KTA 2011: Day 2 in Thailand- Excitement and the Unexpected

[KTA]

Day 2 was full throttle with winds averaging above 18 knots for the majority of the afternoon. In the morning as winds were lighter 2 course races were run. Blaze Ozog held on to his spot as 1st with Yo Pudla (Thaliand) closely tailing in 2nd and Heikki Gross in 3rd. With only 2 women on race boards the season Kathrin Borgwardt (DE) holds the 1st place while Ramona Serea takes 2nd. In our special TT class Asian and Cabrinha rider Aya Oshima (JP) is holding on as fastest twin tipper with Sparat Sotenn in 2nd and Verena Rachberger (Austrian) who took 3rd in Vietnam, holding onto 3rd in Thailand. For the men’s TT class it is a constant battle. Currently Ken Nacor (Philippines) holds first, with Canadian Max Rice in second and Kin Nguyen Ngoc from the Vietnamese KINN Pro Rider Team finishing 3rd, holding onto his overall 3rd position in the tour rankings for the year. But with local Pae Panya finishing well everytime except for his disqualification in the 2nd race, it is still anyone’s race.

Freestyle consumed the afternoon with the crowd’s eyes glued to the scene before them. With Hiro Nakano absent from this competition, the KTA regulars suspected that the next 3 Asian favorites would be Ken Nacor (Philippines), Yo Pudla (Thailand), and Kin Nguyen Ngoc (Vietnam)- not necessarily in that order, but we could not have been more wrong. It was a shock and uplifting experience for all to watch young underdog, My (Long Nguyen Duc) from Vietnam and the KINN Pro Rider Team, work his way through the ranks. Faces full of surprise first when he out-competed Yo on Yo’s home ground. The crowd all cheered on as this underdog then took on Marek Jr. Rowinski. The crowd and his KINN teammates were thrilled watching him showoff with precise skill and beautiful movement. Landing everything cleanly with a large variety of tricks, making it all look so easy, awarded this heat to My once again. Yo and Nacor came over to cheer him on, appreciating fully this up-and-comer as a righteous competitor. It was in the finals of the single elimination that My met his match for the day. Taner Aykurt, Turkish Champion, showed who was boss and took the final. My’s happiness was not upset though as he never expected to make it so far, even with double eliminations still to come, his finish has guaranteed him a spot on the podium. And Dilbert Bayog (a.k.a. Toto) from the Philippines had an ‘on’ day. Finishing 2nd in the races, he moved up in the ranks through freestyle as well, passing his mentor, Nacor. He finished 4th in single eliminations.

Girls freestyle was entertaining as well. With Sarah Demdoum here from France and Christina Alstad from Norway, the skill level of the females has definitely stepped up a notch, but KTA girls met these skills effortlessly. In the semi-finals, KTA superstars Kathrin Borgwardt battled it out once again with Aya Oshima, Aya moving on to compete with Sarah in the finals, who beat out Jannicke Stav (Norway) in the semi’s. In the end, Cabrinha rider Sarah won the single elimination round with Aya in second and Borgwardt coming in third.

Skippers meeting at 10:30AM

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