The Lion Red Super 16

Surfing New Zealand
Piha Beach, Auckland
25 February 2006 

DOVEY TAKE THE EVENT AND KEREOPA TAKES THE TOUR

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 25 February, 2006 : - - Mark Dovey (Mnt) today (Saturday) fronted up to the top 16 surfers in New Zealand and came out the victor winning the Lion Red Super 16 event at Piha in challenging 1.5m surf conditions.  It has been five years since Dovey won a national event, the last being the National Championships at Taranaki in early 2001.  While many would call the result an upset, his ranking of 2nd going into the event reflected the type of form that he has struck in recent months. 

“Wins are pretty hard to come by these days with the likes of Maz and Daniel, they are just so consistent, so yeah I am stoked” commented Dovey when questioned about the win.  “I have made two finals this year at the Lion Red Pro in Gisborne (third) and the Rip Curl Pro at Raglan (fourth) but it is awesome to actually win a final”. 

Dovey moved through the round robin with a first, second and third under his belt and then won his semi final.  His highest scoring ride in the final – an 8.0 was a turning point of the final.  Dovey completed two huge frontside turns before falling on his last manouvre.  Even with the fall the judges awarded him the highest score of the final reflecting the power and flow that he had in his turns.  Interestingly Dovey had little recollection of the wave apart from the ‘fall’ on the inside which is quite to the contrary of the huge beach crowd that were cheering in applause. 

Dovey was the sole goofy foot surfer (right foot forward) in the final and that point of difference he feels could have been a big help when talking about tactics “being on my front side helped because the waves are so fast out there.  We (the four finalists) all kinda did our own thing out there and I got one from under Daniel (Kereopa) and Leon’s (Santorik) nose then I sat wide and got a couple of good waves which paid off. 

The win was enough for Dovey to retain second place on the Lion Red Pro Surfing Tour for 2005/06 behind a triumphant Daniel Kereopa who was awarded the Lion Rd Pro Surfing Tour championship trophy at the prize giving.

Many considered the final of the event to be one of the tightest on the Lion Red Pro Surfing Tour this year and certainly one of the most entertaining.  After surfing in the middle of South Piha all day, the tide decreased enough for the surfers to surf the ‘Piha Bar’ in the southern corner of the beach.  Dovey made a late start to the final with the starting siren going off while he was still on the beach.  Maz Quinn jumped in to the lead early with a 6.40.  However Dovey and Leon Santorik (Rag) were soon into their stride scoring good waves to take first and second midway through the heat.  Dovey then rode the 8.0 point ride to take the lead before riding another 7.9 to push even further ahead. 

Quinn finished in second place unable to find the right waves in the final to seal a victory.  Earlier he scored the days highest wave (9.5) and heat score (18.5) in the semi final and it appears that he may have peaked too early in the semi finals.  His surfing over the day was a reminder to all present, just how well you have to surf to cut it on the international stage and as he flies out to Australia tomorrow to potentially compete against the best in the world next week, he will certainly have the utmost respect of all 16 surfers he competed against today. 

Kereopa placed fourth in the final after accumulating the highest tally in the round robin.  While the fourth will not be the most pleasing he will surely take the tour championship and savour it until the tour kicks back into action in the new competitive season. 

Jessica Santorik Lion Red Tour Champion : photo NZ Surfing Magazine

Jessica Santorik (Rag) went two places better than her older brother in the Open Women’s division by winning the event for the second year in a row.  In doing so, she also rode her way to back-to-back Lion Red Pro Surfing Tour championships stealing the win from Taranaki’s Paige Hareb.  Santorik won two of the three women’s rounds today with Hareb winning the other.  Wini Paul (Sandy Bay) achieved two seconds and a third to place third overall at the event but that was not enough to elevate her past Kara Stephenson (Rag) on the ratings.  Stephenson placed fourth today to finish third on the tour ratings. 

The Round Robin threw up its fair share of highlights which included: 

Maz Quinn – Back in NZ for less than 7 days and he comes out firing in the first heat of the day smashing the waves to bits for two eights.  The warning signs were there!

Dean Amess – requiring a win in the last heat of the round robin to progress.  Making it even harder was the fact that he had to beat Maz Quinn.  He pulled it off with some of his best surfing of the day. 

Daniel Kereopa – Ever the professional racking up 27 points (out of a possible 30) in the round robin with his only loss coming to none other than Maz Quinn in the first heat of the day. 

