in Gisbourne to keep away the chasing pack. Ben McKinnon of Dunedin is eager to knock Floyd out of the top spot as Ben sits in 5th place but only has 2 results out of a possible 3 adding towards his tally in 2008.
The situation is also very similar in the NMD Dropknee but this is a 3 horse race, currently dominated by Wellington riders. Duncan Smith holds the slimmest of margins over Sam Peters and it is likely that the highest placing of these 2 riders will take out the 2008 BBSNZ Dropknee tour title. Richard McKenna sits a little further back from the top two but could quite easily take the top spot if he secures a solid result and the other two fail to progress through the early rounds.
The Seventhwave Under 18 division is more one sided with Mount Maunganui’s Luke Elliot currently holding a commanding lead in the division. Luke can be caught by Opotikis Steve Abraham but it would have to be a huge effort by Abraham to knock Elliot off of his perch and denying him the 2008 BBSNZ U18 tour title.
The 2008 Open Women’s Division is already a full blown conclusion with Auckland’s Mihi Wells taking the 2008 BBSNZ Women’s tour title with 3 wins out of the 3 events she has entered in 2008. Erica Cusak of Oamaru is looking comfortable in 2nd place but will have to watch out for the strong finishing Eiko Yoshimura and Alana Martin who will both be nipping at her heels.
The final division of the tour being decided at Gisborne is the Amateur division. Currently this division is being battled out by Aran Naismith of Auckland and Navare Taylor of Mount Maunganui. Aran is looking good to take the 2008 BBSNZ Amateur tour title but will really have to watch himself in this last event. If Navare manages to finish 1st and Aran finished outside the final then the title could be handed to Navare.
The event will run from Saturday 25th – Monday 27th October (if required). Registration is on Friday evening from 6.00pm – 10.30pm in Gisborne. For more information visit www.isolated.co.nz or contact Kevin McAlister on 0274256992 or at bbsnz@xtra.co.nz.
A huge thank you goes out to the following sponsors:
NMD Bodyboards - www.nmdstox.com
Mountain Dew – www.mountaindew.co.nz
Seventhwave Wetsuits – www.surfallday.co.nz
Isolated – www.isolated.co.nz
Function Apparel – www.functionapparel.com
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