HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Sunday, June 28, 2009) – The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) North America Pro Junior Series kicked off the ASP Grade-4 Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure presented by Jack’s Surfboards in peaky two-foot (1 metre) conditions at South Huntington Beach Pier and saw a barrage of up-and-coming talent battle for the heightened points available at the premier event.

The Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure’s ASP Grade-4 status makes the event the most critical stop on all surfers’ campaigns in qualification for the ASP World Junior Championships held in Narrabeen, Australia. All surfers on the ASP North American Pro Junior Series are looking to compile their best four results throughout the year in an attempt to finish within the top three on the ratings to earn their spot in the coveted event.

Kolohe Andino (San Clemente, CA), 15, convincingly won two heats today over the tough international competition at the Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure despite the drastic change in conditions from his low-tide morning heat to his high tide afternoon heat which had a gusty north wind. Andino’s combined heat totals of 16.50 and 15.40, both out of 20, saw him advance into the Round of 32 where he will face the event’s top seeds.

“I’m stoked to have two good heats out here,” Andino said. “Each heat gets harder and even though the conditions are worse overall, when you get a good one, I think they’re actually better. They’re bigger and fuller on the higher tide and this morning it was pretty dead on the low tide.”

The young San Clemente standout is hoping he can carry his early round momentum through to the Round of 32, where he has struggled to advance in the past.

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KwaZulu- Natal, Ballito  –  The event that was scheduled to start on Saturday June 28th was postponed due to extreme surf and gale force winds that prevented organisers from completing the event within the assigned window.

The four remaining heats of the Women’s Round of 48 were completed in choppy two-meter surf at Surfers Beach in Ballito this morning, with the final eight surfers advancing into the Round of 24.

All 24 surfers remaining in the event earned an equal 19th place finish, splitting the prize money and ratings points equally with each surfer taking home R7900 (US$1000) and 1200 ratings points.

Top South African in the event Rosy Hodge (East London) dominated her Round of 48 heat over Johanne Defray (FRA), Laura Enever (AUS) and Claudia Goncalves (BRA). The current ASP World No. 13 used here elite competition experience to out-position her rivals, snatching the two best waves of the heat to advance in first place.

“The way things have gone has been a bit of a shake-up for everyone, I don’t think anyone’s really been in this situation before where you make it through your heats and then it’s actually the end of your run,” said Hodge. “I’ve always looked forward to the Mr Price Pro and both Mr Price and the ASP are making the best effort that they can but it’s just a situation where the surf is so variable and you can’t control what the ocean is doing.”

Women’s Round of 48 Results:
Heat 9: Paige Hareb (NZL)11.67; Heather Clark (ZAF) 7.66; Crystal Vail(AUS) 3.57; Suelen Naraisa (BRA) 3.06
Heat 10: Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 10.67; Amandine Sanchez (FRA) 5.17;Laura Macauly (AUS) 4.83; Stacey Guy (ZAF) 3.00
Heat 11: Roseanne Hodge (ZAF) 11.66; Johanne Defay (FRA) 5.70; Laura Enever (AUS) 5.36; Claudia Goncalves (BRA) 3.97
Heat 12: Coco Ho (HAW) 10.26; Francisca Santos (PRT) 7.00; Anne-Cecile Le Tallec (FRA) 2.83; Erica Hosseini (USA) 0.00

Jordy Smith showing why it’s no accident he’s number six in the world.

Brazil is on the opposite side of the world from Australia, staying awake for the webcast is pretty hard. It also doesn’t help that the Hang Loose Pro has been moved from summer to winter, that means the few female spectators that are on the beach are wearing much more clothing than we’re use to.

Another factor that’s working against us Aussies staying awake for the webcast, is that the commentary is boring. There’s only one commentator in the booth and he never had anything interesting to say and with long pauses in between sets, there’d often be a couple minutes of silence. This event shows that there’s a strong argument for the ASP to have their own commentating team who travels to all the events.

Kelly Slater won his Round Two heat against Brazilian wildcard Bernardo Miranda, but he only just snuck through. And yes, he was riding his self shaped “wizard” board. But in the four to five foot bumpy conditions Slater looked out of sync, he fell a couple of times when he normally wouldn’t and only managed to win 13.04 to 11.16.

HANG LOOSE SANTA CATARINA PRO ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.00 def. Guilherme Ferreira (BRA) 9.17
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.84 def. Gustavo Fernandes (BRA) 8.70
Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.04 def. Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 11.16
Heat 4: Neco Padaratz (BRA) 13.40 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.90
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.07 def. Ben Bourgeois (USA) 9.17
Heat 6: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 13.50 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.67
Heat 7: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.00 def. Marlon Lipke (DEU) 10.40
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 11.60 def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 11.16
Heat 9: Michael Picon (FRA) 14.07 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 8.34
Heat 10: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 13.60 def. Jay Thompson (AUS) 11.17
Heat 11: Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.57 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 8.93
Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) 12.43 def. Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 12.20
Heat 13: Ben Dunn (AUS) 9.67 def. Jihad Khodr (BRA) 9.60
Heat 14: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.00 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.93
Heat 15: Dustin Barca (HAW) 13.07 def. Drew Courtney (AUS)12.77
Heat 16: Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.57 def. David Weare (ZAF) 5.84

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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