Hyundai National Champs
Presented by Quiksilver

Surfing New Zealand
Piha Beach, Auckland
10 - 17 January 2009

Jay Quinn Follows Koops Into Semifinals As Defending Champion

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 14 January, 2009 : - - Gisborne’s Jay Quinn separated himself from the Open Men’s quarerfinalists today as the form surfer at the Hyundai National Championships presented by Quiksilver.  Quinn surfed to an 18.25 point heat score in his quarterfinal to better the comeback kid Daniel Kereopa (Rag) as both surfers moved through to the semifinals of the event in an action packed day of surfing.

The Hyundai National Surfing Championships presented by Quiksilver went into its fifth day of competition with a new 1.0m swell and sea breeze winds that improved conditions from the previous day.

Quinn looked unstoppable first scoring a 9.20 point ride for two huge turns on one wave.  After initially thinking that he broke his board on the wave Quinn returned to shore before realising that his board was fine and then proceeded to paddle back out to the break.  That didn’t stop his momentum as he scored another 9.0 point ride for the most critical surfing seen at the event to date.

“It was good to get over the first heat I surfed and get my comp legs on” said Quinn.  “The waves were kinda good ‘down the line’ waves and I managed to bang off two big turns on each wave, I will take the good scores for sure”

Prior to his heat he witnessed the biggest upset of the event with older brother Maz losing out to fellow Gisborne surfers Chris Malone and Blair Stewart.  “I got a bit more pumped after Maz got knocked.  I wanted to make sure I got through ‘cos he was one of the favourites and was gunning for five titles”.

Being defending champion isn’t playing on the mind of Quinn too much “I am actually just taking the comp like I am going for the title, not defending it” commented Quinn who has a “stacked” semifinal that includes the two surfers that were his brothers demise in Stewart and Malone as well as Daniel Kereopa. “I gotta beat them sooner or later so best all at once and loose some of the favourites early”.

The first heat of the quarterfinals was where the upset occurred.  After Malone locked in an 8.0 point ride he played the patient game until he equalled the score late in the heat and jumped to the lead.  Balir Stewart built on his scores and looks to be in very good form.  Stewart slowly made Maz Quinn’s task bigger and bigger until with minutes to go and a slack ocean, Quinn had to accept defeat.

Mount Maunganui’s Matt Hewitt secured a personal best result by making it through his quarterfinal match up and he did it in style with a score of 16.25 out of a possible 20.  Hewitt, who is also through to the semifinals of the Under 18 Boys Division completed the biggest aerial manoeuvre of the event to post 8.25 on his first wave. 

“Yeah I have been surfing good for the last month, not too many ‘airs’ but I have been focussing more on comp surfing” said Hewitt.  “But I couldn’t help myself in the heat, I hadn’t done a turn on that wave so thought I would give it a go and I made it”.

Raglan went into the quarterfinals with five surfers – the most of any region/city in New Zealand.  Three of the five progressed through to the semifinals - Leon Santorik, Luke Hughes and Kereopa.

Santorik surfed in the lowest scoring heat of the round but managed to sneak a win despite scoring a low 10.5 in his heat.  “I will take it, not a good heat for me but it is good to get through those ones” commented Santorik who identified the “shifty conditions” being what made it hard to identify and catch the good waves.

Santorik has twice been a finalist at the Nationals, once loosing in the dying seconds of a final so the business end of the event is nothing new to him. “Yeah looking forward to the semis, I can’t afford to have another bad heat but I am pretty comfortable with Piha, it is similar to Ruapuke Beach back at home”.

Late in the day the Men’s Longboard Division was surfed down to the final eight surfers.  Auckland’s Thomas Kibblewhite top scored posting 15.25 to win his heat over Kirk Beyer (Wgtn), Leroy Rust (Dun) and Rupert Newbold (Whangarei).

Kibblewhite is the second seed for the event and the highest ranked surfer left standing after Dylan Barnfield suffered an early elimination.  Kibblewhite will want to move through to the finals and if he does so will take the ratings lead on the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour going into the third event held at Sandy Bay on the 7-8 February.

Kibblewhite will face Kirk Beyer (Wgtn), Daniel Proctor (Gis) and Michael Willman (Chch) in the semifinals.

The first semifinal will include two stalwarts of the longboard discipline in Lynden Kennings (WGM) and Michael Fitzharris (Gis).  The two surfers won their heats today and form would suggest they could reach the final should they catch the right waves.  The two surfers will face Jamie Andrews (Tara) and Sam Guthrie (Mnt) in their semifinal.

Day six (Thursday) will see a number of semifinals take place.  Conditions are expected to be similar as today which will mean optimum conditions during the middle of the day.  Three more days of competition are required to complete the event.

The Hyundai National Championships presented by Quiksilver are being held at Piha Beach, Auckland from the 10th – 17th of January.  The event marks the second of six events on the 2008/09 Corona Crown Series and also the second event on the 2009 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour.

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by Corona, Hyundai, SPARC, Smokefree

Previous reports:
# 1 : Piha will host Hyundai National Champs by Quiksilver
# 2 : Excellent surf on tap for NZ's Hyundai National Champs
# 3 : Opening day perfection for the Hyundai National Champs

# 4 : Kereopa & Quinn do battle at Hyundai National Champs  
# 5 : Longboarders charge, Juniors tussle at Hyundai Champs 
# 6 : Angie Koops strong at Hyundai National Championships 

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