Cory Arrambide : photo Hileman/ASP North America

Oakley Pro Jr ASP NA Champs

ASP Grade 3 Pro Junior Men's Event
Steamer Lane Santa Cruz California
9 - 14 October 2007

ASP North America Oakley Pro Jr National Champs come to Santa Cruz

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 October, 2007 : - - Santa Cruz, Ca  – North America’s top professional junior surfers are set to compete at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) North America Oakley Pro Junior National Championships at the 2007 O’Neill Cold Water Classic at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, Calif. Oct. 12-14.

The showdown of 48 of the best American and international junior surfers (20 years and under) is the final opportunity to earn critical points toward year-end ratings, which ultimately decides the four Pro Juniors who will advance to the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in January, as well as the inaugural Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series presented by Jeep Junior Champion.

“The points for the Oakley Pro Junior National Championships are going to have a huge impact on the final standings,” says Oakley Surf Team Manager Ronny Nelson. “The current top four are far from safe, as was the case last season. There’s a lot of room for movement on both the ASP rankings and the final Macy’s California Trifecta standings. With a World Championship berth and bonus cash on the line, this final event is going to be a good one.”

The ASP Grade-3 Oakley Pro Junior National Championships is the biggest event of the season, and will offer the most points, so it is very possible that the ratings may shift substantially when the dust settles.  After the Oakley Pro Junior at the Oakley Newport Beach Pro, the top four ASP rated juniors are:
 
1.   Cory Arrambide (Ventura, CA)    2028 (dropping a low score of 215)
2.   Adam Wickwire (Satellite Beach, FL)  1953 (dropping a low score of 200)
3.   Eric Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach, FL) 1738 (dropping a low score of 225)
4.   Chris Waring (Seal Beach, CA)   1660 (dropping a low score of 200)

All four of the above surfers are seeded into the Round of 32 at the Oakley Pro Junior in Santa Cruz, and therefore receive an equal 25 place (320 points) just for showing up. However, several additional competitors are in a good position to move up based on a solid performance in Santa Cruz and shouldn’t be counted out of contention:
 
5.   Travis Beckmann (Vero Beach, FL)  1568 (dropping a low score of 183)
6.   Blake Jones (Melbourne Beach, FL)  1508 (dropping a low score of 183)
7.   Cody Thompson (Jacksonville Beach, FL) 1453 (dropping a low score of 200)
8.   Evan Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach, FL) 1446 (dropping a low score of 160)
9.   Nick Rozsa (Oxnard, CA)    1443 (dropping a low score of 80)
10. Tommy Bursian (Isabella, PRI)   1430 (dropping a low score of 160)
11. Jesse Heilman (Daytona Beach, FL)  1405 (dropping a low score of 160) 
12. Kilian Garland (Orcutt, CA)   1293 (dropping a low score of 124)
13. Sebastian Zietz (Hanalei, HI)   DNA
14. Brent Reilly (Carlsbad, CA)   1183 (dropping a low score of 160)
15. Ian Ekberg (Huntington Beach, CA)  1178 (dropping a low score of 200)
16. Dane Ward (San Clemente, CA)   1174 (dropping a low score of 0)  
17. Jason Harris (Huntington Beach, CA)  1110 (dropping a low score of 100)
18. Shey Yates (San Diego, CA)   1068 (dropping a low score of 80)
19. Marshall Alberga (Melbourne Beach, FL) 1045 (dropping a low score of 100)
20. Ben Graeff (Long Island, NJ)   1019 (dropping a low score of 139)
21. Matt Mohagen (Los Angeles, CA)  985 (dropping a low score of 100)
22. Kellen Ellison (Ventura, CA)   970 (dropping a low score of 0)
23. Trevor Saunders (San Clemente, CA)  965 (dropping a low score of 0)
24. Kevin Kapsky (San Diego, CA)   950 (dropping a low score of 100)
25. Eddie Guilbeau (Melbourne, CA)   948 (dropping a low score of 100)
 
The ASP also grants a World Junior Championship entry to the highest-rated North American junior surfer on the World Qualifying Series (WQS) tour, which will also be decided at Santa Cruz. The ASP WQS 4-Star O’Neill Cold Water Classic presented by Jeep will be the final event tallied for this fifth qualifier. Tanner Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA) is the current frontrunner for automatic entry into the Championships even if he doesn’t finish within the top four Pro Junior rankings. Other potentials include: Chris Waring (Seal Beach, CA), Eric Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach, FL) and Nick Rozsa (Oxnard, CA).
 
