Guadeloupe on the highest podium

The 13 members of the « Pole Guadeloupe Surf Team brilliantly started the season as they went home with 14 podiums in all categories after participating in the Caribbean Junior Surf Event in Barbados.

Organized by the Barbados Surfing Association, this surf competition took place at Soupbowl, a worldly known wave, very much appreciated by Kelly Slatter (A 9-time world champion).

Enrolled in all categories (Under 12 – Under 14 – Under 16 and Under 18), the Guadeloupean young surfers impressed the locals with their skills and their approach of a very hollow and powerful wave. Not mentioning the 2 to 3 meter swell generated by hurricane Earl which made it even more difficult to surf.
A real Guadeloupean raid Among the youngest ones, the victory goes to Enzo Cavallini closely followed by the youngest competitor, Thomas Debierre ( 3rd place).

In the Under 14 category, the final is 100% Guadeloupean ! Eliott Ivarra, from St. Barth, stands on the highest podium followed by Gatien delahaye, Tim Bisso and Irvin Andro.
As for the Under 18 category, Andrew Petreluzzi ends up second and Jordan Oueslati at the fourth place.

Let’s not forget about the girls
The two young Guadeloupean surfers also proved their commitment facing up some top competitors who also happened to be very familiar with this surf spot.
Kim Veteau, who celebrated her 13th birthday during the competition, ended up at the third place, in two different categories, Under 16 and Under 18.
Manon Cavallini won the 4th place !

An « open » event in some « Hawaiian » conditions
On Sunday, an « open » event was organized, (open to all categories, including adults) in very specific conditions. Some impressive 2 to 3 metre tubular waves allowed Big Waves Sufers to demonstrate their skills. Two Guadeloupeans were present, Andrew Petreluzzi and Rafaël Debierre (Team Electric), a 12 year-old surfer who managed to reach the ¼ final, charging some outstanding waves.

Rafaël Debierre, outclassed for the event, also managed to finish 1st in the Under 16 . Titouan Lavolé and Tim Bisso, also outclassed, won the 3rd and 4th place.

The Guadeloupean Surf Team, coached at Barbados by David Blanchard, has been the living proof of what a solid team should be with a great spirit and solidarity, whether on land or at sea. A fair play noticed by the organizers of the event who are currently thinking of creating a Caribbean surf circuit as early as 2011.

The region’s leading race car drivers will share centre stage at this month’s Digicel Williams International Race Meet (August 28/29) with their two-wheeled counterparts, as the clubs behind the Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) work towards expanding the scope of the regional series to include a wider range of competitors.

BARL’s pre-event build-up continues tomorrow (Friday) with the final weekly after-work lime opposite H & B Hardware at Warrens, St Michael; cars will be on display from around 4.00pm, refreshments will be on sale, and there will be a chance for fans to hear what Barry and Roger Mayers think about the upcoming International.

Heading the motorcycle entry multiple Superbike race and title-winner, Canada’s Kevin Graham, one of the prime movers in developing the regional championship; winner of more than 40 races at South Dakota in Guyana – and the lap record holder – he made a big impression at the Dover Raceway in Jamaica, with two race wins on the Sunburst Orange Juice Yamaha R6, and a new lap record. Read the rest of this entry »

Ametza Nicholls

Barbados recognizes the local and international achievements of its surfers by choosing 17 year-old National Ladies

Champion to represent our country at the inaugural “Youth Olympics Flame Ceremony” in Mexico in July 2010 – Barbadian surfer Ametza Nicholls will make history again.

Barbados, August 2010

The Americas leg of the
Youth Olympic Games Flame Ceremony
Which took place in Mexico City in July 2010
The Inaugural games are currentlyTaking place in Singapore

Ametza who this past May turned 17, has been surfing since she was 11, after attending a surfing camp run by well-known local surfer Alan Burke who encouraged her to enter her first competition in 2004.  She placed 3^rd, and was bitten by the surfing bug.  The following year, she joined the Barbados Surfing Association and began to surf competitively on the local circuit, while further surf camps gave her exposure to international surfing coaches, including Marcos Conde of Brazil.  Within a year, she won the under 12 girls’ National Championship and was named Surfer of the Year.  In 2006, Ametza became the youngest surfer in Barbados – male or female – to achieve National

Champion status by winning the Ladies’ Open and also took home the under 18 title.

