O’Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro

Surfers Set For the Start of Season

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 November, 2009 : - - The Export Gold Series kicks off this week with the O’Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro, attracting the best surfers in New Zealand to the coastline of Gisborne for the two-day event (7-8 November). The ever consistent East Coast looks very likely to provide some good swell with light winds and performance levels are expected to be intense.

The O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro is the first of five on the Export Gold Series for this summer for the Open Men and Women's Divisions. The event also marks the final event of the year for the Under 20 Juniors Division with a lot resting on the final event of the year in terms rating points for the junior surfers.

Defending event champion and current New Zealand number one surfer on the ASP World Qualifying Series, Bobby Hansen (Gis) is back to defend his title. All indications coming out of Gisborne are that the local is on fire in the surf and eager to get back into the competitive mode for summer.

In 2008 Hansen was engaged in a huge tussle with Maz Quinn (Gis) for the event victory. Quinn went on to win the series at the final event of the year in the absence of Hansen who missed two of the six events.

Quinn and Hansen will be the surfers to beat this weekend but the expanding pool of talent chipping away at the feats of the two surfers continues to grow.

Nick White (Mnt) is one such surfer coming through the ranks. Having competed on the ASP WQS all year, White flies into the country on Friday evening fresh from competing at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic at Santa Cruz, California, USA. White who had a WQS ranking of 151 going in to the most recent event will be keen to transfer some of his international form to home waters. White finished 32nd on the New Zealand ratings in 2008/09. Due to his international commitments causing him to miss two events the ranking was well below what he is capable of.

White will be joined by the likes of New Zealand representatives Gauranga Ormond (WGM) and Luke Hughes (Rag) as surfers to watch out for once the top seeds hit the water. In form surfers Bachelor Tipene (Tara) and Jamie Andrews (Tara) will both be out to replicate the form that saw them walk away with the Open Men's and Seniors titles at the Auahi Kore Aotearoa Maori Titles two weeks ago. They will be joined by Keone Campbell, Jarred Hancox, Tyler Anderson, Nick Moses and Jeremy Grainger making the trip east from Taranaki to contest the O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro.

The local surfers will also be expected to perform and Gisborne has the biggest talent pool around with the likes of Blair Stewart, Dane Simpson, Buck Woods, Johnny Hicks, Bodhi Whitaker and Adam Cranston all leading the way as the regions top seeded surfers.

Defending champion and number one seed in the Women's Division, Jessica Santorik (Rag), will be keen to get her season off to the best possible start. Santorik won the women's title at the recent Maori Titles so is in good form. In 2008 Santorik came up against a vastly inexperienced trio of finalists at the O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro before taking the title. The win set Santorik up for the season but she ultimately placed runner up to Mischa Davis (Auck). With Davis absent from the event this weekend, Santorik will look to again make the best possible start to the Export Gold Series and push for an Export Gold Series title at the end of summer.

Tairua surfer Sean Peggs leads the Under 20 ratings going into the final event. A first or second placing will see him secure the ratings for 2009. Alex Dive (Mnt) is the closest surfer to Peggs and will need to win the event and have Peggs place fourth or lower to clinch the title. Local surfer Buck Woods and Tim O'Conner (Mnt) also have realistic chances of surpassing Peggs provided they win the event and have Peggs fall by semifinals and quarterfinals time respectively.

Swell conditions are expected to be good for Saturday. Sunday will see a decrease in swell but conditions will remain contestable.

Previous winners of the O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro follow:

Open Men
2004 - Ben Kennings (WGM)
2005 - Daniel Kereopa (Rag)
2006 - Zennor Wernham (Rag)
07/08 - Maz Quinn (Gis)
08/09 - Bobby Hansen (Gis)

Open Women
2004 - Hester Sutherland - Stacey (Gis)
2005 - Lisa Hurunui (Gis)
2006 - Paige Hareb (Tara)
07/08 - Daisy Thomas (Chch)
08/09 - Jessica Santorik (Rag)

Junior (U/18) Men
2004 - Richard Christie (Gis)
2005 - Morehu Roberts (Gis)
2006 - Richard Christie (Gis)
07/08 - Matt Hewitt (Mnt)
08/09 - Sean Peggs (Tairua)

The current top ten junior surfers with the final event remaining are as follows:
1, Sean Peggs (Tairua)
2, Alex Dive (Mnt)
3, Buck Woods (Gis)
4, Tim O'Connor (Mnt)
5, Billy Stairmand
6, Keone Campbell (Tara)
7, Matt Hewitt (Mnt
8, Paco Divers (Sandy Bay)
9, Tane Wallis (Piha)
10, Bodhi Whitaker (Gis)

Complete results, surfer and industry ratings, images and audio interviews on www.surfingnz.co.nz.

Please see below for the remaining four events that make up the 2009/10 Export Gold Series
Event 1: 30 January - 1 February, Billabong Pro, Whangamata
Event 2: 26 - 28 February, Rip Curl Pro, Raglan
Event 3: 1 - 5 April, Hyundai National Surfing Championships, Gisborne
Event 4: 23 - 24 April, Export Gold 16 / Interclub Championships / North Island South Island Challenge, Piha Beach

Information
For further information on the O'Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro and the Export Gold Series please contact Surfing New Zealand's Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email ben.kennings@surfingnz.co.nz.

Event Hotline
The Surfing New Zealand event hotline is 0211134506. This will be updated daily at approximately 7am daily with venue, divisions contested and conditions for the day.

Sponsors
Generous support from O'Neill Wetsuits, Sequence Surf Shop, New Zealand Community Trust and Gisborne Boardriders has made this event possible.

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by Export Gold, , Hyundai, SPARC, Smokefree

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