KTA and Asian Racing Championships- 1. Place in Raceboardclass

One day in between the Thai Nationals and then KTA started- time to move to Pak Nam Pran, which is 20 km sotuh of Hua Hin. Asian course racing titles were for the first time this season being run as a championship event rather than as a cumulative title scored throughout the tour. 68 riders from 24 nationalities were joining and a new record was set by the girls- first time as many girls as guys joined the freestyle.

The wind really surprised me in Thailand- every day 12 noon it was like somebody switching the button on for wind and we always started with 2-3 reaceboardraces. Then as the wind filled in with the daily thermal the event would switch to TT racing and then finally over to the freestylers. The men’s RB Class throughout was a hard fought affair with riders from Japan, China, Philippines and Hong Kong all putting in good performances, but the fiercest competition decided the two top slots with Bjorn and Salih, who finished in the end in that order, with Yo in third position.

I really enjoyed the girls RB Class- we had some exciting races between Rachel Holliger, Astrid Berz from Switzerland and a new racergirl, who has a lot of potential Fon Banyapa Jantawan from Thailand. Still I could win quite a lot of the races, but it was good to see on which things I need to work for the upcoming competitions.

The freestyle was amazing to watch and its amazing to see how the level of all the riders increased. After the completion of the single eliminators first place was held by Poland’s Marek Rowinski, Japan’s Hiro Nakano was in second and that Yo Narapichit Pudla in there once again in Third. For the women Kristin Oja took the top place in another well fought single elimination round, it was very close indeed though with the Kiwi Su Kay in the finals. Ali Dudfield found herself once again in the third, think she might now own the rights to this position by now, though due to the doubles, which could not get finished she did share this time with Holland’s Nanette van der Snoek.

For all the full event and Championship results you can go to the results section www.kiteboardtour.asia