Friday update – GKA Gran Canaria main event day two

Friday 14th June

Report: Matt Pearce / All photos: Svetlana Romantsova 

Yesterday the riders made it close to the semi-final rounds here at the GKA Gran Canaria after a full day of heats and now, on day two of the main event, they’re ready to get back into the action.

The wind’s been keeping them waiting this morning, building up to 14-16 knots at points, but it’s not been consistent enough to get the heats rolling.

Now the wind’s filling in though and the riders are on standby waiting for green light.

First heat to run will be heat 15 – men’s round three. After men’s round three’s complete, the women will be up for round two.

Check the heat order below.

Check back for heat by heat updates as soon as the action gets underway.

Head to the event page to recap on yesterday’s scores

Conditions update 17:50: Riders out warming up on 12-13 metre kites

Heats about to start

HEATS BEGIN

HEAT 15

J. Del Rosario / L. Cruz / L. Whaley / P. Martinez

Luis Alberto Cruz leads from early on with a 317 for his first trick that earns him 7.3 points. The lightest rider in the heat, he continues to lead while Liam Whaley drops down to fourth. The light wind is making things challenging for the riders in this heat.

After two stoppages due to failing wind, Whaley pulls it round going from fourth to first with a double heart attack (6.83) and BS315 (7.07).

Cruz pulls back in front with a front blind mobe (6.83) and then Whaley retakes the lead with a back mobe five (6.23). Just two tricks left and Liam only leads by 1.53 points.

Riders now relying on kickers to get enough height to land wakestyle tricks. Luis does a BS 313 just to get some scores on the board and pull ahead of Liam but it’s not a high enough scoring move.

With only two tricks left available, Posito Martinez comes back to the brink and into second place with a 317 (7.37) and is now within reach of Whaley if he can land a 7.2 or more.

Liam Whaley then lands an FS7 (7.07) to put some distance between him and Martinez but Luis Alberto Cruz claws his way back to second with BS315 (6.53) and it all comes down to Martinez who is the only rider with a trick left to do. He needs an 8.07 for first and a 6.93 for second, which is doable.

But he crashes, and Liam wins the heat to go through to semis along with Luis Alberto Cruz.

HEAT 16

S. Teixeira / P. Serin / C. Mario / L. Pitot

Teixeira opens up an early lead with a few clean tricks including a BS315 (7.13) and he follows that up with double heart attack (6.97). Leading well now with Carlos Mario down in fourth after three trick attempts.

Mario hits back with KGB5 (highest heat score at 7.57) to climb to third.

Mario ramps up the pressure with solid 8+ point scores to win the heat with a combined score of 31.31 – one of the highest of the event so far.

WOMEN’S HEAT 6

Pippa van Iersel / Bruna Kajiya

Pippa opens with a BS 313 (6.07) and Bruna, keen to get past her round one loss to Natalie Lambrecht, answers back with an s-bend to blind which only scores her 3.4. She’ll need to do more than that.

Bruna then regains composure with two more landed tricks, including a solid scoring back to blind (6.6) and she pushes past Pippa who can’t match Bruna for consistency.

From here, Bruna runs away with it while Pippa crashed four tricks in a row and. Bruna finishes up with a back to wrapped for 7.7 points (one of the highest scoring tricks of women’s division so far at this event). Bruna wins by 19.7 points!

WOMEN’S SEMI-FINALS – HEAT 2

B. Kajiya / T. Taabbel / M. Sol

Conditions: Riders on 10-11 metre kites

Mika Sol firing straight out the gates with a slim chance (7.07) and an s-bend to blind (5.37).

WIND DROPS OFF – HEAT CANCELLED.

NO FURTHER HEATS WERE RUN. WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS BELOW!