| Ant McColl longboards to victory at Tay Street |
| Monday, 20 February 2012 09:49 |
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Ant McColl has claimed the fourth stage of the 2012 Hyundai Tour, at Tay Street, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. The surfer from Mount Maunganui surfed the best one-metre waves on offer, in offshore wind conditions. "Yeah super stoked, I have been doing this for ten years and have never won anything in the Open so for it to happen today in front of a home crowd I am over the moon", an almost rattled McColl exclaimed. McColl blocked Matt Cockayne from taking his first title of the Hyundai Tour, while current ratings leader Thomas Kibblewhite had to settle for third. McColl started the final with a flurry of waves surfing away from the other three competitors using his local knowledge to full effect scoring a 7.67 on his first ride and 7.10 on his second. "The waves were a bit better this afternoon and I just did my own thing and went over to the side of the area and got a good start and got rid of the jitters and took it from there and it seemed to go well, I am so stoked", said McColl who used his trade mark traditional style to rack up a heat score of 14.77 out of a possible 20 points. Runner up today was New Zealand representative Matt Cockayne who challenged for the lead on several occasions, his best assault coming on a lefthander where he completed the longest hang five then ten of the event. The wave scored 7.67 out of ten but left him 0.27 points short of McColl. "Ant's surfed the final of his life and so yeah. I have missed out of all the finals by one spot this year so it is good to actually make a final and get second even though I didn't go all the way." Current Hyundai Tour ratings leader Thomas Kibblewhite fought back in the final with his standard competitive approach on several righthanders with his best wave of 7.03 coming on his last ride, 0.84 points short of the score required for the win. Gisborne surfer Daniel Procter started the final slowly but came back into the fold at the end with a 6.70 point ride leaving him requiring an 8.08 point ride. Despite placing third in the final, Kibblewhite extended his lead on the Hyundai Tour ratings while Matt Cockayne jumps to second ahead of today's winner Ant McColl in third. Molly Powell, from Australia, took the Women's Longboard final. Men's Longboard Final Women's Longboard Final
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