Headworx BPSA 2005 Welsh Open Results

The 2005 Headworx BPSA Welsh Open was completed this weekend at Freshwater West with some spectacular surfing and exciting competition.

Headworx returned to the contest scene with this, 'The Riders Choice' event and 5th leg of the BPSA tour, which lived up to all expectations and attracted one of the largest turnouts of any BPSA event this year. With solid swell conditions the overhead waves matched the enthusiasm of the competitors and spectators. The Headworx Welsh Open was also one of the largest events on the eight-leg tour with five divisions being held in Mens Open, Pro Junior, Women, Longboard and Grommets.

Mark Harris. Headworx Welsh Open
Photo Estpix/BPSA

The beautiful and remote Pembrokeshire setting was greeted with a packed car park and clean 3ft offshore rights peeling through the middle of the bay. The usual suspects of Alan Stokes, Reubin Pearce and Oli Adams were among the early crew out sampling the dawn's delights in front of the reef before registration at 8.30am. The event kicked off on time with the first heats of the Mens Open and standouts included Duncan Scott, who was making some nice big turns, Headworx & Freerange rider Matt Capel pulling some huge cutbacks, and Pete Williams who was also surfing well.

Due to a forecast for heavy conditions coming in overnight the contest director turned the focus for the rest of the day to the grommets and longboarders. The Headworx Pro Longboard produced some stylish surfing, particularly from the strong Welsh contingent with Nick Dowrick and Elliot Dudley standing out in the semis. In the final it was Elliot who produced some slick drop-knee turns and cross-stepping to take the winning points in the sucky low tide conditions ahead of Swansea local Dan Barber. Elliot showed all the skills that have taken him to his world ranking of number 16.

In the Headworx Grom Challenge, Croyde's Lyndon Wake impressed the judges early on and followed through in the final to take the title ahead of Rob Blythe and Tom Bentley. The young rippers all showed the quality that is coming up through the ranks of British surfing.

After a heavy night on Saturday at the Headworx Party the eliminated competitors and spectators were feeling a little jaded Sunday morning, especially Pit Pilot's Joe Moran and Headworx MD Jos Ruiterman! The remaining surfers had to be quick off the mark however with a solid double overhead swell pumping into the bay's banks and reefs. Paddle out times were doubled to 10 minutes to allow for the long paddle and gnarly rips.

In the Women's division, Nicole Morgan came into the event top of the current rankings and needing a decent result to confirm her as tour champion. However with Kay Holt back competing this was not a foregone conclusion as Kay has won every BPSA event she has ever entered. After some impressive surfing in the semis, particularly from Nicole, Kay and Pembrokeshire local Vicky Travers, the final involved a lot of paddling between the shifting peaks. It was Nicole who produced the points, finishing with a chunky left-hander and two solid turns to end Holt’s unbeaten record and take the Welsh Open women’s title.

The Headworx Pro Junior lived up to expectations with a hotly contested battle between Oli Adams, Matt Capel and Adam Thornton. In a close final with a high wave count it came down to the last seconds with Oli Adams taking off on a left-hander with some big backhand off the tops to take the highest scoring wave. Headworx' own Matt Capel couldn't find the energy to produce a final winning wave - after falling victim to Fresh West's southbound 'super rip' in his semi final and surfing five heats in two days he had nothing left. Congratulations Oli and well done to all the finalists for a fully-charged contest.

The Headworx Mens Open produced some power-house displays with the big chargers Llew Whittaker, Sam Lamiroy, Mark Harris and Headworx' own Reubin Pearce impressing in the solid and heavy conditions. After two heavy-hitting semi-finals, the final drew an excited crowd to watch Johnny Friar, Sam Lamiroy, Llewellyn Whittaker and Mark Harris take to the water. With the sun out to sea and big conditions the judges worked hard to spot the big moves, with the set waves breaking several hundred metres out. All the guys surfed well but one stood out against the others with the best wave selection scoring an 8.83 to take the Headworx Welsh Open title, the winners cheque for £1000, the Headworx glass diamond trophy and 1000 precious tour points. Stand up Mark ‘Egor’ Harris!
Congratulations Egor, that was a big win. Mark has now reduced the defecit behind tour leader Reubin Pearce to 206 points with three events to go, making for an exciting run-in to the tour over the last three events. Headworx’ man Reubin reckons he still has gas in the tank to take the title so the Men’s tour’ll be blowing up again at Compton for the Isle of Wight BPSA.

There was one more award left and that was for the Freerange Best Cutback. Micah Lester was holding it for most of the day when out of nowhere Toby Atkins absolutely powered out of the pocket for the Cutback of the weekend and the £250 prize. Toby was stoked and it must just be a matter of time ‘til he picks up an industry sponsor. Companies out there take note!

A big thanks to all involved. Title sponsors Headworx, great event and also great party on the Saturday night, tour sponsors, Boost, Foster’s and Freerange and a final thanks to all the surfers, spectators, compere, judges and contest director Dave Reed. Great weekend, see you all in Compton for round 6.

Headworx 2005 Welsh Open Results

Headworx Mens Open £2000
1st Mark Harris
2nd Sam Lamiroy
3rd Llewelyn Whittaker
4th Johnny Fryer

Headworx Pro Junior £500
1st Oli Adams
2nd Matt Capel
3rd Adam Thornton
4th Andrew Griffin

Headworx Womens Open £250
1st Nicole Morgan
2nd Sarah Bentley
3rd Kay Holt
4th Vicky Travers

Headworx Pro Longboard £250
1st Elliot Dudley
2nd Dan Barber
3rd Ben Haworth
4th Nick Dowrick

Headworx Grom Challenge
1st Lyndon Wake
2nd Rib Blythe
3rd Tom Bentley
4th David Roach

Freerange Style Move £250
Best Cutback - Toby Atkins

Source: James@Sportvision

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