PKRA - KiteRacing Brazil Day 5

Barra Do Cunha?, RN, Brazil, August 16. The final racing event of Kite-Racing Brasil 2009 organized by the Gest Group led by Eduardo Piloni closed to a perfect day. Perfect weather dominated the whole scene and strong windy conditions started off earlier in the morning. Wind speed maxed at 26 knots onshore so the whole day saw the conclusion of the Freestyle double eliminations before lunchtime and the course racing in the afternoon.

The mandatory riders meeting for the race event happened at 1:00 pm and the first race hit the waters half an hour later. Two exciting races were completed even though the PKRA crew had a hard time maintaining the anchors which were drifting in the strong current but managed to pull-off a good show nevertheless.

“It was tough to get the races started again like yesterday but we managed to do it under like 16 to 26 knots of wind. We planned two more races for the day and we managed to do that. The last day was nice, a lot of people on the beach and the races were not too long compared to yesterday," said Olaf Van Tol, PKRA race director.

Today’s course mimicked the very challenging setup done on day two but a shorter one. Each racer had to battle their way out into the open waters through the waves to get to the weather mark, back to the second buoy before sailing full speed to the third mark and finishing off near the beach. The average time for the first person to complete each race was 12 minutes.

The second race started at 2:05 pm and the whole racing event wrapped up at 2:30 pm after which an awards ceremony was held on the beach.

As expected, Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA) ripped his way through the course, dominating both races to win the championship title. He is followed by Brazilian star Pedro Montenegro (Best Kiteboarding) who only finished 4th and 6th in the two races respectively. In third place overall is Victor Adamo (Naish), another Brazilian racing champion with 38 total points, followed by Sebastien Salermo (Gin, FRA) with 42 points. Local rider Wilson Velozo (Naish) wraps up the top five finishers overall.

After a total of 14 races in 5 days, the womens’ standings remained unchanged with Nayara Licariao (Best, BRA) taking home the championship trophy in the women’s event with 7.7 points overall. She is followed by Carol Homsi (Best, BRA) in 2nd place with a total of 22.7 points and Wanessa Cruz (Naish, BRA) in third place.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Race Results (Final):

Men:
1. Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA)
2. Pedro Montenegro (Best, BRA)
3. Victor Adamo (Naish, BRA)

Women:
1. Nayara Licariao (Best, BRA)
2. Carol Homsi (Best, BRA)
3. Wanessa Cruz (Naish, BRA)

It’s off to another exciting racing event from September 9 to 13, for the Paros PKRA World Cup 2009. Heart-pounding races with some of the best European racers are out for a share of 10,000 Euros in prize money. See you all in Greece!