Jordy Smith : photo ASP/ CI/ Cestari via Getty Images

Team News

Jordy Smith into last 16 at penultimate ASP World Tour event in Portugal

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 26 October, 2009 : - - Jordy Smith advanced to Round 3 at the Rip Curl Pro Search event in Portugal, Stop No. 9 of 10 on the ASP World Tour, while the battle for the 2009 World Title will only be decided at the last event at Pipeline in Hawaii in December as current ASP No. 2 Joel Parkinson (AUS) also progressed.
 
Smith, 21, reached the last 16 for the sixth time in nine Dream Tour events this year with a comprehensive victory over Roy Powers on Saturday. Smith left the Hawaiian combo’ed and needing to improve on both his counting rides after posting scores of 7.67 and 8.17 out of 10 in the punchy 1 – 1.5 metre waves at the backup site of Belgas.
 
Rated No.12 going into Portugal, the Durbanite has now cemented his place in the top 16 on the yearend ratings in his second year on the ASP World Tour. This guarantees him preferential seeding for the opening events of 2010 when the new ASP one-world rating will be implemented and the number of surfers competing in World Tour contests will be cut from 48 to 36 at the halfway mark of the year.
 
Huge surf and tides washed away the contest infrastructure at the primary contest venue of Supertubos in Perniche before the first heat had been contested last week. Eventually starting at the third backup site of Molhe Leste on Thursday, Durbanite David Weare recorded his fifth 33rd place finish when he was ousted by Heitor Alves (BRA) in a low scoring Round 1 encounter.
 
Current No.31 Greg Emslie (East London) kept alive his hopes of ending the year amongst the top 27 on the rankings and re-qualifying for a 10th year at the highest level of competition surfing by defeating Basque campaigner Aritz Aranburu on Friday. But Emslie was eliminated by ASP No. 10 Damien Hobgood (USA) in Round 2 to post his seventh 17th place result this year and remains right on the re-qualification bubble going into the last event in Hawaii.
 
Meanwhile, in a major upset, nine-time and reigning ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) was eliminated from the 2009 title race when he was defeated by wildcard Owen Wright (AUS) for the second time this year.
 
Current No. 2 Joel Parkinson (AUS), who won three of the first five events of the year to establish a runaway ratings lead, snapped a run of three successive 17ths by overcoming wildcard Bruno Santos (BRA) to reach the last 16 which ensured that the title will only be decided at Pipeline even if ratings leader and compatriot Mick Fanning wins this event.
 
Fanning delivered a workmanlike performance to dispatch replacement surfer Pat Gudauskas (USA) and keep his challenge for a second title on track. World title contenders CJ Hobgood (USA), who takes on Jordy Smith in the first heat of Round 3, Adriano de Souza (BRA), Bede Durbidge and Taj Burrow (both Australia) will be hoping that Fanning finishes third or lower in this event to give them a mathematical chance of snatching the world title at Pipeline.
 
The waiting period for the Rip Curl Pro Search men’s event runs until Wednesday 28 October and live webcasts can be found at live.ripcurl.com
 
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)
Heat 2: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 6: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 8: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Tim Reyes (USA)
 
The waiting period for women’s Rip Curl Pro Search, Stop No. 4 of 7 on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour, starts today (Monday) and runs until Friday 30 October.
 

Sean Holmes & Dave Richards advance to Round 2 in Canada
 
Capetonians Sean Holmes and Dave Richards won their opening encounters to advance to Round 2 as organisers ran the first 19 heats in the 6-Star rated O’Neill Cold Water Classic on Vancouver Island, Canada, on Sunday.
 
Touted as the world’s coldest surfing contest, Stop No. 4 of 5 on the O’Neill Cold Water series started in one metre waves at Cox Bay and features seven SA contenders on the 2009 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), including Durbanites Travis Logie, currently ranked No. 10, and Brandon Jackson (No. 20).
 
Umhlanga teenager Beyrick de Vries will start his campaign in Heat 21 of Round 1 when the event resumes while Rudy Palmboom (Bluff) and former Capetonian Damien Fahrenfort (California) are seeded into Round 2 along with Logie and Jackson.
 
The event runs until Saturday 31 October and live scoring and further details can be found at coldwaterclassic.net
 

Trio of Saffas to battle for ASP World Longboard title in Maldives
 
Three of South Africa’s top longboard surfers are in the Maldives for the second leg of the Oxbow World Longboard Tour which will decide the 2009 ASP World Longboard Champion at the famous left-breaking wave of Pasta Point.
 
Two-time ISA world champion Matthew Moir, fellow Capetonian and reigning SA Open champion Justin Bing and former SA champ Dylan McLeod (Port Elizabeth) are amongst the 32 competitors in the world title decider which has a waiting period that runs from today (Monday) to Saturday 31 October.
 
The event can be followed live in the internet at oxbowpro.com/us/maldives
 
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