Kekoa Bacalso : photo ASP Cestari/Covered Images

Al Hunt's Situation Room

Al Hunt's Situation Room: The WQS cutoff hits 11,450

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 23 November, 2008 : - - Coolangatta -- The old saying of 'highly improbable but mathematically possible', which I tend to use quite a bit when asked about ratings, was thrown out the window at Haleiwa today as the ASP WQS cutoff hit 11,450 as the top seeds failed to advance at the Reef Hawaiian Pro in Haleiwa.

It’s what could go down in history as a "Day of Reckoning" with half of the 32 top seeds for the Reef Hawaiian Pro crashing in the Round of 64, opening up a multitude of possibilities for the ASP WQS guys to take advantage of and gain the available big points on offer. Of the 16 top seeds that did advance, only four made it to the Quarterfinals with Jihad Khodr the only one needing ASP WQS points. The others have not been doing the ’QS events at all this year.

Congratulations must go to Michel Bourez, the eventual winner of the event, jumping into second spot on the ASP WQS ratings, held in perfect Haleiwa barreling rights, but it should also go to the others that have gained so many valuable points making the Semifinals and jumping onto the Dream Tour for 2009 or putting themselves in position to qualify at Sunset. Dusty Payne, Kekoa Bacalso and Jihad Khodr all excelled at Haleiwa today.

The current WQS ratings Top 20 are:

1	Curran,Nathaniel	USA	13200
2	Bourez,Michel	PYF	12775
3	Davidson,Chris	AUS	12525
4	Kling,Gabe	USA	12476
5	Khodr,Jihad	BRA	12150
6	Kerr,Josh	AUS	12075
7	Bacalso,Kekoa	HAW	11913
8	Muscroft,Nic	AUS	11900
9	Boal,Tim	FRA	11888
10	Pires,Tiago	PRT	11750
11	Barca,Dustin	HAW	11726
12	Emslie,Greg	ZAF	11626
13	Courtney,Drew	AUS	11600
14	Lipke,Marlon	DEU	11450
14	Weare,David	ZAF	11450
16	Gudauskas,Patrick	USA	11438
17	MacDonald,Phillip	AUS	11263
18	Bettero,Hizunome	BRA	11125
19	Romao,Simao	BRA	11000
20	Simpson,Brett	USA	10838

Check the Full Ratings

Big movers upwards were Bourez (17th to 2nd), Khodr (20th to 5th), Bacalso (21st to 7th), Muscroft (14th to 8th) and Barca (16th to 11th).

Unfortunate ones to in the ratings are Boal 5th to 9th, Pires 6th to 10th, however both with enough points to qualify and Emslie from 8th to 12th (even with a great result at Haleiwa), Courtney 7th to 13th, Lipke and Weare 9th to 14th but still inside the Top 15, while Gudauskas, MacDonald, Bettero and Romao have all ped five spots to be just out of the Top 15.

Of these, Macca has the best low score of 750 and a 17th or 25th at Sunset could see him jump back into the Top 15. Gudauskas will need a 9th or better with the others a Semifinal or better, assuming those above do not get another better result.

The women’s ASP WQS is over for 2008 with the completion of the Reef Hawaiian Women’s Pro won by Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, however the final Top 6 qualifiers are not decided due to the number of ASP Women’s World Tour double-qualifiers.

The current ratings are shown below:

1	Fitzgibbons,Sally	AUS	9695
2	Woods,Rebecca	AUS	8023
3	Hodge,Rosanne	ZAF	7815
4	Lima,Silvana	BRA	7665
5	Miley-Dyer,Jessi	AUS	7520
6	Schmitz,Bruna	BRA	7300
7	Hareb,Paige	NZL	7285
8	Silva,Jacqueline	BRA	6845
9	Blanchard,Alana	HAW	6820
10	Gilmore,Stephanie	AUS	6740
11	Ho,Coco	HAW	6690
12	McGrath,Laurina	AUS	6645
13	Bevilacqua,Claire	AUS	6568
14	Hamilton,Bethany	HAW	6375
15	Enever,Laura	AUS	6090
16	Mason,Airini	NZL	6085

Check the Full Ratings

The Top 6 are guaranteed in for 2009 however on the ASP Women’s World Tour these girls are double qualified as of now.

- Rebecca Woods 7th
- Silvana Lima 4th
- Jessi Miley-Dyer 10th
- Jacqueline Silva 8th.

This means that as of now assuming these girls stay in the Top 10 of the Women’s Tour that Sally, Rosanne, Bruna, Paige, Alana and Coco are the Top 6. Should one out then Coco misses out, two out then Alana and Coco etc. Should Rosanne Hodge jump up from 13th on the Women’s Tour to the Top 10 then and the others all stay Top 10 then Laurina McGrath could become the 6th qualifier.

By the end of the Roxy Pro at Sunset, due to start in few days, we should have a better idea of who the Top 6 are, but for sure until the Billabong Pro in Maui ends we won’t know exactly. I’m sure Coco, Alana and Laurina will be watching the ASP web coverage intently.

That’s it for this week. Hopefully O’Neill and Roxy World Cup Sunset events will be completed by next Sunday and I can give you a full wrap up for the men.

Until then. Aloha, Al Hunt ASP WQS Tour Manager

www.aspworldtour.com

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Al Hunt / ASP WQS Tour Manager

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