McBride Wins to Claim Tour Lead
Mount Maunganui’s Daryn McBride has won the penultimate event on the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour at Titahi Bay Wellington and in doing so taken the lead on the ratings with just the one event remaining. McBride jumped from fifth to first courtesy of his win and along the way beat the big international guns that travelled to the event including finalist and ex world champion Bonga Perkins of Hawaii.
The swell at Titahi Bay was small with megre 0.5m high waves on offer. However with the incoming tide and slight onshore winds the conditions did improve somewhat throughout the day to become shoulder high albeit inconsistent.
With the conditions being fickle and inconsistent Mcbride opted to surf the final away from his fellow three competitors and paddled off down the beach. He finished with a 13.0 point heat total for the win in what ultimately became a very close final.
“It was real close, I think about one point separated me from Dan (Kereopa) and Mike (Burling)“ commented a stoked McBride. “I decided to surf down the beach and when I looked back at the other three I could see Dan and Mike tussling for waves with Bonga (Perkins) so to have my own peak was good. The Kiwi boys also hustled waves off Bonga who looked cold not being used to the cooler waters coming from tropical Hawaii”.
McBride now leads the ratings and is really looking forward to the final event at Port Waikato next weekend (12-13 April).
“I had done the math on the ratings prior to the event and realised that if I did good and made the final I would be in the hunt to win the tour” a calculated McBride concluded. “Last year’s event at Port Waikato was so good. We had the best waves ever for an event and I would be happy going back there even if I wasn’t in the race to win the Tour”.
Placing second in the final was Daniel Kereopa (Rag) with a score of 12.6. Kereopa was leading the ratings up until the Wellington event but now finds himself in a three way battle for the Tour win and sitting in third place. Third placed surfer at the event, Mike Burling (Gis) also jumped up the ratings five places to second after scoring 12.33 in the final.
The international surfers didn’t have it all their own way at the Wellington event. Hawaii’s Bonga Perkins was the highest placed of the international surfers in fourth scoring 8.93. The Australian duo of Jackson Close and Harley Ingelby placed 5th and 7th respectively.
Australia’s Claire Norman fared better than her male countrymen winning the women’s division. Norman beat current ratings leader Daisy Thomas (Chch) who placed second with Shelley Jones (Auck) in third and Hannah Phillips (Chch) in fourth.
Mike Thomson (Rag) did enough to win the closest of six man finals in the over 40s while Viv Treacy (Sandy Bay) won the over 50s.
Results from the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour – Event 7
Open Men Semifinals
Heat 1
Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, Daryn Mcbride (Mt), 2, Thomas Kibblewhite (Auck), 3, Sam Johnson (GIS), 4
Heat 2
Michael Burling (Gis), 1, Bonga Perkins (Hawaii) , 2, Jackson Close (Aust), 3, Harley Ingleby (Australia), 4
Open Men Finals
Daryn Mcbride (Mt), 1, Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 2, Michael Burling (Gis), 3, Bonga Perkins (Hawaii), 4
Under 18 Boys Semifinals
Heat 1
Shaun Goddard (Auck), 1, Hugh Ritchie (ChCh), 2, Sam Guthrie (Mnt), 3,
Heat 2
Hone Douglas (Whakatane), 1, Luke O’Neill (ChCh), 2, Sam Hawke (ChCh), 3
Under 18 Boys Final
Luke O’Neill (ChCh), 1, Shaun Goddard (Auck), 2, Hone Douglas (Whakatane), 3, Hugh Ritchie (ChCh), 4
Open Women Semifinals
Heat 1
Daisy Thomas (ChCh), 1, Shelly Jones, (Auck), 2, Shereen Lobb (Port Wai), 3, Belinda Galley (Gis), 4
Heat 2
Hannah Phillips (ChCh), 1, Claire Norman (Sydney), 2, Kirstie Thomsen (Whangarei), 3, Melody Spaul (Whngrei), 4
Open Women Finals
Claire Norman (Sydney), 1, Daisy Thomas (ChCh), 2, Shelly Jones, (Auck), 3, Hannah Phillips (ChCh), 4
Over 40 Men Final
Mike Thomson (Rag), 1, Viv Tracey, 2, Mal Brady (Mnt), 3, David Storck (Auck), 4, Stephen Tyro (ChCh), 5, Dave Burbage (Ham), 6
Over 50 Men Final
Viv Treacy (Ocean Beach), 1, Ian Gall (Wgtn), 2, Mike Thomson, 3, Warwick Grey, 4, John Goddard (Auck), 5, David Storck (Auck), 6
Source: Surfing New Zealand
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