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01/02/2007:// The individual results of eight British surfers helped the United Kingdom surf team to a seventh-placed finish at the ISA Masters World Championships in Puerto Rico.
The UK squad finished more than a thousand points behind overall winners South Africa at Rincon's Marias Beach.
Newquay trio Lee Bartlett, Daz Wright and Jed Stone finished in ninth position in their respective divisions to earn vital points to the team total.
Four-times British champion Bartlett was the highest-placed Briton in the masters division with fellow Cornishman Grisha Roberts ending the tournament just two places behind in 11th place.
Peurto Rican Juan Ashton won the masters world title from Tahitian Heifara Tahutini.
In the Grand Masters, Wright led the UK charge while Roger Knight, also from Newquay, picked up 430 team points for his 13th place. Peru's Majoo de la Rosa won the overall world division crown.
Stone, meanwhile, put in a solid performance in the Kahunas section with team-mate Gary Rogers, from Saltburn, ending the tournament in 16th place. South African Chris Knutson took the top spot and world title.
53-year-old Stone and Wright teamed up with Dominican Republic surfers Luiz Aracena and Belarmini Rodrigues in a special tag team tournment. The quartet finished fourth behind South Africa, Peurto Rico and France.
The surf for the contest was testing, with a powerful northwest swell arriving at Rincon's coast with no mercy, meaning the last stages of the event were carried out in big conditions, with the athletes choosing larger boards in order to get the best out of the waves.
In the Master's final, Juan Ashton was the leader of the heat from the beginning to the end. He chose his waves correctly and attacked them with good off the lips and cutbacks, to make 9.25 and 7.25 points in his best two. With that score, he beat Tahitian Heifara Tahutini -second-, Brazilian Wagner Pupo -third- and South African John McCarthy -fourth-.
Ashton was delighted with his performance: "It feels really great, to win in Puerto Rico and with big waves, I'm very happy. Today I tried to focus on two things: finding the waves and making vertical moves. In the heat that had got me into the repercharge round I panicked and surfed bad waves. I told myself to do otherwise and that gave me this result. Now I'm going to enjoy this title a lot in my country."
On the other hand, in the Grand Masters division, the fight for the heat was tough and the results weren't defined till the last 90 seconds of the heat.
The final was lead by local Alberto Licha at first, but then Tahitian Heinere Paez placed himself in the first place combining 14.75 in his best two waves.
Whereas Peruvian Magoo de la Rosa, who had remained half of the heat without taking any wave, started scoring a 7.10 after he completed an excellent floater in a wave with good size. After this he needed a 7.66 and when less than a minute and a half remained, De la Rosa found a right that he filled with good backside moves and got an 8.75 to obtain the first place.
The Peruvian surfer arrived at the shore without knowing the results and once his fellows told him, he was all smiles. De la Rosa said: "I was quite nervous, at first I got far away to get a big one and ensure myself a good scoring, but the conditions changed, it turned a bit stormy and it got very difficult for me to catch waves. Until I rode one that allowed me to obtain half of the points I needed. In the end, I didn't know how much time I had but I got one wave in which I could do some moves."
"No doubt one's always a bit nervous. I think I've been surfing great throughout all the event and I had to close this." Magoo thrilled sighed and looked up at the sky, and ended up saying: "Thank God, thank to the Virgin that, sent me that wave!"
The Kahunas' final, was the key heat for the definition of the team's positions.
Because, the Puerto Ricans would get the first place on the nation's competition, unless one of the two South African athletes, that were leading the division, won the heat. Chris Knutsen and Rudi Plamboom confronted Javier Huarcaya from Peru and Gilles Asenjo from France.
The first one honoured his country, finding the best waves and making large, stylish carves to win the gold, giving to South Africa the victory on the team's competition. The second place was for Huarcaya, third was Asenjo and Plamboom fourth.
The 2008 Beachley Classic got underway this morning, completing Rounds 1 and 2 as well as the opening two heats of Round 3 at nearby Freshwater Beach in clean two-to-three foot (1 metre) waves
Layne Beachley (AUS), 36, has officially announced her retirement from full-time competition, effective at the end of the year
Former Exeter University student Josh Lewin first heat at the Ocean and Earth Pro in the Canary Islands has been delayed because the 2ft surf was deemed uncontestable
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