Drew Courtney : photo Michael Tyrpenou/ASP Australasia

Al Hunt's Situation Room

Al Hunt talks points after top seeds tumble at Merewether

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 24 March, 2009 : - - Coolangatta -- After a week of perfect weather and small, but clean fun waves at Merewether, former ASP Dream Tour surfer from South Africa, Travis Logie narrowly out-pointed current ASP World Tour surfer Drew Courtney to win the Mark Richards Pro, while a local youngster Phillipa Anderson beat fellow Aussie Dimity Stoyle in the Maitland Toyota Open.

Dimity advanced to the Final after a close Semifinal heat with former ASP Women’s World Champion Sofia Mulanovich, while Phillipa had to account for Rebecca Woods in the Quarters and Ashley Smith in the Semis.

In the men’s, the top seeds tumbled early with Adrian Buchan, Dayyan Neve and Ricky Basnett all losing in their first rounds. The only other major well-known seed was Jarrad Howse who was able to make it to 5th place before having a shocker of a heat against Clancy Dawson who was defeated by Drew in the semis. Travis’ run to the Semifinals was quite easy but in the Semi against Sam Lendrum it was not easy with Travis needing a 9+ score with only a minute left. He got a 9.25 much to Sam’s disgust.

In the ASP WQS 2-Star Mark Richards Pro, a world first was set where the event ran man-on-man in both men’s and women’s divisions from the second round through to the Final, something which was well appreciated and may now be expected at other events. The majority of the competitors had never surfed a man-on-man heat previously.

Meanwhile, up at Noosa, the longboarders were being treated to some perfect point waves in the Noosa Surf Festival, where USA’s Taylor Jensen and Aussie Chelsea Williams were eventual winners.

The ASP WQS 6-Star O’Neill Coldwater Classic starts today in Tasmania and being the first major event of the ASP WQS calendar for 2009, most of the top tour surfers are in the event including nine ASP Dream Tour surfers headed up by the Hobgood brothers. With the ASP WQS 6-Star PRIME Drug Aware Pro at Margaret River the following week, we will finally see some serious ASP WQS points being handed out setting the way for the rest of the year.

In the US, the ASP WQS 2-Star Vans Pier Classic at Huntington Beach starts Wednesday and is the second event on the ASP North America calendar for 2009. As usual the event is oversubscribed with the 160 format full.

That’s it for this week. Regards, Al Hunt ASP WQS Tour Manager

www.aspworldtour.com

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Al Hunt / ASP WQS Tour Manager

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