That same year Ametza earned a place as a member of Team Barbados, for her first international appearance at the Quiksilver World Junior Surfing Championship in Brazil.  At the Rip Curl Grom Search in Florida she competed as an individual, coming second to well known USA surfer Amy Nichol in the Ladies Under 16’s and she went on to come 6^th overall at the finals in California – a tremendous achievement for a thirteen-year old, and was a big step forward in not only experience but confidence.

In 2007, Ametza participated in the Eastern Scholastic Surfing Championships in Florida, and while contending with poor wave conditions, qualified for the finals placing 6^th.  As part of the Barbados Team at the Quiksilver World Junior Surfing Championships in Portugal she improved her world ranking.  At home she placed third at the Reef Bowl Ladies’ Open achieving the highest points of the contest for a Barbadian surfer, male or female; for a second year running she took Surfer of the Year honours in the Under 18 and Open Ladies categories.

The International Surfing Association recognized Ametza’s achievements in 2008, providing her with a Scholarship; their confidence was affirmed when she took home first place in the Ladies’ Open at the first Caribbean Surf Network event in Trinidad & Tobago, took three first places at the NKM National Scholastic Championships in Under 16, Under 18 and Under 21 and accumulating the highest points by a single athlete.  Ametza continued her domination over other local female competitors when she took first place at the CSN Brandons Pro Barbados Ladies’ Open.

Unfortunately Ametza injured her back during the first heat at the Quiksilver World Junior Surfing Championships in France, and had to step back from surfing for 6 months; despite being unable to attend the CSN Tour in Jamaica and still having therapy, she came out with a convincing return at the CSN Soup Bowl Pro Barbados Open Ladies placing second but accumulating enough points to make her the “CARIBBEAN SURF NETWORK’S TOUR” Regional ladies Champion for 2008

Being honoured with an ISA Junior Scholarship for the second year while in Ecuador at the Quiksilver World Junior Surfing Championship in 2009 Ametza was ecstatic to hear of their support.  Later that year she won the Ladies’ Open, Under 18 Girls and Ladies Expression Session at an event at home in Barbados.

She once again captured the 2009 title of National Ladies Champion.  Here in this picture with fellow National Champion Lewis St. John and President of the ISA Fernando Aguerre in Ecuador at the QSWJC 2009

In 2010, the Pan-American Surfing Association hosted the first international sporting event to be held in Habana, Cuba and invited Ametza to participate as the sole female entrant, pitting her against some of the best male surfers in the Caribbean.

Not only did she hold her own, she came fourth to surfers from Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Her determination and drive to participate in the event – despite being the only female – brought her recognition and respect on the Caribbean Surfing Circuit, cementing her place as the Barbadian female surfer to watch.

Photos courtesy of:  Mark Harris, Jessica Mark, Rachel Roett, Juca Barros.

Young female surfer from Barbados takes on the boys and flies the flag in Habana Cuba – 2010

Chelsea Tuach, Barbados’ reigning U 18 National Champion and Caribbean Ladies’ Champion, flew the Barbados flag high last week-end at the Ripcurl Gromsearch Surf Contest held at Kitty Hawk, N Carolina.  This contest brings together the best 16 and Under male and female surfers from the United States and other countries, all seeking to be crowned “the hottest male or female grom”. Chelsea Tuach dominated all her heats with powerful surfing way beyond her fourteen years, amassing a heat total of 15.5 (out of a possible 20) and running away with the title of 16 U Girls’ Champion and a coveted spot for the Grand Final to be held in Puerto Rico in October.

Chelsea Roett, also from Barbados, did her country proud by placing second with a heat total os 12.5 while Darcy Pickford from the US was third with 12 points and Maddie Peterson, also from the US was fourth.
The Boys’ Divisions were also very competitive in the excellent chest to head high waves on offer throughout the contest.   Barbados’ most outstanding male surfer at this event was Fourteen year old Daniel Edghill who placed second in the 14 U Division and ninth in the 16 U Division.  Solid performances were also put in by Barbados’ Under 10 Champion, Che Allen, who placed fifth in the 12U Boys’ Division and Jordan Heaselgrave, who placed seventh overall in the 16 U Boys with some very progressive surfing.
More information available at www.ripcurl.com/gromsearch.

