40 to join Asia Flow Series at PIC

A local rider practices for this weekend’s 2014 Asia Flow Series at the Pacific Islands Club. (Contributed Photo)
Pacific Islands Club (PIC)-Saipan Sports, Entertainment and Activities director Glenn Policare said rains wouldn’t stop Friday’s preliminary round that will stretch to Saturday’s finals. The qualifying round begins at 5pm, while the final day of the weekend tournament will be held from 9am to 6pm. The 25 off-island competitors are from Japan and Korea. This will be the fourth leg of the Asia Flow Series with the winners earning berths to the regional finals in Thailand.
Policare said that some of the riders trained for more than a year for this event.
Last year’s men’s flowboard champion Dan Westphal, runner-up Keoni Ichihara, and 2013 men’s pro and men’s open bodyboard titlists Ray Babauta and Francis Hartman are among the top local riders who are expected to win in their respective divisions.
Westphal and Ichihara will be carrying the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ flag in the 2014 Series Finals set from Oct. 3 to 4 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The winners of the Series Finals in Thailand will earn the right of representing the Asia-Pacific region to the Flowrider World Championships later this year at the Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Policare said they are expecting all participants to bring out their best form.
“Expect the participants to do rodeos, lazy 3s, kickflips, shuvits, backside AL’s, fast plants and a long list of other tricks performed at the highest level,” Policare said.
For more information, call Policare at 237-5148 or email him at glenn.policare@picsaipan.com. (Jon Perez)