Windsurfing Euro-Cup Cascais / Lisbon (Portugal)
– PRE EVENT REPORT –
Cascais / Lisbon (Portugal), June 4th 2003. One day to go for the start of the fourth Windsurfing Euro-Cup event of the season 2003. The most important windsurfing racing series of the World is visiting the city of Cascais close to the Portuguese capital Lisbon. After the first three events in Porto Santo / Madeira (Portugal), Malcesine / Lake Garda (Italy) and Cagliari / Sardinia (Italy) the best windsurfers of the World will challenge each other in one of the most western places of the European continent. The event has a total prize money of EUR 20.000,00 which makes it additionally attractive for the racers to come to this event in Portugal. The races will take place on the Atlantic Ocean in front of the Marina of Cascais under the eyes of the famous Casino of Estoril. Over 40 competitors from all over the World are already pre registered. Among them are almost all of the fastest Racers on this planet.
First of all we have to mention the current leader of the Windsurfing Euro-Cup and winner of the last regatta in Sardinia Andrea Cucchi (ITA-1, Starboard, Neil Pryde). He seems to be perfectly prepared at the moment and will try to defend his lead in the series against the attacks of his opponents. He will be challenged by Wojtek Brzozowski (POL-10, Starboard, Neil Pryde). The Euro-Cup Champion of 2001 was able to dominate the second event of the year at Lake Garda but in Sardinia he was only fourth. At the moment he is on the second position of the Euro-Cup ranking.
The two top Starboard riders will be attacked by the complete Fanatic team lead by the Australian Steve Allen (AUS-0, Fanatic, Neil Pryde). The Euro-Cup Champion 2002 was unlucky at the event in Sardinia and finished only 7th which made him drop down from the top to the third position in the Euro-Cup ranking. Now he is hungry for revenge! Steve Allen will be assisted by the other Fanatic team riders like the young Dutch hot shot and third of the Sardinia event Roy van Koolwijk (NED-97, Fanatic, Neil Pryde), Ben van der Steen (NED-57, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) and Pieter Bijl (NED-0, Fanatic, Neil Pryde). At the moment it is not confirmed if even the Israel top rider Arnon Dagan (ISR-1, Fanatic, Neil Pryde) will join the Fanatic force.
But of course the Starboard team is not sleeping! They will send strong supporters to try to dominate in the manufacturers ranking: The young Polish hot shot Michal Polanowski (POL-16, Starboard, Neil Pryde) is in perfect shape at the moment. He was able to beat several of the “big names” and won the second place at the EC in Cagliari last weekend. Another strong Polish rider is Aleks Grynis (POL-86, Starboard, Neil Pryde) he has put a lot of effort in the preparation for the season and managed to get fifth in Sardinia. We also expect “Danish Dynamite” Brian Roegild (DEN-173, Starboard, Gaastra) and Ross Williams (GBR-83, Starboard, Gaastra) from Great Britain. The last two riders are at the same time the top racers representing Gaastra sails in the event and try to do their best against the overwhelming Neil Pryde fleet.
In the shadow of the two dominating racing forces Starboard and Fanatic a new power starts to develop: This year F2 celebrates its return to the top competition brands with a very competitive board and new team riders. Their new “baby” Devon Boulon (ISV-1, F2, Windwing) has lead them already on the third place in the manufacturers ranking at his first event with the new equipment in Sardinia. Eventually he will be joined by Ramses Landmann (NED-72, F2, Neil Pryde) who is currently on the ninth position of the Euro-Cup ranking and was able to score a fourth place in Porto Santo. For the upcoming events F2 has announced some more “secret weapons”.
It will be a tough competition for the national Portuguese racers to withstand the overwhelming performance of the best racers of the World. But Joao Rodriguez (POR-75, Starboard, Neil Pryde) and Miguel Martinho (POR-1001, Starboard, Neil Pryde) have proven their potential to take advantage of the knowledge about the local conditions with very good results at the kick off event of the Euro-Cup series in Porto Santo / Madeira (Portugal). So they might e able to supply some surprises for the international pros.
Besides the personal fight racer against racer for the victory in the event one of the most interesting questions of the event will be if Fanatic manages to return to the top of the boards manufacturers ranking. With a victory in Cascais they can also take the lead in the annual ranking back from Starboard. The chances for Fanatic are not too bad as Cascais is more or less the “private backyard” of Fanatic. The testing and development center is located in the Lisbon area and the Fanatic raceboard should be perfectly adjusted to the conditions in Cascais.
The first start for the Euro-Cup Cascais is scheduled for Thursday. We are looking forward to four great days of Racing action!
You can find more information, results, pictures etc. and follow the competitions online on the official Website of the Windsurfing Euro-Cup www.euro-cup.org and on the FW Class Website www.formulawindsurfing.org .
