June 26, 2016, Scharbeutz, Germany – The 2016 Mercedes SUP World Cup, the second event of the 2016 Stand up World Series, was held in Scharbeutz last weekend. The weather conditions were extremely variable for the two full days of paddleboard racing but it made for an exciting and successful event. Current World Series leader and team Naish rider Casper Steinfath was able to walk away from the event with his coveted yellow jersey still in hand after placing 1st in Sprints and 4th in Long Distance. Casper was racing on his favorite Naish Maliko 12’6”.
Day one of the event was the Sprint race. Casper had a great start in the final and maintained his lead to finish ahead of the pack in first place. Right as the last of the contestants ran up the beach crazy thunderstorms hit the coastline and lightning streaked the sky.
The second day saw calm sunny skies for the Long Distance portion of the event. Casper describes, “I had an okay race and felt strong most of the way through. There were seven laps with five buoys on each so we did quite a few turns today, which was fun and created good crashes for the spectators!” The final lap of the Distance course was super high pace, with a five-person sprint to the finish line. Casper had a tricky line ahead of him and gave it his all, only to place in fourth.
With a combined first place in Sprints and Fourth in Distance, Casper’s scores put him right behind Connor in 2nd overall for the event with the smallest margin of points possible. Commenting on his scores, Casper explains “I was a bit disappointed after coming so close in the race, but the way the points work out for the overall World Series I am still ranked as #1 after two events with a fairly solid gap down to Connor.”
Casper is very pleased to continue on the tour with the yellow jersey in hand, as he battles amongst the sports very best for the overall win this year. The next event is the 2016 Red Bull Heavy Water in San Francisco, where he will join fellow Naish riders: Kai Lenny, Kody Kerbox, Bernd Roediger and Tucker Ingalls in competition.
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Photos: Waterman League