About this Video

Big wave surfer Ian Walsh heads to Jamaica to meet Billy Wilmot, the godfather of Jamaican surfing, and visits Jamnesia, the only surf club on the island. Ian is also in the Caribbean to hang out in the Makka Pro contest and does his part to mentor young surfers from Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago for Red Bull Under My Wing.

Icah Wilmot (JAM) won the Open division of the classic Makka Pro. Photo: JSA

This contest took place from 16 to 18 July, at Southaven Yallahs Saint Thomas.  The Open division was won by Icah Wilmot (JAM), the Juniors division was won by Akeem Taylor (JAM) and the Women’s division was won by Chelsea Tuach (BAR).

One of England’s most successful sports and saloon car drivers, with more than 500 career wins, will compete in the Digicel Williams International Race Meet slated for August 28/29, bringing to five the number of European entries, a record for Bushy Park since 1975.

By July 18 this year, Rod Birley had clocked up no fewer than 515 outright or class victories at 16 road race circuits and 13 hot rod ovals, and won countless class and overall championship titles, most recently last year’s Dunlop Motorsport News Saloon Car Championship, which he won in his Ford Escort WRC.

Delighted by the response from Europe, Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) Chairman Adrian Mayers said: “Attracting a driver like Rod is a feather in the cap for Barbados motor racing, and the island – I am told that the ‘500’ Club doesn’t have too many members. Not only is he one of England’s most successful drivers, but he is also a regional Chairman of the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC), Britain’s top race organisation. From our initial contact, we believe this is a relationship that can grow, as the cars that compete in championships under his remit are well suited to our regulations.”

The BARC has been involved with Bushy Park in the past: its Executive Director Dennis Carter conducted training sessions for marshals and officials in advance of the reopening of the circuit in 1992, while the Club’s recent international commitments have included providing the 350 officials and marshals necessary to run the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, all still under the direction of Carter. Read the rest of this entry »

A multiple sports car Champion from England and a current front-runner in the 2010 Irish Touring Car Championship are the first two International drivers confirmed by the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) for its Digicel Williams International Race Meet at Bushy Park, St Philip, slated for August 28/29.

England’s Adrian Beer has been racing in the MG Car Club’s BCV8 Championship since he was 17, following a family tradition of involvement with the iconic British sports car; his debut season in 2001 was impressive, finishing second overall in the title chase, Class Champion, highest-placed Novice and highest-placed Young Driver in the Top 10. He has since won the overall championship twice, a class title in each year that he has contested a full season, and holds lap records at five circuits, including the high-speed former airfield circuit of Castle Combe, where the average speed approaches 100mph.

Although he has competed outside England before, in two-driver endurance races at the Belgian Grand Prix circuit at Spa-Francorchamps, the trip to Barbados will be his first campaign outside Europe. While his MGB GT, powered by a 450bhp 4.1-litre Rover V8, may prove something of a handful around the tight confines of Bushy Park, the 26-year-old is looking forward to the challenge: “The thought of taking my car to an unknown circuit outside Europe where only a handful of British drivers have taken their cars fills me with tremendous excitement, however I am not in any way overwhelmed by the prospect.”

The weapon of choice for Ireland’s Barry Rabbitt could hardly present a greater contrast to the mighty MG, as he will be competing in a Honda CRX entered by the Dublin-based Tuning Factory. Run by two Chinese Honda experts, Andy Mo and Ping Won, this company is the Irish agent for J’s Racing, the Japanese firm which built the CRX to showcase its products.

Like Beer, Rabbitt has been racing since 2001, winning the Irish Fiat Uno one-make championship the following year; he subsequently switched to the even more competitive Punto series, winning races, although never had sufficient budget to challenge for the title. Since 2008, he has been the ‘works driver’ for the Tuning Factory: he holds the Irish Time Attack lap record at Mondello Park in the CRX, won the 2008 Irish Saloon Series in the company’s Integra Type R, and is currently second in the Irish Touring Car Championship with a new Integra.

Of the CRX, which is small, nimble, and produces just 220bhp from a slightly-modified B18 Type-R engine, Rabbit notes: “it has myriad little things that, when added up, make it very fast. It is the most sorted car I have ever driven in terms of handling prowess.” Read the rest of this entry »