Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro
Presented by Weekend Witness

Men's 1 Star WQS Event #14
Grade 1 ASP Junior Men's Event
SSA Women’s 2A Pro division
North Beach Durban South Africa
15 - 18 May 2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

East Londoners Emslie, Robb claim 2008 Lizzard Nando’s Surf Pro titles

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 19 May, 2008 : - - Greg Emslie took control in tricky conditions to win a coveted WQS title in the 1 Star ASP WQS Men’s division at the Lizzard Nando’s Surf Pro, presented by the Weekend Witness. Lizzard sponsored team rider Nikita Robb was also able to overcome the challenging conditions at Durban’s North Beach to claim the Surfing South Africa (SSA) Pro Surf Tour (PST) 2A rated Women’s division.

The men’s final, contested by Greg Emslie and Dan Redman, was an understandably tight affair with the lead changing hands on multiple occasions. Redman, who won this competition in 2005, opened the scoring and put the pressure on Emslie. He responded well, however, and unleashed a combination of scoring waves which would eventually prove to be too much for Redman to handle.

Emslie was the first to admit that “conditions weren’t too good”, but he “had a really good board” which no doubt made it easier to deal with the conditions. The victory means so much more to Emslie because “all the guys here are such high caliber surfers”.

In the women’s final, Lizzard team riders Nikita Robb and Heather Clark (Port Shepstone) started strongly, posting some early bankable scores. Eventual winner Robb said “conditions were very difficult”. Having “scraped through all of [her] heats, Robb was “very surprised with the victory, which was a long time coming”.

With 2 minutes left in the heat, all of the competitors were one score away from first place, and again the messy ocean conditions played into the hands of the surfer who posted decent scores early on. Ultimately, it was Robb who prevailed over Heather Clark, Tasha Mentasti (Durban) and Tammy Lee Smith (Salt Rock) to record her second consecutive Lizzard Nando’s Surf Pro victory.

On day 4 of the contest, the men’s division kicked off with the round of 16. Casey Grant (Scottburgh), who won the Grade 1 ASP International Pro Junior division, was an early casualty. Dave Weare (Durban), who is currently flying the SA flag from his 3rd place on the WQS rankings, also made an early exit thanks to some solid surfing from Warner Beach’s Frankie Oberholzer.

Lizzard rider Gavin Roberts (Scottburgh) blasted his way through his round of 16 heat, progressing with Warwick Wright (Durban) to the quarter finals. Super experienced Greg Emslie posted the highest wave and heat score of the day with a near perfect 9.75 and a total of 16.75 out of a possible 20. Emslie and Winkelspruit’s Klee Strachan were the last surfers to make it out of the round of 16.

The man on man quarter final round started with a victory for Frankie Oberholzer over Rudy Palmboom (Bluff). The next heat was a repeat of the Quiksilver Goodwave final from a few weeks back, with Dan Redman (who won the Lizzard in 2005) up against Durban’s Shane Thorne (winner of the Quiksilver Goodwave).

A rapid start from Redman left Thorne needing a combination of scores to win the heat, which he was unable to do. The third quarter final saw Scottburgh hopeful Gavin Roberts up against rising star Klee Strachan. Roberts, a full time WQS campaigner, took an early lead and was able to hold off Strachan to take the win. The last quarter final had former WCT surfer Greg Emslie up against 2006 Lizzard contest winner Warwick Wright. In a heat where both surfers were trading high scores, it was Emslie who ultimately emerged with the victory.

The first semi-final took to the water in less than ideal conditions, with an onshore winding chopping up the surf. Dan Redman was fortunate to latch onto a rare longer ride and posted a formidable opening score. Frankie Oberholzer, with time running out, required an 8.51 to take the heat and a spot in the final. With the conditions not doing him any favours, Oberholzer was unable to post a decent score or dislodge Redman from 1st place.

The second semi final, between Gavin Roberts and Greg Emslie, was off to a frenetic start with Emslie posting a 9.0 and a 6.5 off his first two waves. With all his WCT experience, Emslie was not going to surrender his lead without a fight. Roberts, after dominating every heat he surfed in up to the semi, was undone by the lack of surfable waves in the latter part of the heat, setting up a final between Redman and Emslie.

The fourth day of competition had started with the women’s quarter finals, with familiar names like Heather Clark, Nikita Robb, Tash Mentasti (Durban) all qualifying for the semi finals. Lizzard team riders Robb and Clark dominated in the first semi final and qualified for the final. In the second semi final, which was surfed in increasingly difficult conditions, Mentasti and Tammy Lee Smith (Salt Rock) managed to adapt and earned places in the women’s final.

Mike Frew, Lizzard’s Marketing Manager, was “stoked to see the WQS guys like Gavin, Rudy, Warwick and Dan doing well”. Frew was also happy to “see a new swell arrive this morning, making conditions really contestable”.

ASP Africa’s Colin Fitch, Contest Director, was pleased “to see some of SA’s best surfers supporting local events”. “Although the conditions were very challenging, the standard of surfing was still at the level that you would expect from a WQS event” said Fitch.

The event, now in its sixth year, was held at Durban’s North Beach between 15-18 May, and offered a total of R121 500 ($15 000) prize money. The junior prize giving was held on the 16 May, with the men’s and ladies finals and prize giving being held on Sunday 18 May.

