Kiron Jabour Wins ASP 4-Star Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido in Bombing Barrels
PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Oaxaca / Mexico (Thursday, July 28, 2011) – Kiron Jabour (North Shore, HI), 20, has won the ASP 4-Star Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido to take top-honors in an all-Hawaiian final over Ezekiel Lau (Honolulu, HI), 17, Billy Kemper (Maui, HI), 21, and Clay Marzo (Maui, HI), 22, in bombing six-to-10 foot barrels at the Mexican Pipeline.
The 2011 Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido saw an extreme range in conditions throughout the waiting period with everything from minimal waves that forced three lay days, to three foot rippable peaks to the eventual finish in iconic Playa Zicatela barrels.
Jabour took a commanding lead from the start of the Final when he locked in to back-to-back barrels. The Hawaiian charger took to his backside for an 8-point ride and immediately locked in to a righthand bomb to earn a 16.50 (out of 20) for the two rides to match the day’s highest heat total. The early one-two combo would eventually prove to be enough for the win.
“I just stuck to my spot from the beginning and everyone was looking for the lefts,” Jabour said. “Everything just went my way and I got lucky, I’m stoked. “There were great surfers in the Final too. This is a really special contest to win.”
Ezekiel Lau, who won the Copa Quiksilver El Salvador earlier this month, continued to solidify his status as a leader of next Hawaiian generation when he navigated through technical barrels throughout the entirety of Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido competition. The natural-footer battled hard to overtake Jabour’s lead in the Final, but was unable to find the scores needed and finished runner-up overall.
“I’m psyched, I just came over here to hopefully make a couple of rounds and build points,” Lau said. “I was in a good rhythm and felt good and just felt relaxed and went as far as I could. I got to the Final so I’m happy.”
Lau, who is just beginning his career in ASP events, is thrilled to take back-to-back Final results and the important points to establish his seed on the ASP World Ranking.
“I have good people around me and everyone is helping me out,” Lau said. “This is my first year in ASP events. I just don’t get to do a lot of them because of school. I’m psyched, my first two events I did well, so I’m happy.”
Billy Kemper also showed his knack for heavy barrels today with several standout performances, but was unable to recover after breaking his board and injuring his shoulder midway through the heat. Despite the hurdle in the Final, Kemper still finished with an impressive 3rd place finish.
“I started the heat kind of off,” Kemper said. “I broke all of my big boards early and then broke my 6’6” and popped my shoulder out in the Final. It’s pretty sore and it was hard for me to paddle back out. I was kind of off rhythm. Good job to Kiron though, he was in the right place at the right time and surfing good all day. I’m stoked that I was in the final with all of my friends from back home.”
Clay Marzo, 2009 event champion, produced immaculate barrel rides throughout the event’s entirety, but the progressive mastermind was unable to find a rhythm in his second career Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido final and finished on the podium in 4th.
“The event was good with big waves and all Hawaiians in the Final,” Marzo said. “I just couldn’t find a barrel that opened up in the end.”
For Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido highlights as well as all media downloads log on to www.quiksilver.com/puerto
For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org
Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido Final Result:
1 – Kiron Jabour (HAW) 16.50
2 – Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 15.50
3 – Billy Kemper (HAW) 6.67
4 – Clay Marzo (HAW) 5.50
Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido Semifinals Results:
SF 1: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 13.60, Clay Marzo (HAW) 13.10, Hank Gaskell (HAW) 11.54, Alvaro Malpartida (PER) 8.77
SF 2: Kiron Jabour (HAW) 15.17, Billy Kemper (HAW) 6.24, Olamana Eleogram (HAW) 4.54, Christian Corzo (MEX) 3.57
Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido Quarterfinals Results:
QF 1: Alvaro Malpartida (PER) 13.33, Hank Gaskell (HAW) 6.60, Dylan Southworth (MEX) 5.87, Cristobal de Col (PER) 3.00
QF 2: Clay Marzo (HAW) 13.67, Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 11.73, Manuel Selman (CHL) 10.67, Cory Arrambide (USA) 10.34
QF 3: Olamana Eleogram (HAW) 16.50, Kiron Jabour (HAW) 13.16, Diego Cadena (MEX) 7.40, Gilbert Brown (CRI) 6.50
QF 4: Christian Corzo (MEX), Billy Kemper (HAW), Brett Barley (USA), Dege O’Connell (HAW)
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