Morehu Roberts : photo Col / SURF2SURF.com

O’Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro
4-star Series

2009/10 Export Gold Series Event 1
Makorori Beach, Gisborne
7 – 8 November 2009

Local Surfers Explode on Day One

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 7 November, 2009 : - - The cream of New Zealand’s best surfers exploded on day one of the O’Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro today. The top seeds resisted a strong push from a number of surfers including a strong local contingent. The O’Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro is the first of five events on the Export Gold Series which stretches throughout the country during the coming summer months.

Nick White (Mnt), fresh back from four months competing on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS), posted the highest single wave score of the day with an 8.75 point ride.  White finished with a 16.5 point heat total to move through to the final sixteen surfers at the event.

“I am stoked on that heat win, I was lucky to get a couple at the end so I am happy” commented a jet lagged White who made it back into the country on Friday morning especially for the event. “Its good being back home, its warmer funnily enough” added White who has spent the past few weeks in the colder climes of Canada and Santa Cruz. 

White is currently ranked 151st on the WQS and is likely to slip slightly at the latter end of the year opting to stay at home instead of contesting the gruelling final three events in Hawaii.  “I am going to spend most of my time back here over summer and will miss the last few events of the year before heading back overseas on the WQS towards the end of summer”.

However White is happy to be at home and is impressed with the level of surfing he witnessed today.  “The level of surfing has been good here – all the boys are ripping”.  I hope I can go further in the event and get into the finals and get a good start to the Export Gold Series.

  
Two local surfers to make an impact on day one included Morehu Roberts and Blair Stewart. Roberts scored a 13.75 point heat total to push Billy Stairmand into second place, both surfers progressing through to the quarterfinals.  Roberts attributed his slow start to the heat to a lack of competition time.  Nevertheless, he was pretty happy to get back into the water competing. 

“Yeah the first event is always a highlight – I love it, getting back into the action and catching up with all the boys” said Roberts.  He has put his downtime over the winter to surf as much as possible and “hit the gym and the pool as much as possible.” Roberts will face Alex Dive (Mnt), Chris Malone (Gis) and the abovemnetioned Stewart in the quarterfinals in one of the tougher matchups of the round. 

Stewart posted 15.25 to win his heat over Bodhi Whitaker (Gis), Ben Poulter (Rag) and JC Susan (Mnt).  “I have had ten weeks out of the water with a broken collar bone so I haven’t seen much water time recently” commented Stewart.  “My shoulder has mended pretty well and this week I got to surf out here (Makorori) a few times to get used to the break” added Stewart.

Maz Quinn and Bobby Hansen blazed up their opponents winning their heats notching up solid wins for the locals. Along with Quinn and Hansen, other Gisborne surfers to progress included Bodhi Whitaker, Dane Simpson and James Fowell.  It could be a four man ‘Gissy’ final the way the locals are going but there were some others that were on form like Alex Dive, he probably was the standout of the day so we will see” commented Stewart.

Swell conditions are expected to deteriorate on Sunday however the waves should be slightly bigger.  A call on the location for the final day of the event will be made by 7.00am with an 8.00am start.

Shed 3 will be hosting the official launch of the Export Gold and Surfing New Zealand relationship on Saturday night.  All proceeds from the night will be going to the Gisborne Boardriders Club.

Results from day one of the O’Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro – Export Gold Series Event 1 follow:

Open Men’s Division Round of 64
Heat 1 Che Whitaker (Gis), 1, Lance Robison (Whtane), 2, Nick Moses (Tara), 3, Gavin Linnow (Sth Africa), 4
Heat 2 JC Susan (Mnt), 1, Morehu Roberts (Rag), 2, Bevan Wiig (Auck), 3
Heat 3 Damon Gunness (Gis), 1, Danny Carse (Ota), 2, Matt White (Mnt), 3, Jeremy Grainger (Tara), 4
Heat 4 Brent Rasby (Gis), 1, Matthew Daniel (Gis), 2, Chris O'Leary (Gis), 3, Jacob Kohn (Gis), 4
Heat 5 James Fowell (Gis), 1, Haami Martin (Taharoa), 2, Lyndon Hutton (Dun), 3, Nat Hughes (Rag), 4
Heat 6 Jamie Andrews (Tara), 1, Felix Dickson (Ota), 2, Clint Daly (Gis), 3, Matt Hishon (Rag), 4
Heat 7 Scott Bell (Auck), 1, Travis McCoy (Mnt), 2, Todd Doyle (Mnt), 3, Emmett Holmes – O’Connor (Rag), 4
Heat 8 Larry Fisher (Rag), 13.5, 1, Nathan Welch (Gis), 2, Bachelor Tipene (Tara), 3, Ricky Parker (Whmata), 4

