Last weekend saw the second round of the British Power Kite Tour, RAWKite take place at Pembrey Sands. The first round had had no wind and with a lighter than ideal forecast it was not looking great for this weekend too. FLYSURFER rider Craig Sparkes had not competed in over a year since his incident in the USA in 2015 so was looking forward, while apprehensive to get back out in a competition.
The riding level at the moment in the Power Kite Tour is extremely high, in the Kite Buggy Phil Revill fellow FLYSURFER UK teammate has some amazing front side rotations, and Graham Reed is throwing down an array of technical tricks.
Craig Sparkes:
“I had luckily got my hands on the 15m Speed5 at 1am the morning before the event after meeting up with Lance from Maxtrack (FS UK Distributor) and boy was I glad I had! This kite is insane! Float, Pop, Speed, Perfection. In my first heat I was riding really strong, had all my technical tricks back and was linking combinations better than I had before. Looking round and seeing the other guys pushing strong spurred me on more to push harder and feeling confident under the Speed5 15m it came naturally. I was super happy to get through to the Final but in the heat things did not go as well as I would have liked, I really lost confidence in the wind as it went a little bit turbulent, I guess after a bad accident that is what to expect! The Speed5 though made me feel safe and confident and I was able to get some of tricks but not to the level I would have liked, and also the fact every time I looked around Phil Revill was killing his tricks! It was a super tight heat, and I really thought Phil had it, his riding has gone through the roof over the last few years and it is a pleasure to watch and ride with him! When it came to the results I was shocked but pleased to have come first, I heard it was very close and if it had gone other way I would have been just as happy! We also had the Amateur Landboarders competing on Flysurfers, Umar Al-Rawi on the 15m Sonic-FR, and Steve Parkes on the new 12m Speed 5. These two guys were pushing hard, Steve has a super poppy style and cross handed making all his grabs that little bit more technical & harder, and Umar with a floaty smooth style! Really is great to watch these guys riding and enjoying themselves so much!”
After the competitions was over everyone just went for a freeride and enjoyed the massive beach that is Pembrey Sands!
Thanks to CLSC for use of the beach for this RAWKITE tourstop – https://clscuk.co.uk
RAWKITE 2nd stop – FINAL RESULTS
Buggy Pro
1 Craig Sparkes (FYSURFER)
2 Phil Revill (FLYSURFER)
3 Graham Reed (FLYSURFER)
Landboard Pro
1 Kris Beech
2 Will Rose
Landboard Am & Senior (Same result)
1 Umar Al-Rawi (FLYSURFER)
2 Steve Parkes (FLYSURFER)
