Photos: Mauricio Brandão

James Geitens and Alexander Buneder, both Gouchos from the Rio Grande do Sul, made the final in the first stage of the Brazilian Championship Freeride Jet Waves 2010 in Imbé, with Geitens taking the winner’s podium.

The competition has three categories - Pro Stand-Up, Stand Amateur and Open Sit-Down. The championship is an opportunity for new riders to come and watch and take part in this extreme sport which just keeps on growing in Brazil.

In the category of Open Sit-Down, José Luis Silveira Remião, known as ISO, and André da Silveira were the highlights of the weekend.

The two reached the final beating all their opponents. ISO’s win was tight, with a different routine in the surf to André, who came second. Third was Alexandre de Abreu, with Vinicius da Silva in fourth position.

The judges evaluate the performance of the riders by their tricks and jumps in the surf, and the final score of each sequence is the average of the two ratings.

The Amateur Stand-Up category once again saw a tremendous display from André da Silveira, who had a remarkable weekend, making the podium in all his categories. This time André faced Jefferson Santos in the final, another rider who rode well, showing a high level of freeride skill. The two reached the final by winning all their classes and making the judges decision difficult. Jefferson showed  better balance in his moves and in the surf and so was the champion, leaving André again with second place. Carlos Cassiano came in third place after defeating Evandro Bickel, who finished fourth.

The main category, PRO Stand-Up, this year saw the Gauchos James Geitens and Alexander Buneder perform to a very high level, leaving no room for riders from other regions of the country to take away the trophy at Imbé.

The final between the two was exciting. Buneder performed one back-flip after another. Geitens in turn, also showed great moves and excelled again and again in the radical surf, with lots of air that the crowd on the beach loved. Despite a high-flying Buneder, Geitens once again produced more balanced routines and so lifted the cup. Jefferson Santos also had a great weekend and finished in third place, this time beating Andre da Silveira, who finished in fourth place.

Geitens won the International Freeride Championships in Peru last month, beating the American and Australian champions, and won again here, this time against his friend and countryman Alexander Buneder, who is proving a true adversary.