BALLITO, KwaZulu-Natal – South Africa’s hopes of crowning a 2009 Mr Price Pro Ballito champion lie firmly in the hands of three talented KwaZulu- Natal South Coast surfers, all of whom advanced into the final 16 surfers during the ASP WQS 6-Star event this morning.

Gavin Roberts (Scottburgh), ASP WQS campaigner Rudy Palmboom (Bluff) and former ASP South African Pro Junior Champion Klee Strachan (Winkelspruit) are the last remaining South African surfers in this year’s ASP WQS 6-Star Mr Price Pro Ballito and will fly the flag high, as they take on some of the world’s finest over the weekend.

Netting their collective best ever results at both the Mr Price Pro Ballito and on the ASP WQS tour, the three surfers have proven sensational in everything from powerful three meter (8-10ft) barrels to punchy one meter (3ft) beach break conditions seen at this event, holding equal ninth place positions as they advance into the Round of 16.

Roberts continued his relaxed, yet polished form during his Round of 24 match-up, earning just enough to advance in second place behind today’s top scorer Alejo Muniz (BRA) 15.33 (out of 20.00).

Roberts’ powerful turns off one of the last waves of the heat were awarded with a 7.67 (out of 10), the South Coaster edging out Jean da Silva (Bra) thanks to Alejo Muniz, who pulled off one of the last good waves of the heat allowing the South African the opportunity to solidify his second place with a heat score of 13.20 (out of 20.00).

“There’s no pressure on me, every heat is like a free surf and it seems to be working so I’m going to keep on doing it and hopefully make the final,” said Roberts. This is the furthest I have made it at the Mr Price Pro and it’s the most points I’ve ever got in a WQS event before. It’s kind of funny after doing the tour for three years, I finally quit and now I’m getting more points than ever!”

Palmboom and Strachan took a similarly relaxed approach to their heats, the pair of youngsters advancing convincingly in first place.

Palmboom opened up strong with a 6.33 (out of 10.00) on his first wave and then backed it up on a running left to score a 7.17 (out of 10.00), taking a convincing heat win over one of Australia’s finest young surfers Matt Wilkinson (Aus) and yesterday’s standout William Cardosa (Bra).

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Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion, has claimed the 2009 Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro over an in-form Adriano de Souza (BRA), 22, in clean three-to-four foot (1 metre) waves at the main site of Praia Vila.

Event No. 4 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Hang Loose culminated in a dramatic finale with perennial ASP World Title threats all pushing one other towards the finish line.

Despite the Brazilian smashing his way out to an early lead, Slater found his form mid-heat with a 9.27 out of a possible 10 for a series of high-risk maneuvers, exhibiting a near-perfect variety of repertoire. Not satisfied with only one high score, Slater nailed the coffin shut with an 8.67 in a dying minutes to secure his 41st ASP World Tour victory.

“There were much better waves in the Final than there were for my Semifinal,” Slater said. “Adriano (de Souza) found a pretty good rhythm early on and posted some pretty good scores, but I felt comfortable out there and felt that the waves would come to me if I were patient. Both of my scoring rides allowed me to a bunch of maneuvers and I felt that the scores were maybe a little high, but I haven’t had many good scores this year, so it was bound to go my way at some point.”

Nearly pulling out of both the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro and the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay altogether, Slater made a last-minute decision to come to Brazil for the fans, but his journey here was riddled with delayed flights, visa complications and missing baggage. After a Round 1 loss on a borrowed board, the Slater juggernaut built momentum throughout the event, riding everything from self-shaped, asymmetrical quad-fins to epoxies to his bread and butter performance boards.

Next stop on the 2009 ASP World Tour will be the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay in South Africa from July 9 – 19, 2009.

HANG LOOSE SANTA CATARINA PRO FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 17.94
2 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.67

HANG LOOSE SANTA CATARINA PRO SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.97 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.86
SF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 12.16 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 6.93

HANG LOOSE SANTA CATARINA PRO QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.67 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.33
QF 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.73 def. Dustin Barca (HAW) 13.04
QF 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.60 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.17
QF 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.87 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 9.17

HANG LOOSE SANTA CATARINA PRO ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.90 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.50
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.60 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.00
Heat 3: Dustin Barca (HAW) 11.17 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 8.80
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.66 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 13.33
Heat 5: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.20 def. Tim Reyes (USA) 12.33
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.10 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 11.67
Heat 7: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.84 def. Mick Campbell (AUS) 13.16
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.20 def. Chris Ward (USA) 8.14

CURRENT ASP WORLD TOUR TOP 10:
1 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 3876 pts
2 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 3206 pts
3 – C.J. Hobgood (USA) 3072 pts
4 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 3050 pts
5 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 2940 pts
6 – Bobby Martinez (USA) 2625 pts
7 – Tom Whitaker (AUS) 2532 pts
8 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 2486 pts
9 – Kelly Slater (USA) 2430 pts
10 – Damien Hobgood (USA) 2342 pts

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IMBITUBA, Santa Catarina (Thursday, July 2, 2009) – Following three consecutive lay days, the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro is back on with Round 3 hitting the water at 8am in clean three-to-four foot (1.5 metre) waves at the main site of Praia Vila.

Stop No. 4 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro will feature the remaining 32 surfers in Round 3 as they vie for advancement through to the final day of competition.

“We’ve got some pretty rippable surf coming through today so we’ll be getting underway at 8am with Round 3,” Perry Hatchett, ASP Head Judge, said. “There’s a good lefthander coming off the rock at about three-to-four feet, and we’ll be looking to complete Round 3 by the end of the day.”

When Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro competition s, first up will be defending event champ Bede Durbidge (AUS), 26, up against ASP Dream Tour rookie Michel Bourez (PYF), 23.

The Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro will be web LIVE via www.aspworldtour.com

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

HANG LOOSE SANTA CATARINA PRO ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Tim Boal (FRA)
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Greg Emslie (ZAF)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 6: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Dustin Barca (HAW)
Heat 7: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Neco Padaratz (BRA)
Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)
Heat 10: Dayyan Neve (AUS) vs. Tim Reyes (USA)
Heat 11: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 12: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)
Heat 13: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
Heat 14: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 15: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 16: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Chris Ward (USA)

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