Three Heats Completed at ASP 5-Star Mr Price Pro Ballito
Jordy Smith, current ASP World No. 2, leads the charge on Day 1 of the Mr Price Pro.
BALLITO, KwaDukuzu/South Africa (Monday, July 5, 2010) - Spectators at Ballito’s Surfers Beach were given a small taste of this year’s competition with just three heats of surfing completed at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 5-Star Mr Price Pro Ballito today.
After a spectacular start to the morning that saw light offshores and a contestable 1-meter swell on offer, Mother Nature wreaked havoc with conditions, a fresh North Easterly quickly turning the line-up into a disorderly state.
“It’s tougher than it looks out there,” ASP World No. 2 Jordy Smith (Dbn) said after capturing the first of the day’s heat victories. “It’s hard to find the right waves that will give you the right scores.”
Renowned for his consistently excellent scores, Smith secured the lead off a pair of four point rides (out of ten). With fifteen second on the clock Smith stroked into a reeling right hander performing a series of off-the- tops and finishing off with a massive air reverse manoeuvre to earn the highest wave score of the day, an 8.83 (out of ten).
Smith defeated Ryan Balfour (Ballito), the pair eliminating junior surfers Jacob Mellish (CT) and Jean Du Plessis (El) from the event.
“My strategy is to take it one wave and one heat at a time at this event,” Smith said. “I’m just going out there to enjoy myself and have fun surfing with my friends.”
Daniel Redman (Umloti) revealed his nose for hollow waves, ping into a clean barrel off the hooter to post a great 7.00 (out of ten). Following up with his second consecutive 7.00 ride, the 9th year ASP Star Tour campaigner solidified his victory over Quintin Jones (CT), the pair edging out Craig Johnson (Dbn) and Gregory Weatherall (NZ).
ASP Africa Pro Junior ratings’ leader Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay) captured the final victory of the day, narrowly advancing in first place over Gary Van Wierengen (Warner Beach) to with the heat with just a 9.20 (out of a possible 20.00).
“I saw the wind come up as soon as I paddled out and I knew it was going to be tough,” Joubert said. “You couldn’t really tell which ones would be good so I just tried to catch a couple of waves and surf my hardest and I guess it worked.”
Van Wierengen made a last minute come back, the 2009 ASP Africa Champion jumping from 4th into second in the last 15 seconds of the heat, scoring a 5.27 (out of ten), just enough to advance over Slade Prestwich and Marcus Theron.
“I had to get busy at the end there,” Van Wierengen said. “It was very shifty with the current moving around so it was hard to find the right one. I found myself in a slump but managed to come back so I am stoked.”
With surfer’s scores failing to reflect their true capabilities due to the poor conditions, event officials were forced to call the competition off for the day.
The next call will be at 07H00 on Tuesday July 6, 2010.
Tune in to East Coast Radio for live updates on the Mr Price Pro each day and if you can’t make it down to the beach you can watch all the action live on the web at www.mrpricepro.com
Mr Price Pro Ballito Round of 96 Results:
Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.50 Ryan Balfour (ZAF), Jacob Mellish (ZAF), Jean Du Plessis (ZAF)
Heat 2: Daniel Redman (ZAF) 14.00 Quintin Jones (ZAF) 7.77 Craig Johnson (ZAF) 7.16 Gregory Weatherall (NZ) 5.60
Heat 3: Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 9.20 Gary Van Wierengen (ZAF) 8.10 Slade Prestwich (ZAF) 6.33 Marcus Theron (ZAF) 5.05
Remaining Mr Price Pro Ballito Round of 96 Match-Ups:
Heat 4: Chris Davidson (AUS) Michael February (ZAF) Vaughan Weyer (ZAF) Josh Redman (ZAF)
Heat 5: David Richards (ZAF) Devan MacNicol (ZAF) Davey Brand (ZAF) Michael Varikas (ZAF)
Heat 6: Warwick Wright (ZAF) Chris Leppan (ZAF) Ntuli Bright (ZAF) Justin Maisch (ZAF)
Heat 7: Dale Staples (ZAF) Ryan Payne (ZAF) Dominic Abersalie (ZAF) Khayelinle Ncobo (ZAF)
Heat 8: David Weare (ZAF) Josh Sali (ZAF) Clinton Gravett (ZAF) Rowland Sharples (ZAF)
Heat 9: Heath Joske (AUS) Shaun Payne (ZAF) Byron Lindsay (ZAF) Chad Schwab (ZAF)
Heat 10: Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) Kyle Beach (ZAF) Dane Patterson (ZAF) Wes Odriscoll (ZAF)
Heat 11: Antonio Bortoletto (ZAF) Gavin Roberts (ZAF) Simon Fish (ZAF) Dylan Lightfoot (ZAF)
Heat 12: Royden Bryson (ZAF) mark Shepperson (ZAF) Shawn Dennis (ZAF) Jono Venter (ZAF)
Heat 13: Travis Logie (ZAF) Jaco Kapp (ZAF) Dane Staples (ZAF) Shane Warren (ZAF)
Heat 14: Greg Emslie (ZAF) Kyle Lane (ZAF) Christoffer Frolich (ZAF) Devin Lane (ZAF)
Heat 15: Beyrick De Vries (ZAF) Shane Thorne (ZAF) Simon Nicholson (ZAF) Matt Pallet (ZAF)
Heat 16: Anthony Walsh (Aus) Allan Johns (ZAF) Noel Rahme (ZAF) Steven Sawyer (ZAF)
Heat 17: Nathan Hedge (Aus) Frankie Oberholzer (ZAF) Steven Michelsen (ZAF) Bertie Stuurman (ZAF)
Heat 18: Casey Grant (ZAF) Haydn MacNicol (ZAF) Andrew Banks (ZAF) John McCarthy (ZAF)
Heat 19: Chad Du Toit (ZAF) Devyn Mattheys (ZAF) Grant Arendse (ZAF) Gary Muller (ZAF)
Heat 20: Brandon Jackson (ZAF) Matthew Bromley (ZAF) Matthew Kruger (ZAF) Josh Smit (ZAF)
Heat 21: Ricky Basnett (ZAF) Paul Canning (ZAF) David Van Zyl (ZAF) Stevan Rice (ZAF)
Heat 22: Brendon Gibbens (ZAF) Manfred Adrio (ZAF) Lee Bissett (ZAF) Remi Petersen (ZAF)
Heat 23: Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) Klee Strachan (ZAF) Mbongeni Hlengwa (ZAF) Siyabonga Khoza (ZAF)
Heat 24: Taylor Knox (USA) Hilton Lawrence (ZAF) Ryan Bissett (ZAF)
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