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Hurley US Open of Surfing

U.S. Open Nike 6.0 Pro Junior

ASP 6-Star WQS Mens event
ASP 6-Star WQS Womens event
ASP Grade 2 Mens Pro Junior event
ASP Grade 4 Womens Pro Junior event
Huntington Beach California
18 – 26 July 2009

Huntington Beach — The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing ran the first 18 heats of the Round of 144 and saw Santa Cruz standout Nat Young, 18, crush the event’s highest scores en route to his Round of 96 berth. Reigning ASP World Junior Champion Kai Barger (Haiku, HI), 19, also displayed an impressive performance on the way to his heat win.

All surfers competing at this year’s Hurley U.S. Open are not only looking to take advantage of the crucial ratings points on offer towards qualification for a spot on the 2010 ASP World Tour, but are also out to claim the historic winner-take-all US$100,000 prize purse which Hurley has put up for this year’s main event winner.

Young utilized his deadly backhand attack on a Huntington righthander to blast the event’s top single wave score of 9.47 out of 10 with three massive beyond-vertical turns. The Santa Cruz standout attached the near-perfect score with an additional impressive forehand ride to earn the highest heat total of the day as well, a 16.23 out of 20.

“The waves are really fun and I kind of sat off by myself a little bit,” Young said. “There are waves coming in everywhere and it’s just who gets the waves. Luckily they came to me. On that nine, it was a nice peaky one that wasn’t too closed out. I did three turns and I think it was one of the bigger waves, so that’s probably why it was a good score.”

The lightning-fast goofy-footer is often a standout in both the ASP Pro Junior and ASP WQS events and he’s hoping that he can use the momentum built in Saturday’s ASP Pro Junior competition to help him succeed in both the Hurley U.S. Open and U.S. Open Nike 6.0 Pro Junior.

“I like surfing a lot of heats in contests,” Young said. “I don’t really get too tired and I feel like the more heats I surf, the more momentum I can build throughout the events. Hopefully I can do well in both this ‘QS and the Junior.”

Young will face a brutally tough heat in the Round of 96 when he faces off against former ASP World Champion Sunny Garcia (Oahu, HI), 39, current ASP World No. 5 Damien Hobgood (Satellite Beach, FL), 29, and former ASP World Junior runner-up Tonino Benson (Kona, HI), 17.

Hurley U.S. Open Round of 144 Results: (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 1: Paulo Moura (BRA) 9.60, Dylan Melamed (HAW) 9.17, Matt Pagan (USA) 9.00, Darrell Goodrum (USA) 5.73
Heat 2: Bobby Hansen (NZL) 13.40, Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 10.50, Micah Byrne (USA) 10.10, Ricky Whitlock (USA) 7.74
Heat 3: Dane Gudauskas (USA) 15.10, Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW) 13.17, Nathan Carroll (HAW) 11.97, Sean Marceron (USA)
Heat 4: Kieran Horn (USA) 15.90, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.83, Evan Valiere (HAW) 8.00, Devon Tresher (USA) 6.97
Heat 5: Nat Young (USA) 16.23, Marco Polo (BRA) 11.57, Shaun Burrell (USA) 10.17, Conner Coffin (USA) 9.46
Heat 6: Blake Howard (USA) 13.34, Tonino Benson (HAW) 12.13, Shaun Ward (USA) 11.90, Justin McBride (USA) 9.13
Heat 7: T.J. Barron (HAW) 12.70, Alain Riou (PYF) 12.40, Dillon Perillo (USA) 12.33, Chad Compton (USA) 5.60
Heat 8: Cory Lopez (USA) 11.54, Casey Brown (HAW) 10.00, Richie Collins (USA) 7.70, Paul Fisher (AUS) 1.67
Heat 9: Evan Geiselman (USA) 11.30, Charles Martin (GLP) 11.27, James Taipan Wood (AUS) 10.30, Nick White (NZL) 5.00
Heat 10: Corey Ziems (AUS) 13.67, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 10.53, Dylan Graves (PRI) 10.50, Tommy O’Brien (USA) 10.34
Heat 11: Eric Geiselman (USA) 14.66, Asher Nolan (USA) 11.84, Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 10.56, Kyle Knox (USA) 10.34
Heat 12: Kiron Jabour (HAW) 13.83, Luke Munro (AUS) 8.93, Kellen Ellison (USA) 8.37, Matt Mohagen (USA) 6.60
Heat 13: Travis Logie (ZAF) 14.33, Jason Harris (USA) 9.17, Ola Eleogram (HAW) 9.10, Jesse Heilman (USA) 9.00
Heat 14: Granger Larsen (HAW) 11.67, Noi Kaulukukui (USA) 11.46, Hugo Savalli (REU) 10.03, Travis Mellem (USA) 9.23
Heat 15: Anthony Petruso (USA) 12.90, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 9.74, Dean Randazzo (USA) 7.64, Alex Smith (HAW) 7.63
Heat 16: Kai Barger (HAW) 13.30, Nathan Hedge (AUS) 11.70, Makuakai Rothman (HAW) 9.17, Jason Shibata (HAW) 9.10
Heat 17: Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 13.26, Russell Winter (GBR) 9.93, Sterling Spencer (USA) 6.60, Ian Walsh (HAW) 4.05
Heat 18: Luke Campbell (AUS) 13.26, Shea Lopez (USA) 11.34, Mason Ho (HAW) 8.40, Shey Yates (USA) 6.43

more information at http://www.usopenofsurfing.com

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