Saltrock IOW Pro Completed in Great Conditions at White Air Sports Festival

Reubin Pearce. Saltrock IOW 2005

The Saltrock Isle of Wight pro was completed today at Compton Bay as part of The King of Shaves White Air Extreme Sports Festival. With the tour ratings closer than ever there was a lot to compete for not to mention the £1,000 first prize put up by Saltrock.

The event commenced with round 1 on Saturday morning in good but testing waves with early standouts including Mark ‘Egor’ Harris. The fact that he did not catch the best waves didn’t seem to matter as he absolutely destroyed the ones that he did. Mark is currently second on the tour and his early heats really showed he wanted this event and the tour title. Alan Stokes was also on fire, easily winning his first two heats before having a shocker in his quarter final, where he failed to catch a wave. Another early exit was Micah Lester, also looking for a good result to help lift him above his current 5th place.

The first semi final started at 8.30 this morning with ex-European champion
Spencer Hargraves, Mark Harris, Clinton Frazer and surprise semi-finalist Tom Pope all taking to the water. Tom Pope immediately took the lead with two solid 7 point rides and after that there was no catching him. Egor went out with Clinton Fraser and Tom Pope went through to his first ever BPSA Tour Final. The second semi included tour leader Reubin Pearce, Llewellyn Whittaker, 2003 BPSA champ Sam Lamiroy and Welsh WQS charger Nathan Phillips. All of the guys surfed a strong heat but Sam Lamiroy picked off the wave of the heat early on and rode it all the way to the beach, cementing his place in the final. Reubin Pearce also did enough to fend off the other two pretenders to the tour crown he so badly wants.

Spencer Hargraves, Compton Bay, Isle of Wight

The final went in at 10.30am with 4 of the biggest names in the UK fighting for the £1000 and the title of Saltrock IOW Pro Champion. Tom Pope failed to find the form with which he dominated his semi final as did Spencer leaving a real battle between Lamiroy and Pearce. They traded waves for the half hour final before Pearce, having waited patiently, picked off the wave of the heat and tore it up including a vertical backhand smash demolishing the lip and the rest of the competition.

Reubin said afterwards, “the conditions this weekend were tricky and really tested the surfers. I’m so stoked with this win and it’s given me a boost in the ratings but the tour certainly isn’t over yet. Anything could happen in the next two events but I’m feeling good.”

Reubin retains his place at the top but with two events left on tour there are at least 5 surfers still in contention. The Freerange Best Tailslide and £250 went to Alan Stokes. The next stop is the Fosters North East Open at Cayton Bay from 5-6th November.

A big thanks to all the tour sponsors including Foster’s Freerange and Cadbury’s Boost and a massive thanks to Saltrock for their sponsorship of this event and their continued contribution to British Surfing.

Alan Stokes, Saltrock IOW Pro 2005

Source: Surfing Waves

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