PKRA - KiteRacing Brazil Day 3

Barra Do Cunha?, RN, Brazil, August 14. An exciting day unfolded during the 3rd day of the Kite-Racing Brasil 2009 organized by the Gest-Group. Friday was full of surprises, starting off with the weather which has been very unpredictable, changing rapidly from a rainy morning to a bright, sunny mid-afternoon which gave way to two exhilarating races. The mandatory riders meeting was held at 10:00 am and the first race was held 10:30 am as scheduled and approximately 12 - 16 knots of onshore wind, which was quite lighter than the past two days.

The PKRA crew led by race Director Olaf Van Tol set up a very nice a long three-buoy race course with one buoy far upwind in the outside waves. It took the first man to cross the finish line about 20 minutes.

The first race started out quite well for the majority of the racers except for current leader Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA) whose line got tangled with one of the women racers during the beginning of the race. This allowed the cheered up Pedro Montenegro (Best, BRA) - Barra Do Cunha?’s new local star to finish the race in first place and inch his way back into the overall ranking for this event. Sroka had no choice but to swim back to the shore to try and get back into the race. However, he was only able to do one lap while everyone else was already trying to reach the second mark far upwind. In the end, it was a very interesting race which saw how everyone managed to finish without the current leader.

The second race was even more exciting and full of adrenalin-pumping action as each racers try to outrun each other from the start heading to the open ocean. Everyone was trying to go as fast as possible going upwind out in the open waters to the second buoy.

This time around, the new rivalry between the German Tour stop champion and the Brazilian champion made the race even more heart stopping as the two leaders tried to outrun and out maneuver each other. Montenegro showed his hidden skills on this race and surprised everyone, not only managing to lead the entire race but won it. Sroka seemed a little concerned after the end of the first lap but still managed to close the gap to about 100 meters during the first lap. The French racer totally came back on the downwind reaching the second to the last buoy, getting closer and closer as the crowd on the beach got more and more excited, cheering for Montenegro.

The local announcer and the more than 200 people on the beach totally went on fire as Sroka and Montenegro went neck and neck and were about 1 - 2 meters away from each other on the last track. Montenegro seemed to have gathered enough strength from the crowd and won the race with flying colors.

After a short break, the Brazilian Freestyle championship took over the beach. So after 10 races, it’s still Bruno Sroka at the top of the scoreboard with 5.6 points followed by Pedro Montenegro with a total of 12.1 points. Trailing in third place overall is Sebastien Salermo (Gin Kites, FRA) who was unable to finish the first race after hitting a rock on his way in. Victor Adamo (Naish, BRA) is in fourth place after finishing 2nd and 3rd in race one and two respectively. Nayara Licariao (Best, BRA) leads the ladies after winning the second race while teammate Carol Homsi (Best, BRA) trails in second after winning the first race with 15.7 overall points.

Tomorrow’s mandatory riders’ meeting is set at 10am with first possible start at 10:30am.

The PKRA Course Racing events in Brazil and the 2009 PKRA World Tour are sanctioned by the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) - the worldwide governing body of kiteboarding under the flagship of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).