Eric Rebiere wins 2007 Superbock Pro!
The quarterfinals of the Superbock Pro were sent out at 1 PM, in nice shaped waves, giving our ultimate sixteen men the opportunity to express all their talent. In a close heat, Txaber Trojaola (Euk) raised his level and started confidently on a beautiful righthander, before securing the lead on a long fast lefthander where he carved his way to the shore, surfing on the rail with comitment. Behind him, current ASP Europe junior ratings leader Romain Cloitre (Reu) found the a last minute wave to qualify and steal second place from Marc Lacomare (Fra).
In a low scoring battle, Ruben Gonzalez (Prt) kept using his experience and calm against his younger opponents to take the best potential waves and reach the semifinals, looking unstoppable despite some average surfing in his quarterfinal. The young guard of the heat represented by Damien Chaudoy (Reu) and David Leboulsh (Fra) couldn’t eventually counter Jose-Maria Cabrera’s assaults, the canarian surfer from Lanzarote using his board as a knife to cut the water’s surface with speed and control. Gonzalez was eventually eliminated in the semifinals, finishing equal 7th to get $500 for his path in the event.
Eric Rebière (Fra) was once again the stand out of the quarterfinals, when the former ASP Forster’s World Tour surfer ended heat 3 with two very good scores, including the near perfect 9.43 out of possible 10 that gave him the three best scores of the event. With the same domination and use of competiton tactics, Rebière opened the show while 16-year-old Charles Martin (Glp) was qualifying for his first ever semifinal in a WQS event. “Cool to make this one, I’m really glad I could reach the semis because I wasn’t really happy with my pro junior result (equal 5th) and was hoping to do better here. With the guys ripping, it’s going to be tough but I’m relaxed,” said Martin. Unfortunately Martin couldn’t reach the final because of an interference and had to accept an equal 7th position, and $500 prize.
The last quarterfinal brought another amazing battle when Marlon Lipke (Deu) and Justin Mujica paddled out to get the business started. On his third ride, the german destroyed a lefthander going vertical and throwing big sprays of water in the air to scor an amazing 9.43 wave score. Losing no time to answer his friend and opponent, Mujica surfed opposite on the rightander and used all his power on a huge layback re-entrie to double his lead and secure a 16+ total to advance.
The high tide made the conditions a bit tougher as the surfers couldn’t connect easily from the outside to the water’s edge. However, the first four men kept on pushing the level further, choosing different options, some sticking to the lefthanders, others to the outside rigthhanders. Cloitre one of those and the young inform man of the moment seemed again over the top, working out his wave choice with great accurancy before surfing with flow and speed, pushing hard on his rail to carve the waves with style. The result was his qualification for his first ever WQS final, followed by the other youngman of the heat Txaber Trojaola (Euk).
Three of the best surfers so far, Marlon Lipke (Deu), Eric Rebière (Fra) and Justin Mujica (Prt) surfed in the second semifinal, all of them ready to destroy the waves on offer. All with confidence but still not surfing the same waves, the three men started on fire but Lipke overtook his contenders when he found the highest score of the event and a near perfect 9.77 pointer to lead. Rebière enjoyed the picking conditions and remained in good position with a solid 7 pointer to reach the final.
The last heat of the Superbock Pro got underway at 3.45 PM. With the weekend crowd ready to cheer up our champions, the waves got better and better and everything was ready for some hot surfing action. After his win in the opening ASP European Pro Surf Tour event in Peniche, Lipke had the experience to deal with the pressure, same as longtime competitor and other favourite Eric Rebière. The rising generation led by Buondi Pro Junior champion and Txaber Trojaola had a lot to do with such competitive opponents but still less pressure, enjoying this bonus finish.
As soon as the hooter sounded in the air, Lipke chose the far south option, surfing alone the lefthander to open the fight while the three other men stuck to the usual peak. Then started an endless echange where Rebière and Cloitre started firing their talent all the way from the outside, getting slowly but confidently in the race. Rebière linked his usual power top-turns while Cloitre was using all his flow again, Lipke remaining ahead for the first half of the heat. Then everything got crazy, Rebière and Lipke going on for a top scoring duel where the french man found two 8+ pointers to lead. Despite his destroying ride that gave him an 8.87 score, the german still needed a big score to catch up with the french leader. The young guard was definitely out of reach of the title as ten minutes remained, needing both a combination of two waves to reduce the gap with the leaders. Wanting more than anyone this Superbock title, Eric Rebière (Fra) paddled to Lipke to start using tactics and keep priority over the greman. Eventually, in a race to get the 7.96 pts he needed, the german paddled out to change position surfing desperatly bit still not enough to seize the precious winner’s $2500 purse.
“I have been waiting for two years since my last victory in Vendée and it’s just so good to be back with a victory. I entered this event two days before it started and made it all the way to the end,” started winner Rebière. “ This gets me back on track and I feel my surfing is sharp. All is smooth and I’ll fly to Huntington with confidence and the will to get on with this good feeling I am in now,’ finished the 2007 Superbock Pro Champion.
It’s been a great event, blessed with waves and amazing levels of surfing from our top competitors. Former WCT surfer Eric Rebière (Fra) gets first victory in two years, and Marlon Lipke regains the lead of the 2007 ASP European Pro Surf Tour. Thanks for being with us, see you soon.
FINAL
Heat: Eric Rebière(Fra) 16.83pts, Marlon Lipke(Deu) 16.70pts, Romain Cloitre (Reu) 12.30pts, Txaber Trojaola (Euk) 9.43pts
SEMIFINALS
Heat : Romain Cloitre(Reu) 13.94pts, Txaber Trojaola(Euk) 8.5pts, Jose-Maria Cabrera(Cny) 8.23pts, Ruben Gonzalez(Prt) 6.43 pts
Heat 2: Marlon Lipke(Deu) 14.94pts, Eric Rebière(Fra) 12.00pts, Justin Mujica(Prt) 10.33pts, Charles Martin(Glp) 7.62pts
QUARTERFINALS
Heat 1: Txaber Trojaola (Euk) 12.50 pts, Romain Cloitre (Reu) 10.63 pts, Marc Lacomare (Fra) 9.73 pts, Lukas Guichard (Den) 8.60 pts
Heat 2: Ruben Gonzalez(Prt) 11.17pts, Jose-Maria Cabrera(Cny) 10.40pts, David Leboulsh(Fra) 8.90pts, Damien Chaudoy (Reu) 8.87pts
Heat 3:Eric Rebière(Fra) 16.60pts, Charles Martin(Glp) 11.34pts, Jatyr Berasaluce(Euk) 9.30pts, Jason Griffith(Usa) 9.17pts
Heat 4: Justin Mujica(Prt) 16.06pts, Marlon Lipke(Deu) 15.24pts, Joao Antunes(Prt) 11.23pts, Joao Guedes(Prt) 6.60pts
About ASP: The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) is the governing body of professional surfing. Crowning surfing’s undisputed world champions since 1976, the ASP sanctions the following tours: the Foster’s ASP World Tour, the ASP Women’s World Tour, the World Qualifying Series (WQS) and the World Longboarding, Junior and Masters Championships. The ASP is dedicated to showcasing the world’s best surfing talent in a variety of progressive formats and has revolutionized the way the world watches surfing via their webcasts. The organization is divided into seven different regions: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Hawaii, North America, and South America.