Mark Dovey & winners cheque : : photo NZ Surfing Magazine

Results of The Lion Red Super 16 

LION RED SUPER 16 ROUND 1

Heat One; Maz Quinn (Gis), 1, Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 2, Ben Kennings (WGM), 3, Luke Harwood (WGM), 4 
Heat Two: Blair Stewart (Gis), 1, Dean Amess (WGM), 2, Luke Cederman (Rag), 3, Justin Souter (Mnt), 4
Heat Three: Leon Santorik (Rag), 1, Luke Hughes (Rag), 2, Damon Gunness (Gis), 3, Zennor Wernham (Rag), 4
Heat Four: Jarred Hancox (Tara), 1, Mark Dovey (Mnt), 2, Brent Rasby (Gis), 3, Hayden Brain (Chch), 4  

LION RED SUPER 16 ROUND 1 

Heat one: Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, Zennor Wernham (Rag), 2, Brent Rasby (Gis), 3, Luke Hughes (Rag), 4
Heat two: Luke Cederman (Rag), 1, Ben Kennings (Whmata), 2, Dean Amess (Whmata), 3, Justin Souter (Mnt), 4
Heat three: Mark Dovey (Mnt), 1, Jarrod Hancox (Tara), 2, Luke Harwood (Cor), 3, Leon Santorik (Rag), 4
Heat four: Maz Quinn (Gis), 1 Hayden Brain (ChCh), 2, Damon Gunness (Gis), 3, Blair Stewart (Gis), 4, 

LION RED SUPER 16 ROUND 1 

Heat one: Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, Hayden Brain (ChCh), 2, Justin Souter (Mnt), 3, Blair Stewart (Gis), 4
Heat two: Damon Gunness (Gis), 1, Luke Harwood (Cor), 2, Luke Cederman (Rag), 3, Ben Kennings (Whmata), 4
Heat three: Leon Santorik (Rag), 1, Brent Rasby (Gis), 2, Mark Dovey (Mnt), 3, Zennor Wernham (Rag), 4
Heat four: Dean Amess (Whmata), 1, Maz Quinn (Gis), 2, Luke Hughes (Rag), 3, Jarrod Hancox (Tara), 4 

LION RED SUPER 16 SEMI FINALS 

Heat one: Maz Quinn (Gis), 1, Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 2, Blair Stewart (Gis), 3, Luke Cederman (Rag), 4
Heat two: Mark Dovey (Mnt), 1, Leon Santorik (Rag), 2, Damon Gunness (Gis), 3, Dean Amess (WGM), 4

LION RED SUPER 16 FINALS 

Mark Dovey (Mnt), 1, Maz Quinn (Gis), 2, Leon Santorik (Rag), 3, Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 4  

LION RED SUPER 16 WOMENS ROUND ROBIN

Heat one: Paige Hareb (Tara), 1, Wini Paul (Sandy Bay), 2, Jessica Santorik (Rag), 3, Kara Stephenson (Rag), 4
Heat two: Jessica Santorik (Rag), 1, Wini Paul (Sandy Bay), 2, Paige Hareb (Tara), 3, Kara Stephenson (Rag), 4
Heat three: Jessica Santorik (Rag), 1, Paige Hareb (Tara), 2, Wini Paul (Sandy Bay), 3, Kara Stephenson (Rag), 4 

LION RED SUPE 16 ROUND ROBIN TOTALS 

1 Maz Quinn (Gis), 27
2 Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 27
3 Leon Santorik (Rag), 23
4 Mark Dovey (Mnt), 22
5 Dean Amess (Whmata), 22
6 Blair Stewart (Gis), 20
7 Luke Cederman (Rag), 20
8 Damon Gunness (Gis), 20
9 Jarrod Hancox (Tara), 20
10 Brent Rasby (Gis), 17
11 Luke Harwood (Cor), 17
12 Luke Hughes (Rag), 15
13 Hayden Brain (ChCh), 13
14 Ben Kennings (Whmata), 13
15 Zennor Wernham (Rag), 13
16 Justin Souter (Mnt), 13 

1 Jessica Santorik (Rag), 25
2 Paige Hareb (Tara), 22
3 Kara Stephenson (Rag), 9
4 Wini Paul (Sandy Bay), 19

LION RED PRO SURFING TOUR OPEN MENS (UNOFFICIAL) 

1 Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 8460
2 Mark Dovey (Mnt), 7795
3 Damon Gunness (Gis), 7748
4 Luke Cederman (Rag), 6868
5 Justin Souter (Mnt), 6413
6 Maz Quinn (Gis), 6300
7 Brent Rasby (Gis), 5855
8 Luke Hughes (Rag), 5596
9 Jarrod Hancox (Tara), 5585
10 Leon Santorik (Rag), 5556
11 Luke Harwood (Cor), 5459
12 Hayden Brain (ChCh), 5370
13 Blair Stewart (Gis), 5310
14 Ben Kennings (Whmata), 5274
15 Dean Amess (Whmata), 5213
16 Zennor Wernham (Rag), 5150
 

LION RED PRO SURFING TOUR OPEN WOMENS (UNOFFICIAL)

1 Jessica Santorik, (Rag), 11370
2 Paige Hareb, (Tara), 10520
3 Kara Stephenson, (Rag, 7873
4 Wini Paul, Sandy Bay, 7633
5 Jessica Welch, (Gis), 6523
6 Kelly Clarkeson, (Rag, 6320
7 Clare Thomson, (Gis), 6008
8 Daisy Thomas, (ChCh), 5000
9 Laura Rishworth, (Whtane), 4950
10 Pipi Sopp, (Coro), 4800

www.surfingnz.co.uk

More Australasian Surfing News available here
Check the latest Australasian Surf Reports and Forecasts

Ben Kennings
benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz

SNZ Contests - Surfersvillage