Starkites’ rider Gary Powell comes 2nd in the BKSA Tour Senior’s Final!
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On top of the difficult swell conditions, the wind added to the challenge- it regularly varied between 14 and 20 knots which made lining up for a trick very difficult. The event really sorted out the men from the boys and there weren't many riders managing a heat without major spills.
Starkites’ rider Gary Powell sailed straight through his first heat, and into the final to compete against Paul Maidment and last year’s Senior’s champ Pete Whitely.
Gary wisely opted to stay away from the beach in order to avoid the down-wind landings into shore break- but he still had trouble with the gusty wind and choppy swell. As Gary had anticipated, Pete ended up on the beach and Paul was stranded on the shore break after a bad landing. During the 7 minute final Gary managed a couple of great kiteloops, a backloop kiteloop, a double backloop, backloop-kiteloop transitions and just one sucessful railey- but with a few wipeouts in between!
Gary’s great performance awarded him second place in the BKSA Senior’s Final! Gary received his trophy from 5 times PKRA World Champion Aaron Hadlow. On receiving the trophy and thanking his sponsors, Gary had this to say: “After nearly 4000 miles, over the 7 events, I am looking forward to a couple of weeks reflection time then some serious winter training to present a serious challenge to the senior title in 2009â€.
Starkites’ want to heartily congratulate Gary on his success, and wish him all the best for his training in those cold winter waters!