2008 Ultimate Boarder: Shayne Pospisil Takes Overall Lead
Santa Barbara, Ca – A field of 45 of the world’s best action sports athletes, along with a crowd of enthused spectators, enjoyed fun three to four foot waves with mostly clean conditions during stage two of the Ultimate Boarder™ competition at the famed C-Street break in Ventura, Calif. The athletes, who made the trek down from last Sunday’s snowboard contest in Squaw Valley, Calif., lived up to their billing as the “tri-athletes of our generation” and produced consistent scores and high performance maneuvers throughout the day. In the end, Eric McHenry from Encinitas, Calif., stood atop the podium and can forever claim himself the first ever Ultimate Boarder™ surfing champion.
Joining McHenry in the finals were fellow Californians Kyle Knox (Imperial Beach), Robert Curtis (Gaviota), Nathan Fletcher (San Clemente) and Jersey boy Shayne Pospisil (Mansquan). The 30-minute heat saw all of the riders score multiple set waves and link together a variety of tricks that took them from the outside break around the peeling right point. However, it was McHenry, who dug his rail a little deeper and got slightly more technical than the rest of the pack, in route to distinguishing himself as the leader in front of the three-man ASP certified judge panel.
“Everyone was pushing it so hard today I was just excited to make the finals,” said contest winner, McHenry. “I found some solid waves during the heat and took advantage of it. I’ll celebrate tonight, then start to concentrate on Saturday’s skateboard competition.”
Unlike the Squaw Valley stage of Ultimate Boarder™, which saw a final dominated by snowboard-focused athletes, the surfing final saw Shayne Pospisil, a professional snowboarder, make his way into the winner’s round. Perhaps even more impressive than McHenry’s victory, was the overall surfing of Pospisil, who spends the majority of his time out of the water. After dominating his first heat, Pospisil needed a remarkably high score in his second heat to crack the finals. As conditions deteriorated and wave scores dropped quicker than the tide, Pospisil somehow found the wave of the day, which included the contest’s only barrel linked into a huge frontside floater.
The wave not only provoked a loud uproar from the crowd, which included guest announcer and 1976 surfing World Champion Shaun Tompson, but launched Pospisil into the finals and helped give him the leader’s jersey heading into Saturday’s skateboard finale.
“The forecasters did a fantastic job giving the green light for today’s contest,” said contest announcer, Sean Hayes. “With the Catalina eddy, conditions remained relatively calm for Ventura in April and produced ideal conditions for not only the surfers, but skaters and snowboarders as well.”
The final stage of the Ultimate Boarder™ competition is skateboarding, which will take place on Saturday, April 19 starting at 9 a.m. at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Admission is free to the public. In addition to the $30,000 grand prize, the “ultimate boarder” will receive an $8,000 Rockford Fosgate sound system and custom made Soul Ryde skateboard.
Ultimate Boarder™ is sponsored by Amtrak California, Flexfit, LIVE 105.5, Q104.7, Red Bull, Redcord, Revenge Trucks, Rockford Fosgate, Skateboarder Magazine, Snowboarder Magazine, Soul Ryde, Squaw Valley USA, Surfing Magazine, The Octopus 95.9, Trilogy Arts Board Co., Ventura Visitors & Convention Bureau and Wahoo’s Fish Tacos.
For a complete list of results and event details, visit ultimateboarder.com. If you can’t make it to the fairgrounds, log on and watch the free, live webcast at reelcomp.com.
Friday, April 18th 2008 @ 08:02 AM.
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