Tim Boal wins Rip Curl Pro Peniche

Tim Boal wins Rip Curl Pro Peniche

Peniche, Portugal
ASP WQS 1 star mens event
23 - 25 April 2004

Day 3: Tim Boal wins Rip Curl Pro Peniche

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 25 April 2004: - - Conditions: mean and hollow 7-8 ft beach break barrels at Supertubes. Exceptional day of surfing, with some of the most impressive tube rides of the European professional tour in the last year.

Tim Boal (Fra) won the Rip Curl Pro Peniche with wave scores of 9.43 and 8.80 for a total 18.23, leaving second place Ruben Gonzalez (Port) trailing with a 16,13 score. Iker Fuentes (Euk) placed third with 13.87 and 2003 European Champion Patrick Bevan placed fourth with 11.16.

Tim Boal was on Fire today scoring a 9.8 and a 9.9 in his semi final heat. He won all his heats throughout the event, as well as highest wave score, best heat score, and 3 of the top five heat scores of the event. He was definitely the man to beat, as he accomplished half a dozen waves over 9,5 points. A stunning performance.

Tim Boal : photo Dimulle/ASPEurope.com

Quarter-finals started with high expectations for Portugal. Ruben took an early lead, and secure it half way with a tremendous backside barrel, on a set wave, he came out clean and very cool, so the judges rewarded him with a 9.5 score. Jonathan Gonzalez broke his board, and lost is concentration. Justin Mujica did just enough to move into semis.

Patrick Bevan and Pablo Gutierrez provided a real show for the audience during the 2nd heat. Patrick got 9.93 and 9.17 points on his best rides, and Pablo was close sitting on a 10 and 8 points rides, just too good for Abdel's 7 points scores. Negative remarks for premature eliminations of Pablo Solar and Eneko Acero in the last quarter.

The semi-finals took advantage of the best conditions of the whole contest, and competitors chased the barrels as the horn sounded. Patrick Bevan was on fire, posting several top scores, as Ruben tried to follow. Pablo Gutierrez wasn't satisfied with his first score, and tried to move things into his favor puling into the heaviest barrel of the contest. The result came just opposite of his expectations, as he only earned a serious injury- torn knee ligaments. Justin Mujica also felt the power of Supertubos sets on his head. Confused and desperate, he dropped in on his good friend Ruben, on the best wave of the heat.

Tim Boal : photo Dimulle/ASPEurope.com

The second semi, was even more dramatic. Iker went into the lead with 17.03 points, but Tim Boal was less that a point away. While Picon was desperate in 4th, Tim found one 9.8 points barrel, and then Hugo Savalli got a perfect 10, and Tim again answer with 9.9 points. Hugo score left a bitter taste as he still lost a place in the final by 0.03 points. The french surfer deserved more.

Later, Boris Letexier took the"expression session" with a huge barrel on a ‘St Leu' look-alike, and paid a visit to the podium for the Playstation2 award.

The 35 minute final offered smaller but cleaner off-shore barrels. The spectator crowd was behind Portuguese surfer Ruben Gonzalez who responded, surfing everything that moved, despite speaker's Nuno Jonet warnings. He went into the lead, but the Irish/Frenchman Tim Boal sat down and waited for a good one that came and earned him the lead with an excellent 9.43 point tube ride.

Reuben Gonzalez : photo Dimulle/ASPEurope.com

Patrick Bevan was lost in the lineup, as conditions changed a lot during the 35 minute final. Iker Fuentes also found difficulties to get good barrels, but his trouble was few scores. Ruben Gonzalez with 5 minutes to go, took a long and clean deep backside barrel, scoring him an excellent 8.8 points, and moved into the lead again, but he was forced to wait on the beach for the remaining time of the heat as he had completed his 12th ride.

Tim Boal with some pressure on his back, chose a good right to guarantee a magic front side barrel and two snaps, securing his first win with 2 minutes still to go. Always calm and shy, Tim came out of the water with a good smile, and more relaxed than ever confessed:"I just feel very happy, the waves were great, this is such a good place to surf, I will be back next year to defend the title".

Congratulations to Tim Boal for his 1st WQS victory, the reward he needed after an unlucky 2003 finish were he was leading the Junior European rankings, and due to an injury at the two final 2 Star junior events could not defend his 1st place.

Pablo Gutierrez : photo Dimulle/ASPEurope.com

Rip Curl's sports marketing director, Gerard d'Avezac, had the happiest face of all as he stated this was the best example of Rip Curl politics, to hold contests on prime locations, and promised a better and bigger event for 2005.

The Rip Curl Pro Peniche is proud of having City Hall as a partner, and lots of support from Nokia, Redbull, Triudus, Buondi, Playstation2, Panrico, FPS e PPSC. The Rip Curl Pro, the longest running Surf event in Portugal history, also has the following"Media Partners": Correio da Manhã, Record, Onfire, Surf Portugal, Sem Stress- Antena3, Surf Total, Surf Action, Notícias do Mar, BeachCam, SurfersVillage and Surf Europe. See you next year.