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

read more at asp

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)

info from asp

Billabong’s Raditya Rhondi Takes the Champion Title at the Rip Curl West Sumbawa Pro 2009!

After a long 10 days of waiting periods and 7 days of grueling competition, the last day of the Rip Curl West Sumbawa Pro 2009 saw a two Billabong team riders progress to the final. The reigning champion, Rahtu Suargita was up against Raditya Rhondi, one of Indonesia’s most exciting up and coming young surfers in a thrilling final heat.

But in the last minutes Raditya powered through three barrel sections of his last wave – thus scoring a nearly perfect 9.25 of a possible 10 and locking in his victory. “I was so lucky eh, making all three of those sections,” said the humble 20 year old. “I was so lucky to get the good waves in this final against Rahtu.  I think he was just tired from his semifinal, whereas I had a good rest so was really pumped up.  So good eh?”

Last year’s winner Rahtu Suargita also content with his runner up spot and was totally stoked about Raditya’s win. “How can I not be happy?” he beamed. “I was in the finals against my friend and team mate in really amazing waves at a great location, so it was perfect.  I had a great time and great waves, so what more could I ask for?”

Raditya walked away with Rp. 20.000.0000 in cash prize and 3.500 ISC points that puts him in a great position in Indonesian circuit rankings. Congrats Raditya!!

original surfersvillage