Open Men’s Division Round of 48
Heat 1 Morehu Roberts (Rag), 1, Ben Poulter (Rag), 2, Che Whitaker (Gis), 3, Matt Groube (Cor), N/S
Heat 2 JC Susan (Mnt), 1, Lance Robinson (Whtane), 2, Tane Wallis (Piha), 3, Tyler Anderson (Tara), 4
Heat 3 Alex Dive (Mnt), 1, Damon Gunness (Gis), 2, Braedon Williams (Whmata), 3, Matthew Daniel (Gis), 4
Heat 4 Chris Malone (Gis), 1, Brent Rasby (Gis), 2, Danny Carse (Ota), 3, Tully Farrell (Mnt), 4
Heat 5 Ben Kennings (Whmata), 1, James Fowell (Gis), 2, Felix Dickson (Ota), 3, Adam Cranston (Gis), 4
Heat 6 Nick White (Mnt), 1, Haami Martin (Taharoa), 2, Jamie Andrews (Tara), 3, Tim Thompson (Auck), 4
Heat 7 Nathan Welch (Gis), 1, Zennor Wernham (Rag), 2, Scott Bell (Auck), 3, Zen Wallis (Piha), 4
Heat 8 Johnny Hicks (Gis), 1, Dane Simpson (Gis), 2, Travis McCoy (Mnt), 3, Larry Fisher (Rag), 4

Open Men’s Division Round of 32
Heat 1 Morehu Roberts (Rag), 1, Billy Stairmand (Rag), 2, Buck Woods (Gis), 3, Lance Robison (Whtane), 4
Heat 2 Blair Stewart (Gis), 1, Bodhi Whitaker (Gis), 2, Ben Poulter (Rag), 3, JC Susan (Mnt), 4
Heat 3 Paco Divers (Sandy Bay), 1, Alex Dive (Mnt), 2, Luke Hughes (Rag), 3, Brent Rasby (Gis), 4
Heat 4 Maz Quinn (Gis), 1, Chris Malone (Gis), 2, Damon Gunness (Gis), 3, Ryan Hawker (Piha), 4
Heat 5 Ben Kennings (Whmata), 1, Gauranga Ormond (Whmata), 2, Sam Willis (Mnt), 3, Haami Martin (Taharoa), 4
Heat 6 Nick White (Mnt), 1, James Fowell (Gis), 2, Sean Peggs (Tairua), 3, Leon Santorik (Rag), 4
Heat 7 Bobby Hansen (Gis), 1, Dane Simpson (Gis), 2, Nathan Welch (Gis), 3, Jarrod Hancox (Tara), 4
Heat 8 Tim O'Connor (Mnt), 1, Keone Campbell (Tara), 2, Johnny Hicks (Gis), 3, Zennor Wernham (Rag), 4

Complete results, surfer and industry ratings, images and audio interviews on www.surfingnz.co.nz.

Please see below for the remaining four events that make up the 2009/10 Export Gold Series
Event 1: 30 January - 1 February, Billabong Pro, Whangamata
Event 2: 26 - 28 February, Rip Curl Pro, Raglan
Event 3: 1 - 5 April, Hyundai National Surfing Championships, Gisborne
Event 4: 23 - 24 April, Export Gold 16 / Interclub Championships / North Island South Island Challenge, Piha Beach

Information
For further information on the O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro and the Export Gold Series please contact Surfing New Zealand's Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email ben.kennings@surfingnz.co.nz.

Event Hotline
The Surfing New Zealand event hotline is 0211134506. This will be updated daily at approximately 7am daily with venue, divisions contested and conditions for the day.

Sponsors
Generous support from O'Neill Wetsuits, Sequence Surf Shop, New Zealand Community Trust and Gisborne Boardriders has made this event possible.

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by Export Gold, , Hyundai, SPARC, Smokefree

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