For those who were unable to make it down to the contest, check out the Lizzard website, www.lizzardsurf.net, which has a Lizzard Nando’s Surf Pro section. This page offers pictures and updates from each of the 4 days, as well as a comprehensive selection of heat draws, heat results and press releases. The ASP Africa website, www.aspafrica.com, also carries the daily and current press releases from the event.

The supporting sponsors for the event are Bavaria, Nestle Pure Life Water, and Bokomo. The event is organised by Nerve Events.

WQS ratings after the Lizzard Nando's Surf Pro

Gudauskas,Patrick	USA	1
Ware,Austin	USA	2
Weare,David	ZAF	3
Bettero,Hizunome	BRA	4
Simpson,Brett	USA	5
Melling,Adam	AUS	6
Barron,T.J	HAW	7
Sedley,Leigh	AUS	8
Gossmann,Shaun	AUS	9
Garcia,Sunny	HAW	10
Bombaci,Rhys	AUS	11
Wilkinson,Matt	AUS	12
Nicol,Yadin	AUS	13
Monteiro,Raoni	BRA	14
Curran,Nathaniel	USA	15
Bourez,Michel	PYF	15
Davidson,Chris	AUS	17
Courtney,Drew	AUS	18
Gonzalez,Jonathan	CNY	19
Kerr,Josh	AUS	20
Hedge,Nathan	AUS	21
Robertson,Adam (Vic)	AUS	22
Muscroft,Nic	AUS	23
Yeomans,Nathan	USA	24
Cansdell,Shaun	AUS	25
Boal,Tim	FRA	26
Lipke,Marlon	DEU	27
Atkinson,Dion	AUS	28
O'Rafferty,Darren	AUS	29
Wright,Warwick	ZAF	30
Zubizarreta,Gony	ESP	31
Henrique,Pedro	BRA	32
Savalli,Hugo	REU	33
Emslie,Greg	ZAF	34
Silva,Jean da	BRA	34
Gudauskas,Dane	USA	36
Thompson,Jay	AUS	37
Fahrenfort,Damien	ZAF	38
Bacalso,Kekoa	HAW	39
Gudauskas,Tanner	USA	40
Flintoff,Kirk	AUS	41
Sodre,Yuri	BRA	41
Cabrera,Jose Maria	CNY	43
Spencer,Sterling	USA	44
Losness,Mike	USA	45
Souza,Adriano de	BRA	46
Toth,Brian	PRI	47
Cardoso,Willian	BRA	48
Paulino,Pablo	BRA	48
Hall,Glenn	IRE	50
Palmboom,Rudy (jnr)	ZAF	51
Galvao,Renato	BRA	52
Riou,Alain	PYF	53
Ziems,Corey	AUS	54
Gillette,Gavin	HAW	55
Estienne,Jean Sebastien	BLM	55
Pilurzu,Federico	CRI	57
Wilson,Blake	AUS	57
Ward,Shaun	USA	59
Ward,Chris	USA	60
Campbell,Ryan	AUS	61
Laulhe,Romain	FRA	62
Duru,Joan	FRA	63
Howse,Jarrad	AUS	64
Barca,Dustin	HAW	65
Kling,Gabe	USA	66
Geiselman,Eric	USA	67
Sullivan,Kevin	HAW	68
Cuizon,Dustin	HAW	69
Coutinho,Odirlei	BRA	70
Pires,Tiago	PRT	70
Lopez,Cory	USA	72
Petruso,Anthony	USA	73
Collazo,Hodei	ESP	74
Carroll,Nathan	HAW	75
Campbell,Luke	AUS	76
Dornelles,Rodrigo	BRA	77
Fisher,Paul	AUS	77
Centeio,Joel	HAW	79
Perry,Jack	AUS	80
Romao,Simao	BRA	81
Khodr,Jihad	BRA	82
Whitaker,Tom	AUS	82
Hansen,Bobby	NZL	84
Ohno,Masatoshi	JPN	85
Page,Sam	AUS	85
Waring,Chris	USA	87
MacDonald,Phillip	AUS	88
Patacchia,Fredrick (jnr)	HAW	89
Ross,Daniel	AUS	90
McBride,Justin	USA	91
Souza,Wesley de	USA	92
Rebiere,Eric	FRA	93
Miranda,Bernardo	BRA	94
Alves,Heitor	BRA	95
Quinn,Jay	NZL	95
Bastos,Leandro	BRA	97
Silva,Andre	BRA	98
Sullivan,Jarrad	AUS	99
Thornton,Blake	AUS	99
Bourgeois,Ben	USA	101

Check the Full Ratings

Previous reports:
# 1 : North Beach Durban set to host Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro
# 2 : Lizzard Nando’s Surf Pro Durban announces its wildcards
# 3 : South Africa's top WQS surfers to hit Lizzard Nando's Pro

# 4 : Lizzard surfer Gavin Roberts set for Lizzard Nando's Pro  
# 5 : Lizzard Nando's Pro Day 1 sees Matt Bromley score a 10  
# 6 : Casey Grant wins Pro Jr on Day 2 of Lizzard Nando's Pro
# 7 : Lizzard Nandos Surf Pro sees top seeds into finals day

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