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Bortoletto & Penfold clinch Night Surfing titles at Durban
Mr Price Pro
ASP WQS 6 star Mens event
ASP WQS 4 star Womens event
North Beach, Durban, S. Afr
4 - 13 July 2003
Mr Price Pro Night Surfing Skins
Bortoletto and Penfold clinch Night Surfing titles
Durban local Antonio Bortoletto and Dara Penfold from Tasmania clinched the men and women’s titles respectively in the R125 000 Mr Price Pro Night Surfing Skins at North Beach in Durban on Sunday evening.
Bortoletto pocketed the R15 000 winner’s prize-purse plus R7 700 in Skins accumulated through the six rounds and 1 500 points, which took him to the top of the ASP Africa Pro Surf Tour (PST) ratings.
Penfold, who only entered the event at the last minute when a spot in the 24 woman field became available, earned R4 500 and R1 800 in skins for winning all four of the heats she contested.
Competing in trying conditions with the 1.3 metre surf chopped up by a 20 knot Northerly cross wind, Bortoletto executed a number short rides to trail early heat leader and fellow Durbanite Lyle Bottcher, American Austin Ware and defending event champ, Steven Hughes from Australia, for nearly three quarters of the 25 minute final.
With seven minutes remaining the 2002 SA open champion caught a wave that offered a fast breaking hollow section allowing him sufficient speed to complete a lightening fast and vertical re-entry for which the judges generously awarded 7.33 points (out of a possible 10), rocketing Bortoletto from fourth to second.
Oozing with confidence, and needing only a 4.8 point ride to take the lead, Bortoletto paddled back out and straight into another walled up wave, bashing the lip with three vertical manoeuvres and sweeping a roundhouse cutback that earned him a well deserved 7.83 and a massive heat lead that never looked like being overtaken.
Bottcher fought back with 6.43 and 5.50 point rides in the closing minutes but still needed an 8.73 when the siren sounded and the Red team rider had to settle for second place while Ware’s best ride of 7.0 secured third place and Hughes, needing a combination of rides to catch the leader, could not find any waves that offered scoring potential and was relegated to fourth.
Penfold was in a class of her own in the women’s final, patiently waiting six minutes before riding her first wave that was scored 6.0 by the judges for a strong bottom turn, off the top combination and a cutback.
All four girls struggled to cope with the strong wind and bumpy waves that made long rides difficult to achieve and they were frequently blown over the back of waves while executing manoeuvres.
Diminutive Sarah Johnston (Warner Beach) earned 4.27 points for two slashing cutbacks on one wave while eventual runner-up, Rosanne Hodge (EL) was also awarded two scores in the 4 point range for a couple of manoeuvres on moderate length rides. American Falina Spires could not find the quality of waves that enabled her to reach the final and placed fourth.
The action in the surf now moves to day time with the start of the R1 165 000 Mr Price Pro international event which starts at North Beach at 8am on Monday with the first round of trials.
The R1 million, 6 star rated World Qualifying Series (WQS) men’s event has attracted a full house of 240 surfers, including over 160 internationals, with half a dozen locals on the alternate list waiting for a spot should any of the entrants not arrive in time for their heats.
The R165 000 4 star rated WQS women’s event starts with their first round of trials on Tuesday. The women’s champion will be crowned on Saturday afternoon and the men’s champ on Sunday afternoon
Check the VBA & Mr Price Pro Hotline on 082 288 4321 for details of the event program and up to date reports on the Mr Price Pro along with a competition that has great prizes.
Mr Price Pro Night Surfing Skins Results
Men
Final
1. Antonio Bortoletto (Durban) R15 000
2. Lyle Bottcher (Durban) R 7 500
3. Austin Ware (USA) R 5 000
4. Steven Hughes (Aus) R 3 500
Semi Final
Heat 1:
1 S Hughes 2 A Ware 3 M Jackson 4 M Roscoe
Heat 2:
1 L Bottcher 2 A Bortoletto 3 Andrew Banks 4 G Emslie
Quarterfinals
Heat 1:
1 S Hughes 2 M Jackson 3 T Logie, 4 G West
Heat 2:
1 M Roscoe 2 A Ware 3 Shane Thorne 4 D Fahrenfort
Heat 3:
1 A Bortoletto 2 Greg Emslie 3 Lee Bissett 4 Josh Redman
Heat 4:
1 A Banks 3 Lyle Bottcher 3 Byron Howarth 4 Ryan Payne
Women
Final
1. Dara Penfold (Aus) R4 500
2. Rosanne Hodge (East London) R2 250
3. Sarah Johnston (Warner Beach) R1 650
4. Falina Spires (USA) R1 400
Semi Finals
Heat 1:
1 R Hodge 2 S Johnston 3 H Clark 4 P Robarts
Heat 2:
1 D Penfold 2 F Spires 3 S Moller 4 J Matthews
Day 3: Early report
Night Surfing champions to be crowned tonight
The men and women’s champions in the R125 000 Mr Price Pro Night Surfing Skins will be crowned on North Beach, Durban, tonight when the awards ceremony is staged after the finals at approximately 9.45pm.
