Jordy Smith, Nikita Robb win at Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro

ASP 1 Star WQS Mens Event
ASP Pro Jr Grade 1 Event
SSA PST 2A rated Womens Event
New Pier, Durban South Africa
6 - 9 April 2007

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 9 April, 2007 : - - New Pier, Durban -- Internationally acclaimed surfing superstar Jordy Smith (Umbilo) reaffirmed his surfing supremacy, by taking out both the Pro Men’s and Pro Junior finals at the one star World Qualifying Series Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro, presented by the Weekend Witness, at Durban’s New Pier on Monday.

In arguably the best Pro Men’s final seen on the South African Pro Surf Tour, Smith who is also the reigning ASP World Junior Champion, notched up a near perfect 19.17 total heat score (out of a possible 20.00 points), to defeat a trio of New Pier’s finest surfers including WQS campaigner Antonio Bortoletto (Snake Park), former WCT surfer David Weare (Dbn) and defending champion Warwick Wright (Dbn).

Showcasing progressive surfing at its best, Bortoletto and Smith went air for air and rail for rail, Smith surpassing Bortoletto’s early lead, with a critically executed, on the rail ‘round house cut- back’, completed with a perfectly landed ‘aerial reverse’, to earn the second perfect ten point ride of the event (the first of which was awarded to Bortoletto in the semi finals).

Consolidating with a 9.17 (out of ten), Smith ran away from Bortoletto, who’s lightening fast snaps and controlled ‘front side airs’ earned him an impressive tally of 8.0 and 9.07 scores, which were not enough to reach Smith’s summit.

“I know how well ‘Ant’ surfs, he got a ten in the semi and I realised how easily he can get those big scores. Ant and Dave were going all out in the final and I knew I’d have to come away with something big if I was going to win. Luckily I did and I’m just happy to come away with two wins,” said Smith who surfed a total of five heats including two, back to back on Monday.

“The conditions were hard but if you got the right one it was actually a really good wave. I think New Pier gives you that kind of opportunity, if you do get those waves you’re going to score highly”. For Bortoletto, a second place finish at his sponsor’s event was bitter sweet. The WQS campaigner has won two consecutive events at New Pier in the last three months and was counting on making it a third at the Lizzard.

“I can’t really feel bad loosing to Jordy, he’s surfing really well but I beat him in the quarters and in the semis, he just did it when it counted. I think I could have got some better waves in the final which would have helped but I’m happy with my performance,” said Bortoletto. Bortoletto finished in second place earning R7000 for his efforts followed by Weare who settled for third and R5600 while Wright finished fourth earning R4900.

The Pro Junior Men’s final proved to be a similarly progressive showdown, Smith snatching the lead from top seed Brandon Jackson (Durban North) with an 8.0 point ride at the halfway mark. Despite some critical surfing from both Jackson and early event standout Josh Redman (Umdloti), it was Smith’s aerial dominance that secured him two excellent scoring rides and his second consecutive victory in this division.

Second place went to Jackson, who won the first semi final ahead of du Toit, earning R6300, while second semi final winner Redman had to settle for third overall but was awarded the Zigzag ‘Blowing- Up’ award for his explosive surfing throughout the event. National junior team member Chad du Toit took home a fourth place finish.

In the Women’s division it was ASP WQS rookie and National Junior team member Nikita Robb (East London) who took one off her older competitors, scoring a near perfect 9.0 ride (out of ten) for a series of powerful backhand snaps, to earn her first Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro title and R2000.

The Lizzy team rider, who is currently rated tenth on the WQS, defeated former ASP Women’s World Tour campaigner Heather Clark (Port Shenstone), Tasha Mentasti (Durban North) and 13 year old first time finalist Kirsty Delport (Durban) who finished second, third and fourth respectively.

The Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro is the first of three WQS events on the ASP Africa calendar which will count towards crowning the ASP Africa champion at the end of the year. The event is co sponsored by Nestle Pure Life Water, Bokomo, Bavaria, Durban Africa and Clayton Surfboards.

RESULTS

Pro Men Finals
Jordy Smith (Dbn) 19.17;
Antonio Bortoletto (Dbn) 17.07;
David Weare (Dbn) 13.60;
Warwick Wright (Dbn) 8.33

Women Finals
Nikita Robb (EL) 16.00;
Heather Clark (PS) 10.37;
Tasha Mentasti (Dbn) 10.34;
Kirsty Delport (Dbn) 6.60

Pro Junior Men Finals
Jordy Smith (Dbn) 17.33;
Brandon Jackson (Dbn) 15.33;
Josh Redman (Dbn) 12.26;
Chad du Toit (Dbn) 8.07

Complete results available here (slow link to xls)

WQS ratings after Lizzard Nandos South Africa

Pires,Tiago PRT 1 6775

Padaratz,Neco BRA 2 5769

Aranburu,Aritz ESP 3 5700

Courtney,Drew AUS 4 5106

Boal,Tim FRA 5 4900

Lopez,Shea USA 6 4825

Sodre,Yuri BRA 7 4781

Flintoff,Kirk AUS 8 4750

Bourgeois,Ben USA 9 4700

Romao,Simao BRA 10 4694

Silva,Jean da BRA 11 4675

Smith,Jordy ZAF 12 4638

Powers,Roy HAW 13 4625

Kling,Gabe USA 14 4620

Reynolds,Dane USA 15 4462

Perrow,Kieren AUS 16 4350

Paulino,Pablo BRA 17 4338

Bastos,Leandro BRA 18 4301

Beven,Patrick FRA 19 3925

Coutinho,Odirlei BRA 20 3919

Curran,Nathaniel USA 21 3857

Todd,Mike USA 22 3838

Nolan,Asher USA 23 3820

Silva,Andre BRA 24 3813

Picon,Mikael FRA 25 3625

Ross,Daniel AUS 26 3600

Bourez,Michel PYF 27 3563

Simpson,Brett USA 28 3551

Thompson,Jay AUS 29 3525

Ziems,Corey AUS 30 3432

Rebiere,Eric FRA 31 3369

Wright,Warwick ZAF 32 3359

Dornelles,Rodrigo BRA 33 3251

Khodr,Jihad BRA 34 3238

Trekinho,Marcelo BRA 35 3175

Gouveia,Fabio BRA 36 3163

Hobgood,Damien USA 37 3150

Alves,Heitor BRA 38 3131

Fahrenfort,Damien ZAF 39 3114

Cardoso,William BRA 40 3088

Lipke,Marlon DEU 41 3069

Gudauskas,Patrick USA 42 3057

Hobgood,C.J. USA 43 3056

Centeio,Joel HAW 44 3014

Melling,Adam AUS 45 2981

Barron,T.J HAW 46 2913

Mathews,Mark AUS 46 2913

Collazo,Hodei ESP 48 2907

Wilkinson,Matt AUS 49 2882

Bacalso,Kekoa HAW 50 2813

Neves,Leonardo BRA 50 2813

Complete ratings available here (slow link to xls)

Previous reports:
# 1 : Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro sets up for Durban's New Pier
# 2 : Cory Ziems confirms entry for Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro
# 3 : Lizzard presenting biggest Pro Jr men’s event in Africa
# 4 : Top seeded pros gearing up for Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro
# 5 : Twelve amphibious facts about the Lizzard Nandos Pro

# 6 : Grey steals day one thunder at Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro
# 7 : Pro juniors kicking off day 2 of Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro
# 8 : Du Toit & Clark top scorers at Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro
# 9 : Weare West & Wok advance at Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro

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