| 46 year-old Mike Stewart wins the 2009 Arica Chilean Challenge |
| Friday, 07 August 2009 17:23 |
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Heat 1 of the quarter finals saw Jeff Hubbard progress against Rene Xavier in a very wave less heat which had been the normal start to each day with high tide conditions! Dave Hubbard progressed today with another sneaky darkhorse effort against Magno Oleveria with a clean tube that Magno could not surpass in Heat 1 of the Quarterfinals. Amaury Laverhne was ousted by Mike Stewart today who poster a 16.00 to Amaurys 15.67. Great tube rides where the call for both riders during the heat but Mike left nothing to chance gaining the win by tailing Amaury until the heats end. Next up was Guilherme Tamega vs an on fire Dave Winchester who beat the 6x champ with smooth barrel to roll combos and a barrel to invert on the right that made all the difference sending him to the semi finals. Semi Final Number 1 saw Brother VS Brother with Jeff and Dave Hubbard doing battle in what was one of the more exciting heats of all time. Jeff opened up with a huge back flip gaining him a 9.00. Dave got up Drop Knee on his first wave almost to say good job Jeff you already won, but on his second wave off Jeffs priority Dave threw cuation and safety to the wind with a massive back flip landing hard and in the pocket with enough time to whip another ARS to claim a 10.00 ride and set Jeff into frenzied chase. Dave backed his first with a mid 7 point ride in which Jeff never got a chance to counter. Next up with Semi 2 with Dave Winchester going down to a youthful looking Mike Stewart, Mike would finesse his barrel rides as if he was at home at Pipe. Dave would battle with three big back flip to spins but nothing could match Mike barrels and 9.0 riders. The Final stage was set for an all Hawaii final between Dave Hubbard ( the new generation) and Mike Stewart (10x world champ and HI legendary waterman). To start the final Mike and Dave exchanged barrel rides of close proximity with Mike Stewart edging out Dave by a point. Dave looked for a back up score but was not able to find it in a slow 10 minutes after the first exchange. Mike held priority as Dave would take two more riders none of which would provide the six he needed. Dave was able to find an inside barrel in which he flipped while exiting but was not able to land providing him a 5.0 and leaving Mike out the back to claim the win and set himself back on top of the Bodyboarding world once again. At age 46 Mike is still taking down the best talent in the world and the IBA would like to congratulate him on an amazing win! Congradulations to all the riders and staff at the Arica Chilean Challenge 2009.
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