Eurobass Cup 2008
Valladolid - Spain
Ottobre 2008
The United States repeats its victory at the Eurobass
Cup 22 points to 2
The United States has shown once again its hegemony in bass
fishing with its overwhelming defeat to the European selection team in the
fourth championship of the Eurobass Cup. The final result was 22 points for the
American professionals and two points for the European team. The second round
duplicated the score of the first round: eleven points to one, achieved by the
captain, David Espax.
The European team managed to catch more fish in the second
round than in the first, but it wasn’t enough to beat the best anglers in the
world. Pairings such as José Luis López and Ray Scheide came out with the United
States on top, but only after a small margin of 165 grams, the point going to
the only champion that the Eurobass knows.
The winner of the individual classification was Kevin Wirth,
with 8,305 points, in second place Aaron Hastings, third place Charles Hammack
and José Luis López fourth place with 7,020 points. The trophy for biggest fish
went to Ray Scheide with a fish weighing in at 1,975 grams landed on the last
day of competition.
Wirth has already participated in a previous Eurobass Cup,
has participated in eight Bassmaster Classics and two FLW Championships, has
competed in 166 tournaments and has obtained cash prizes on 92 occasions. His
earnings in the B.A.S.S. circuit exceed 700,000 dollars and reach 180,000 in the
FLW league. He currently holds 16th in the B.A.S.S. ranking and on 31 occasions
has finished in the top ten.
The Director General of the Trade Fair Center of Valladolid,
organizer of the Eurobass Cup, Javier Galiana, stated that the U.S. team that
competed in this fourth championship is, without a doubt, the strongest of those
who have ever competed, even though their names don’t have the media coverage of
other professionals who have passed through the Eurobass Cup in previous years.
Six anglers caught the five fish limit in the second round
weigh in: Americans Kevin Wirth, Ray Scheide, Charles Hammack and Keith Phillips
and Europeans José Luis López and Javier Guillén.
The 24 anglers who participated in the Eurobass Cup will
return to the Reservoir of Ricobayo next Saturday, this time as teammates, to
participate in the Latin Bass Tournament, one of the competitions on the
calendar of Iberian Week.
This year there will be 36 boats fighting for the trophy. The
anglers participating come from Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, Madrid, Portugal,
Castile y Leon, Andalusia, to just name a few.
The Latin Bass Tournament will start at eight in the morning
and will conclude at six in the afternoon. After the weigh in, boats will be
escorted by the Civil Guard to the Trade Fair Center of Valladolid where the
award ceremony will take place on Sunday for both competitions.
In addition, the American professionals who have repeated
their title of the Eurobass Cup will give seminars on fishing techniques used,
their favorite equipment, types of baits, etc. all in a large aquarium found in
pavilion 2 on the trade fair grounds.
More info to www.eurobass.net
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