Vodafone Open
presented by Billabong

ASP 4 Star WQS Mens Event
Newcastle, New South Wales
3 -9 April 2006

Webcast | Scores/Results/Photos etc

Neco Padaratz blitzes day two of the Vodafone Open

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 April, 2006 : - - Brazilian surfer Neco Padaratz signalled his intention to rejoin the elite World Championship Tour ranks when he blitzed day two of the Vodafone Open at Newcastle Beach today. The 29-year-old became the first professional surfer to be suspended for drug use in July last year after taking a banned steroid for chronic back pain.

He was subsequently stripped of all his WCT and second-tier World Qualifying Series (WQS) rating points, forcing him to fight his way back from the bottom. The former world No.13, who won the 2003 and 2004 WQS circuits, displayed a sharp competitive edge today to dominate his second- and third-round heats.

Padaratz said he was determined to make up for what was “one of the worst years” of his life. “I’m looking forward to doing everything right to bring back my life again,” he said. “I’ve been competing for the last 20 years so it is in my blood. “The past is past - 2005 was a year where a lot of things happened to a lot of people in the world.

For myself, it was one of the worst years ever in my life, but in 2006, I want to be a better person within myself and make everything happy. “It was an experience but now I want to get everything back together. “It’s coming back to normal.” But his preparation today was anything but normal. He was running late for his heat following a delay in his surfboards arriving from last weekend’s event at Margaret River, WA.

Unfazed, he surfed fluidly in the smooth one-metre waves to account for Brent Symes (Lake Cathie, NSW) and Joe McGregor (Seaford, South Australia). Hawaiian surfer Gavin Gillette moved through to round three with the Brazilian.Padaratz then produced the session’s equal highest individual wave (9.17 out of 10) and best heat score (17.17 out of 20) to knock over Cortney Brown (Waterman, WA), Geoff Brack (US) andCharlie Carroll (Hawaii).

Brendan Leckie : photo Robertson/Vodafone Open

“Newcastle has a lot of meaning for me,” Padaratz said. “This was my best result in the year that I qualified for the WCT. A lot of really good surfers come from here and it’s always a really hard event with strong support.”

Australia’s top ranked junior Laurie Towner (Angourie, NSW) proved his surfing versatility today, powering through his second round heat.

Nominated last week for a Billabong XXL Global big wave award for a five-metre monster he rode in Tasmania, the 19-year-old’s opening ride set the pace as the day’s highest score
until Padaratz matched it in one of the last heats of the day.

Towner easily progressed over Blake Wilson (Alexandra Headland, Qld), Tom Rudd (Avalon, NSW) and David Steele (Seaford). “This is my first WQS event,” Towner said, “so to see names like [Kelly] Slater and Occy [Mark Occhilupo] in the draw is pretty crazy because they are the world’s best surfers. I’m sure they all want to win it so it will be hard to go good but I’ll definitely be trying my hardest.”

Gold Coast teenager Brendan Leckie (Palm Beach) caused an upset in his round-three heat when he eliminated yesterday’s clear standout in Joel Fitzgerald (Narrabeen). Despite holding the heat’s high score of a 7.0, Fitzgerald couldn’t replicate the form that saw him dominate in Monday’s solid three-metre conditions.

Among others progressing today were Adam Melling (Lennox Head), Rique Smith (Newcastle via Gold Coast), Blake Wilson (Alexandra Headlands), Wade Goodall (Caloundra), Will Lewis (Gold Coast) and Michael Campbell (Port Macquarie).

The Vodafone Open is the main event of the Vodafone Surfest presented by Billabong is supported by the NSW Major Events Board, NSW Tourism, NBN Television, NEW FM and The Herald.

www.surfest.com
www.billabong.com

Previous reports:
# 1 : Vodafone sponsors Australias largest festival of surfing 
# 2 : Surfest announce man-on-man format at WQS contest 
# 3 : Surfest announce Snap off the Lip surf film competition
# 4 : Wildcards announced for Surfest Vodafone Open 2006 

# 5 : Surfest ball & expression session tributes Luke Egan 
# 6 : Kelly Slater to contest the Vodafone Open at Newcastle 
# 7 : Joel Fitzgerald the standout at Vodafone Open Day One
# 8 : Coming soon  

More Australasian Surfing News available here
Check the latest Australasian Surf Reports and Forecasts
Subscribe to Surfervillage News-Alerts

For more information:

Vodafone Australia / Georgina Murphy, 
georgina@pulsecom.com.au 

Cynthia Fernandez / Vodafone Australia,
cynthia.fernandez@vodafone.com

Billabong Australia
Simon Barratt, 
sbarratt@billabong.com.au

Surfest / Paul Scott 
surfestmedia@iinet.net.au 

WQS Contests - Surfersvillage