Mr. Price Pro

ASP 6 Star WQS Men's Event #19
ASP 5 Star WQS Womens Event #7
3A Surfing South Africa Pro Junior
North Beach Durban South Africa
29 June - 26 July 2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Local surfers star on Mr Price Pro stage

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 3 July, 2008 : - - Durban -- Reeling left and right peaks favoured the local contingent on Day 4 of the Mr Price Pro as South Africa’s elite five surfers advanced out of the Round of 96 in first place.
 
Season ASP World Tour campaigner and current World No. 41 Travis Logie (Dbn) lead an inspired performance from the South African surfers at New Pier, the diminutive goofy-footer (right foot forward stance)  posting a near perfect 9.33 (out of ten) for his explosive backhand surfing on the first wave of the heat.
 
While his competitors found themselves chasing from the get-go, Logie followed up with a strong 7-point ride to sail home in first place. “I knew that the tide was dropping so I sat a bit wide and it paid off,” Logie said. “As the siren went I got that bomb and then I backed it up with another good one. My boards are amazing, I’m feeling strong, and I’m just looking forward to having fun in this event.”
 
World No. 35 Royden Bryson (EL), the second highest rated South African on the ASP World Tour, put an exclamation mark on his fellow countryman’s performances, scoring a pair of excellent 8.00’s (out of ten) for a impressive heat total of 17.00 (out of a possible 20.00) towards the end of the day.

Travis Logie : photo Cestari/Mr Price

 
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good result in Durban,” Royden said. “I’ve had a bit of a slow start on the World Tour but things are just heating up, there are still a good couple of contests to come. I started with two 33rds but with a 17th in Tahiti and in Fiji hopefully I can keep building on my campaign and keep making heats.”
 
Fellow East Londoner Greg Emslie (EL) exposed his affinity for reeling right-handers, blazing across the right breaking waves of New Pier for a comfortable heat win which included an excellent 8.93 and 6.83 scores. “I wasn’t counting on the waves being this good today,” Emslie said. “It seems like the bank has got a bit shallow and it’s breaking a bit harder now and for me that’s perfect with the long right-handers.”
 
Campaigning hard on the World Qualifying Series tour after falling off the top tier of competition in 2007, Emslie has climbed to 17th on the WQS and a big result here in Durban could put him one step closer to a 2009 ASP World Tour qualification.
 
“I haven’t had the ideal year I wanted,” Emslie continued. “It’s been a bit frustrating although I’ve been feeling really good in my surfing but that’s why I just want to go out there and get the waves and let my surfing do the talking.”
 
South Africa’s top rated ASP World Tour and ASP WQS surfers, World No. 19 Jordy Smith (Dbn) and WQS NO. 3 David Weare (Dbn) respectively, took comfortable heat wins with characteristic flair, both surfers holding back every so slightly in order to peak as competition intensifies.

Warwick Wright : photo Cestari/Mr Price

 
“I haven’t really had the best year but you got to look at it like boxing with 12 rounds, there are still plenty more to go,” Smith said. “Some friends have won events at New Pier, Dave (Weare) and Ricky (Basnett), I’ve got second in the Quiksilver so just to make the final here would be good.”
 
Other New Pier locals not to disappoint were Warwick Wright (Dbn) and Antonio Bortoletto (Dbn), as well as out of towner Devyn Mattheys (EL). All three surfers advanced in second place, Wright behind Australian winner Blake Wilson while Bortoletto finished runner up to Smith and Mattheys surfed home in second behind Simao Romao’s (Bra).
 
The day’s biggest disappointment came from former Mr Price Pro Champion Ricky Basnett (Bluff) who has not impressed on either of the ASP tours this year and finished in fourth place behind Blake Thornton (Aus), Daniel Ross (Aus) and Benn Dunn (Aus).
 
While the South African surfers collectively dominated on their home stage, it was  Australian surfers WQS No. 19 Adam Melling (Aus) and aerial standout Josh Kerr (Aus) who topped the scoreboard.
 
Melling held a captive audience on his sensational left-hand ride which earned him a 9.17 for a heat total of 18.04; while Kerr opened up with a gouging carve, trademark air reverse and closeout smash for the events highest scoring individual wave, a 9.7 which earned him 17.60 heat total.

New Pier : photo Cestari/Mr Price

 
Others to impress included talented up-and-coming youngster Adam Robertson (AUS) who defeated defending Mr Price Pro Champion Jihad Khodr. Former Mr Price Pro Champion Neco Padaratz (BRA) and lone Moroccan Surfer Abdel El Harim also won their respective heats with excellent 8 point rides. The Mr Price Pro continues tomorrow starting with the Women’s Round of 12 (heats 1 -4) followed by the Mens Round of 48 (heats 1- 12). 
 
