Following six months of competition the winner of the first Monster Energy Pitstop in association with O’Neill and iON Action Cameras has been decided. Receiving the bulk of the votes* in the ‘Pit of the Year’ grand final and scooping the first prize worth R30 000 is Benji Brand for this mind-blowing Namibian tube:
“It’s an absolute cracker of a wave,” said Paul Canning from O’Neill, who is a former CT campaigner and one of the esteemed judges. “Benji spends an incredible amount of time inside the barrel and the multiple spits prove just how deep he actually gets on a few occasions.”
For his efforts, Benji scores himself R25 000 cash – because he was both the surfer and the videographer – plus an iON Air Pro 3 Wifi worth R5000.
“I’m stoked and so relieved,” replied an ecstatic Benji when we broke the news. “Ricky (Basnett) was getting a lot of votes so I was wondering how it would all play out. I am not sponsored and I spend a lot of money on travelling and boards, so this win helps a lot. It’s an awesome prize and I’m very grateful for the opportunity this has given me.”
Matt Bromley’s Irish keg grabbed second spot in the ‘Pit of the Year’ finals.
The Cape charger’s mesmerising tube saw off some hefty competition from the likes of Matt Bromley, Ricky Basnett, Dustin Wilson and Justin Donnelly, who were the other four surfers rounding out the ‘Pit of the Year’ finals.
Benji’s ride got the nod from two of the three judges along with 263 votes from the public, which gave him a 49.39% share of the final tally. Matt Bromley’s crazy barrel at Mullaghmore Heads in Ireland grabbed second spot with 25.34%.
“Based on length of ride and degree of difficulty, I did think I would win,” admitted Benji when we asked if he was feeling confident about his ride. “But you never know when voting is involved, because that comes down to how much support you can get. I really liked Dustin Wilson‘s wave, it was a long and technical barrel and he got nice and deep.”
The Monster Energy Pitstop is a tube riding contest open to any Saffa surfer. Keep your boards waxed and ready for the 2015 Monster Energy Pitstop, which will be kicking off soon on monsterpits.co.za
*HOW THE VOTING WORKS:
• The public vote and judging panel’s vote is split 50-50
• This means each of the three judge’s votes count 16.67% of the overall vote (to make up the judges’ 50% of the vote).
• The public vote for each surfer is then worked out as a percentage of the total number of public votes across all contestants and divided by two to work out how much it contributes to the other 50%.
It sounds complicated, but makes sense when you do the sums. So let’s do the maths for the top two rides who were in the running this month:
Benji Brand
2x judge’s vote = 33.34%
Total public votes across all the contestants = 819
Benji’s public votes: 263 votes = 32.11% of 819 / 2 = 16.05%
= 49.39% of votes overall
Matt Bromley
1x judge’s vote = 16.67%
Total public votes across all the finalists = 819
Matt’s public votes: 142 = 17.34% of 819 / 2 = 8.67%
= 25.34% of votes overall
Ricky Basnett
Total public votes across all contestants = 819
Ricky’s public votes: 296 = 36.14% of 819 / 2 = 18.07%
= 18.07% votes overall
Dustin Wilson
Total public votes across all contestants = 819
Dustin’s public votes: 93 = 11.36% of 819 / 2 = 5.68%
= 5.68% votes overall
Justin Donnelly
Total public votes across all contestants = 819
Justin’s public votes: 25 = 3.05% of 819 / 2 = 1,50%
= 1.50% votes overall
***
Go to monsterpits.co.za to check out all the entries.
i still think Dustin Wilsons was the 1.. Sounds like Benji also thought so, Well done to him tho- great barrel. Such Predictable results
Not quite, Dee. “Based on length of ride and degree of difficulty, I did think I would win” – Benji. I do agree though that Dustin’s ride was mental. SA has some great surfers and some epic waves. Everyone’s a winner.