Pierre-Louis Costes wins 2011 Encanto Pro Puerto Rico, claiming his maiden victory on the IBA GSS Tour

Costes commented :

« I am very very happy to finally win a Grand Slam contest and to be back in the World title race. I look forward to the last GSS event in the Canaries and am feeling really motivated for this event at El Fronton. »

On his way to victory Costes defeated :

• Jeff Hubbard (Honolulu / HAW) in Round 4 - 17.45 vs 17.00
• Roberto Bruno (BRA) in quarter-final 4 - 15.50 vs 11.64
• Uri Valadao (Salvador / BRA) in the semifinal 2 - 18.00 vs 15.65
• Dave Hubbard (Lihue / HAW) in the final - 18.40 vs 16.80

In his final four heats, Costes accumulating an impressive heat score average of 17.33 out of 20 points.

Rewarded with $ 8000 and 2000 points for his win, Costes has rocketed into second position on the GSS tour rankings, only 300 points behind tour leader, Jeff Hubbard (Honolulu / HAW), heating up the title race to the final stop at El Fronton, which will be held from the 6th to 16th of December.

Dave Hubbard (Lihue / HAW) had a stellar run to the final and seemed to be the man to beat. Starting slow, the hawaiian only gained the lead late in the heat with a 9 point ride for a huge Invert on a set, but eventually was unable to prevent Costes from catching his winning wave in the dying seconds.

« We both had a good heat (final), so I don’t feel so bad about coming second. I could not do anything else out there. »

Hubbard’s GSS runner-up finish is his best result of 2011 and has allowed him to secure enough points and spot on the 2012 GSS tour.

Below are the updated GSS Rankings for 2011 with one event remaining.

Drop Knee World Tour

Dave Hubbard (Lihue / HAW) convincingly won the Encanto Pro Puerto Rico DKWT final against newly crowned 2011 DK World Champion Damien King (Port Macquarie / AUS). King’s performance throughout the event did not go unnoticed, after clinching an important quarter-final win to secure his 2011 DK World title, the regular foot stepped it up in the final, posting an excellent 9.4 point ride for a long backhand barrel on a wedging left, but was still looking for an 8.11 when the final buzzer went. Hubbard posted the highest heat score of the event (19.15 out of 20), weaving through barrels and executing massive floaters over the urchin infested Middles Beach reef. The Hawaiian has just come off a win in Venezuela and was unstoppable throughout the event, peaking in todays DKWT final.

« It feels really good. » Hubbard elated. « This year I was not really sure if was going to be competing on the whole (DK) tour, so it was kind of a surprise to show up at the last two events and a big surprise to win them both. »

Top three on the DKWT are :

• 1st Damien King (Port Macquarie / AUS)
• 2nd Dave Hubbard (Lihue / HAW)
• 3rd Cesar Bauer (PER)

Womens World Tour

The 2011 Ladies Australian Champion, Lilly Pollard (AUS) has defeated the newly crowned 2011 Latin American Ladies Champion, Isabella Sousa (BRA), in the Encanto Pro Puerto Rico WWT final.

« I am so stoked to win today, especially when I saw Isabella’s heat yesterday, I knew this was going to be a challenge. »

Pollard’s strategy to sit on a different peak to Sousa was risky, but paid off when the Australian started scooping into one incredible barrel after another and was rewarded with impressive scores of 9.75 and 9.0 putting a strangle hold on the young brazilian, who in the end required a combination of scores to regain the lead. Although Sousa put on an incredible performance in her quarter and semi-final heats, she was no match for Pollard’s experience and technical tube riding skills.

Pollard explained : « This is the event I most wanted to come to this year and did everything to get here. The waves are pumping. I am just so stoked ! »

The final WWT rankings are :

• 1st Eunate Aguirre (Pais Vasco/ESK)
• 2nd Isabella Sousa (BRA)
• 3rd Lilly Pollard (AUS)
• 4th Neymara Carvalho (Vila Velha / BRA)
• 5th LuzMarie Grandperez
• 6th Maylla Venturin (Vitoria/BRA)
• 7th Catarina Sousa (POR)
• 8th Carla Costa Taylor (Rio/BRA)
• 9th Natasha Sagardia (Barceloneta/PUR)
• 10th Nicolle Calheiros (BRA)

 Press info www.ibaworldtour.com