RESULTS
 
MENS ROUND OF 96
Heat 5: Pedro Henrique (BRA) 12.46; Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 12.00; Roy Powers (HAW) 10.10; Robson Santos (BRA) 5.63
Heat 6: Blake Wilson (AUS) 13.86; Warwick Wright (ZAF) 13.83; TJ Barron (HAW) 12.44; Izuki Tanaka (JPN) 11.00
Heat 7: Travis Logie (ZAF) 17.16; Nathan Hedge (AUS) 14.30; Dion Atkinson (AUS) 12.10; Dustin Cuizon (HAW) 8.53
Heat 8: Adam Melling (AUS) 18.04; Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 15.14; Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.00; Hank Gaskell (HAW) 8.64
Heat 9: David Weare (ZAF) 14.33; Hodei Collazo (ESP) 12.17; Clinton Gravett (ZAF) 6.33; Rhys Bombaci (AUS) 5.76
Heat 10: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 15.76; Odirlei Coutinho (BRA) 13.67; Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 10.63; Ryan Payne (ZAF) 6.50
Heat 11: Simao Romao (BRA) 11.53; Devyn Mattheys (ZAF) 10.33; Makuakai Rothman (HAW) 7.13; Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.90; Antonio Bortoletto (ZAF) 13.23; Mark Matthews (AUS) 13.00; Shaun Gossman (AUS)
Heat 13: Neco Padaratz (BRA) 15.67; Nathaniel Curran (USA) 12.83;Luke Munro (AUS) 10.83; Jean Sebastien Estienne 
Heat 14: Jay Thompson (AUS) 11.50; Alain Riou (PYF) 10.80; Yuri Sodre (BRA) 7.40 ; Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 6.07
Heat 15: Pablo Paulino (BRA) 12.40; Andre Silva (BRA) 10.84; Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 9.67; Charlie Brown (BRA) 9.60
Heat 16: Abdel El Harim (MAR) 14.53; Brett Simpson (USA) 14.53; Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.50; Gabe Kling (USA) 13.00
Heat 17: Royden Bryson (ZAF) 17.00; Ben Bourgeois (USA) 13.90; Gilmar Silva (BRA) 13.23; Hugo Savalli (REU) 10.97
Heat 18: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 12.66; Kirk Flintoff (AUS) 9.24; Quintin Jones (ZAF) 6.90; Tiago Pires (PRT) 6.67
Heat 19: Adam Robertson (AUS) 15.83; Jihad Khodr (BRA) 13.93; Tim Boal (FRA) 12.50; Travis Mellem (USA) 9.33
Heat 20: Blake Thornton (AUS) 15.47; Daniel Ross (AUS) 14.30; Ben Dunn (AUS) 13.87; Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 10.07
Heat 21: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 14.43; Jarrad Howse (AUS) 13.16; Dustin Barca (HAW) 12.84; Txaber Trojaola (ESP) 7.53
Heat 22: Josh Kerr (AUS) 17.60; Drew Courtney (AUS) 15.87; Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.70; Marlon Lipke (DEU) 6.43
Heat 23: Nic Muscroft (AUS) 13.00; Chris Davidson (AUS) 12.93; Klee Strachan (ZAF) 7.87; Bernardo Lopes (BRA) 7.36
Heat 24: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 14.60; Mikael Picon (FRA) 14.53; Tom Whitaker (AUS) 11.50; Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 9.20

Previous reports:
# 1 : Durban's Mr Price Pro preps for action, celebrates year 40
# 2 : Mr. Price Pro welcoming Shaun Tomson back to Durban..
# 3 : Juniors to kick off South Africa's 6-Star WQS Mr Price Pro

# 4 : David Weare favoured South African for the Mr. Price Pro 
# 5 : ASP 6 star Mr. Price Pro WQS event goes live at New Pier 
# 6 : Women to compete on international stage at Mr Price Pro 

# 7 : Mr Price Pro Junior to kick off in punchy one-metre waves
# 8 : Joubert & Buitendag take top honours at Mr Price Pro Jnr
# 9 : Wildcards poised for battle at South Africa's Mr Price Pro

# 10 : Sally Fitzgibbons on fire at the Mr Price Pro South Africa
# 11 : Australia, Brazil lead international charge at Mr Price Pro
# 12 : Saffa girls go big at Mr Price Pro: Brazil strong in men's

www.mrpricepro.com
www.aspworldtour.com

Survey: Map Surfing’s future 

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

New! B2B News ASBE-Surf   |  Receive News-Alerts

Mr Price Sports Marketing
Pierre Tostee
patostee@mrpricegroup.com

Mr Price Pro Media (On- Site)
Kirstin Scholtz
Kirstin@coveredimages.com

Olivia Jones
Mr Price Pro Broadcast (On- Site)
oj@oliviajones.com

Mr Price Pro Media
Craig Lewis (On- Site)
craigolewis@gmail.com

Mr Price Pro Photos (On- Site)
Kelly Cestari
Kelly@coveredimages.com

WQS - Surfersvillage