Antoine Albeau attacks at the Jim Beam IFCA Slalom Worlds in Alacati
Posted On: 03/08/2006 9:29:35 AM
The second day brought again perfect conditions for the competitors at the Jim Beam IFCA Slalom World Championships in Alacati (Turkey). Another full elimination was run for the men and Master and even two for women and youth. Today some of the favourites stumbled which gave the French dominator Antoine Albeau (FRA-192, Starboard, Neil Pryde) the chance to attack the lead.
The mens elimination 3 was thrilling as quite a few of the favourites stumbled and missed the final. The leader Finian Maynard (KV-11, F2, Neil Pryde) was affected as well as the current IFCA Slalom World Champion Micah Buzianis and the windsurfing legend. All of them had to fight for the places 11 to 20 in the B-Final which opened the door for other racers to score and move up in the ranking.
Antoine Albeau and Finian Maynard had an open field to match it out among each other in the final. At the first mark they arrived together head to head. But on the second leg and at the second jibe the French dominator managed to drag away. Albeau achieved a clear victory with Kevin Pritchard in the second place. On the third position followed Jimmy Diaz (ISV-11, F2, North Sails) in front of the French hotshot Julien Quentel (FRA-421, Starboard Neil Pryde) and Ben van der Steen (NED-57, Exocet, Neil Pryde). Another fourth elimination was started in the afternoon but as the wind went down when the sunset came closed the competition was abandoned just before the quarter finals.
After three eliminations Finian Maynard is still in the lead with the optimum of 1.40 points. But his opponents have been able to close up and are now in striking distance. Antoine Albeau is in the second position with 2.70 points and Kevin Pritchard follows with 4.00 points. Micah Buzianis and Ross Williams also have chances for a podium finish as they are tied with 9.00 points on fourth and fifth place at the moment. Together they raise the pressure on the competitors on the top. Already a little bit behind we find Jimmy Diaz with 12.00 and Steve Allen with 15.00 points. The two Dutch racers Ben van der Steen, 16.00 points) and Pieter Bijl (17.00 points) presented a solid performance establishing them on the 8th and 9th place of the ranking. Björn Dunkerbeck dropped further down to position ten with 17.00 points.
In the womens fleet the current leader and last years Alacati winner Allison Shreeve stumbled twice with only two third places. Her hardest opponents Verena Fauster and Karin Jaggi took advantage of this and each of them was able to score a victory and a second place. At the end of the day it was Verena Fauster who was able to smile about her lead at the IFCA Slalom World Championships 2006 with 3.40 points. But everything is very close among the girls as Allison Shreeve is just one point behind followed by Karin Jaggi who is just another 0.30 points back with 4.70 points.
Among the Youth Pascal Somers (BEL-7) slipped once with an over early but stroke back with another victory resulting in the optimum of 2.10 points. On his heels he still has the two Turkish hotshots Emirhan Kolburan (TUR-235) with 4.40 points and Enes Yylmazer (TUR-2) with 6.00 points. Massimo Masserini is leading the masters fleet with 3.40 points with Francesco d'Urso (ITA-26, 4.70 points) and Leonid Judin (SRB-1, 8.00 points) on his heels. The Jim Beam IFCA Slalom World Championships will last until Saturday, August 5th.