The third round of men’s competition and the women’s quarterfinals were run between 12 noon and 4pm this afternoon and after a break to allow the powerful floodlights to come into effect, the event will resume with the men’s quarterfinals at 6pm, running straight through to the two four person final heats.
Durbanites make up of seven of the 16 men remaining in contention for the 5A rated ASP Africa Pro Surf Tour (PST) event and include ISA world champion Travis Logie, 2002 SA champion Antonio Bortoletto, former Vodacom Surf Series champion Lyle Bottcher and fellow Red team rider Josh Redman.
Defending champion Steven Hughes from Australia is still on track to retain the title he captured in 2001 while Austin Ware from the USA is the only other international competitor to reach the last 16.
Michael Roscoe (Warner Beach) and Andrew Banks (Port Shepstone) are from the KZN South Coast while 17 year-old Damien Fahrenfort (Kommetjie) and former Durbanite and 1996 ASP Africa Series champion, Shane Thorne, are keeping Cape Town’s flag flying.
Red hot pro junior Granville West from Port Elizabeth, former WCT campaigner Greg Emslie from East London and Ryan Payne (St Francis Bay) are also amongst those who mastered today’s tricky 1.5 metre onshore affected waves at North Beach.
Roscoe, Bortoletto and Byron Howarth (Durban), the latter better known for his free surfing, have each won all three heats they have contested to date and accumulated R900 in ‘Skins’ while the balance of the 16 have collected between R600 and R800 so far.
The value of the ‘Skins’ is upped considerably for the quarters, semis and final with the event champion earning R15 000 in prize-money and a R5 800 ‘Skin’ and the runner-up collecting R7 500 and R3 000 respectively.
The women’s semi-finals comprise current world # 3 Heather Clark and Sarah Johnston from KZN South Coast who come up against Rosanne Hodge (EL) and Penny Robarts (Strand) in the first heat. Australian Dara Penfold and Falina Spires (USA) take on Durbanites Kate Matthews and Sacha Moller in the second heat with the top two in each advancing to the final.
The women’s champ will pocket R4 500 in prize-money and a R1 300 ‘Skin’ to go with the skins accumulated in earlier rounds.
The results of the event will be available on the Mr Price Pro Hotline at 082 288 4321 from 10.30 pm.
Mr Price Pro Night Surfing Skins Results
Men (Durban unless stated)
Round 3:
Heat 1:
1. Travis Logie, 2. Steven Hughes (Aus), 3.Carl Roux (Umhlanga)
Heat 2:
1. Granville West (PE), 2. Marc Jackson, 3. Simon Nicholson
Heat 3:
1. Michael Roscoe (Warner Beach), 2. Damien Fahrenfort (CT), 3. Matthew Kruger
Heat 4:
1. Austin Ware (USA), 2. Shane Thorne (CT), 3. Daniel Redman
Heat 5:
1. Greg Emslie (EL), 2. Lee Bissett, 3. Shaun Gossmann
Heat 6:
1. Antonio Bortoletto, 2. Josh Redman, 3. Dagan Gold (CT)
Heat 7:
1. Ryan Payne (Cape St Francis), 2. Lyle Bottcher, 3. Llewellyn Whittaker (GB)
Heat 8:
1. Byron Howarth 2. Andrew Banks (Port Shepstone), 3. Phillip Rodrigues
Women
Quarterfinals
Heat 1:
1. Heather Clark (Port Shepstone), 2. Sarah Johnston (Warner Beach), 3. Sarah Beardmore (AUS)
Heat 2:
1. Rosanne Hodge (East London), 2. Penny Robarts (Strand), 3. Mez Lumsdaine (Aus)
Heat 3:
1. Dara Penfold (Aus), 2. Jessica Matthews (Durban) 3. Kate Matthews (Durban)
Heat 4:
1. Falina Spires (USA), 2. Sacha Moller (Durban) 3. Robin Basnett (Bluff)
Previous reports:
# 1 : Mr Price Pro Mens & Womens event returns to Durban
# 2 : Night Surfing adds new dimension to Mr Price Pro event
# 3 : Rising swell puts early end to Mr Price Pro Night Surfing
# 4 : Surf stars shine at Mr Price Pro Night Surfing Skins ....
More African Surfing News available here
Check the latest Africa Surf Reports and Forcasts
Mr Price Group
Contact: Clynton Lund
Tel: 031 336 1333
Email: clund@mrpricegroup.com
Life´s a Beach Communications
Mobile: +27 (0) 82 423 1964
Email: lifesabeach@mweb.co.za
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