PRESSRELEASE
7th February 2015
STEVE ALLEN WINS THE 2015 DOWNUNDER PRO.
A short day on the beach for the races with a grim forecast which ended in racing being postponed for the day at 12pm finalised the results for the 3rd and final day of the Downunder Pro – Formula Windsurfing Oceanic & Australian Championships. Steve Allen took the event win ahead of Janis Priess from Latvia defending Australian champion Sean O’Brien.
The 2015 SLAKE Downunder Pro – Oceanic and Australian Formula Windsurfing Championships concluded on Saturday with an action packed 7 races taking place over the three-day regatta at picturesque Belmont on Lake Macquarie. The field included 3x World Champion from Australia, Steve Allen (Starboard/Severne), who took the event win by one point ahead of current World #1 from Latvia, Janis Priess (Gaastra/Gaastra) with defending Australian & Oceanic title champion Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Severne) in 3rd.
The final day of competition produced no valid races keeping Allen just 1 point ahead of Priess after 7 races over the 3 day event. Allen made his move on Thursday’s racing after dropping back down the fleet after some gear failure on the 1st day, by posting 2 seconds and 2 firsts for the day as he battled with Latvian Janis Priess (Gaastra/Gaastra) who posted 2 firsts and 2 seconds giving Allen the edge by 1 point overall. Priess said about the event: “we had a beautiful 2 days of racing and I’m really happy that I managed to win 3 of the 7 races in such difficult conditions and with a strong fleet. I want to say thank you to the organisers and sponsors for such great prizes, especially Brett Morris for his hospitality and the race officers for a great job on the water. For me it was a great start for the coming new season and I really hope I can make it back next year.”
Sean O’Brien (Starboard/Severne) fought his way back on to the podium beating Danish Danish Christian Justesen (Starboard/Neilpryde) after a countback when both sailors finished the event on equal points. O’Brien finished the final race in 3rd with Justesen 4th which solidified the tie-break split.
Brett Morris (Starboard/Severne) won the the Grand Masters division finishing in 5th position overall ahead of Tibor Ferenczy (Starboard/Severne) and Rick Murray (JP/North) in 8th and 9th overall. Bruce Healey (Starboard/Severne) took out the Free-Formula division winning 5 out of the 7 races so far over the 7 races of the event.
The event finished with a prizegiving ceremony on the foreshore of the lake with the top 3 overall event winners taking home the coveted prizes of new Slake masts donated by the title sponsor. Windsurf’N’Snow store in Sydney donated a large bulk of exciting prizes for the winners of the Grand Masters and Free Formula division as well to event organiser Adam Craven to round up the event.
Further information about the FW Oceanic & Australian Championships as well as a media service with press releases, results, rankings, background information and photo/video downloads can be found on the official website www.fw-australia.com.
Contact and further information:
Sean O’Brien
Organising Committee / Media Relations AUSTRALIAN WINDSURFING ASSOCIATION
Phone: 0402 467 857
E-Mail: seanobrien@aus120.com
Internet: www.fw-australia.com