The ASP North America Oakley Pro Junior Championships is also the last stop of the Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series, which will award an additional $5,000 to the top three Pro Juniors within the series.  After stops in Lower Trestles during the Jeep Body Glove Surfbout in April and Newport Beach during the Oakley Newport Beach Pro in September, the current Macy’s California Trifecta Pro Junior standings are:

Brent Dorrington (Gold Coast, AUS) 805 pts, Nick Rozsa (Oxnard, CA) 765 pts, Adam Wickwire (Satellite Beach, FL) 725 pts, Cory Arrambide (Ventura, CA) 700 pts, Eric Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach, FL) 680 pts, and Sebastian Zietz (Hanalei, HI) 670 pts. Both Dorrington and Zietz are Oakley wildcards into the event.

The payout for the Grade-3 ASP North America Oakley Pro Junior Championships will be $15,000 plus an extra $5,000 Trifecta bonus cash ($3,500 first, $1,000 second and $500 third) up for grabs.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF COMPETITION FOR OAKLEY PRO JUNIOR

Friday, Oct 12     
1:00-4:20 p.m. Round 1 (round of 48) Heats 1-8 25 MIN HTS
TBA Round 2 (round of 32) Heats TBA 25 MIN HTS
NOTE: Oakley Pro JR round of 32 may run depending on surf conditions and schedule

Saturday, Oct 13     
11:20 a.m.-2:40 p.m. Round 2 (round of 32) Heats 1-8 25 MIN HTS
NOTE: Oakley Pro JR QRT's may run depending on surf conditions and schedule

Sunday, Oct 14     
8:00-9:40 a.m. Qrt-Finals Heats 1-4 25 MIN HTS
11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m. Semi-Finals Heats 1-2 30 MIN HTS
1:20-1:55 p.m. Finals Heats 1 35 MIN HT
2:30pm  AWARDS PRESENTATION

About Oakley, Inc.
Oakley, Inc. designs, manufactures and distributes high-performance sunglasses, prescription lenses and frames, goggles and technology-enabled eyewear that utilize the company's High Definition Optics® (HDO®), a collective platform of patented technologies that offer unbeatable optical performance. The company also produces technical and active apparel, footwear and accessories.

About the Jeep Brand
The Jeep brand has expanded to seven models in the 2007 model year, the most available to retail consumers at one time in the brand’s 66-year history. With the introduction of the all-new 2008 Jeep Liberty mid-size sport-utility vehicle (SUV), Jeep offers customers the freshest, most capable and widest range of sport-utility vehicles under one brand in the industry.

At the start of 2004, the brand’s trio of tough, capable, rugged SUVs included the venerable Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Liberty (Cherokee outside North America) and the icon of the brand, the Jeep Wrangler. In 2005, the Jeep Commander was introduced. In 2006, the redesigned Jeep Wrangler was unveiled. Also debuting in calendar year 2006 were three more all-new Jeep vehicles: Jeep Patriot, Jeep Compass and the four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

About Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)
The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) is the governing body of professional surfing.  Crowning surfing’s undisputed world champions since 1976 (formerly as IPS), the ASP sanctions the following tours: the Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour, the ASP Women’s World Tour, the World Qualifying Series (WQS) and the World Longboarding, Junior and Masters Championships.

The ASP is dedicated to showcasing the world's best surfing talent in a variety of progressive formats and has revolutionized the way the world watches surfing via their webcasts. The organization is divided into seven different regions: Africa, Japan, Australasia, Europe, Hawaii, North America, and South America. 

These regions manage all their respective domestic affairs under the guidance of ASP International, which is located on the Gold Coast of Australia.  ASP International and ASP North America are committed to the progression of surfing and are dedicated to continuing excellent relationships with their surfers, event operators, sponsors and media.  .

About Source Interlink Media’s Action Sports Group (ASG)
Reaching more than two million enthusiasts, Source Interlink Media's Action Sports Group (ASG) is the dominant force in the action sports and adventure sports arenas. In addition to publishing leading lifestyle publications such as Surfer, Surfing, Snowboarder, Skateboarder, Bike, Powder and Canoe & Kayak, Source Interlink Media’s ASG delivers a cutting-edge network of online properties, events and television programming.

Previous reports:
# 1 : O'Neill Cold Water Classic offers up more than $110,000
# 2 : O'Neill Cold Water Classic hot with WQS ratings crunch
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.oakley.com
www.catrifecta.com
www.aspnorthamerica.org
www.actionsportsgroup.net

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