|
Delay Forced on Billabong Pro This Weekend |
|
Written by Ben Kennings
|
|
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 |
 |
| Bobby Hansen - Image PhotoCPL |
The Billabong Pro presented by Sony, scheduled to take place at Whangamata this weekend 28th – 30th January, has been postponed due to an unfavourable swell forecast.
The second of four events on the New Zealand Pro Series has been rescheduled
for 10th – 12th February at Whangamata. The event now coincides with Event Two of the
Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge scheduled for the same weekend.
“The calendar of events is full for summer so we thought it would be a great opportunity
to hold the Billabong Pro on the same weekend as the Grom Series at Whanga and
make an action packed weekend of it” Billabong Events Manager AJ Matthews said.
The Billabong Pro will remain a three day event commencing on Friday 10th
February while the Grom Series will start on Saturday 11th February
as originally scheduled. Combined with
the two surfing events will be the land based activities with Skinny bringing
horizontal bungy and slum dunk as well as a massive blow up soccer pitch to the
beach.
“We are sure the groms will enjoy surfing as part of a bigger event and sharing
the weekend with all of the best surfers in New Zealand” Matthews said.
It was a tough decision to postpone the event but after assessing conditions
for the early part of this week with differing outlooks, the forecast took a
turn for the worst overnight Tuesday forcing the postponement.
“It was looking promising for a small swell to build through Sunday and into
Monday which would have allowed us to complete the event but that changed last
night and the swell has been pushed out by 24 hours” Matthews said.
When the event recommences, New Zealand’s top echelon of surfers will converge on Whangamata. The
delay could allow the return from injury of Maz Quinn (Gis) who missed the
recent National Championships held at Piha due to a back injury.
New National Champion Billy Stairmand who was entered
in this weekend’s event will now be unavailable alongside Matt Hewitt (Mnt),
the two surfers competing in an international event in Queensland,
Australia. Likewise Jay Quinn (Gis) and defending
champion of the event, Richard Christie (Mah), will be surfing in an event in Brazil
to start their international campaign for 2012.
The absence of these four surfers will open the stage for the remainder of the
field to step up to the winners podium for the first time this year and build
some rating points on the New Zealand Pro Series. Finalists at the National Champs, Chris
Malone (Gis) and Tim O’Connor (Mnt) will want to continue with their good form
and the return of Bobby Hansen (Gis) will also bring some much anticipated hype
to the event.
In the Women’s Division, new National Champion Thandi
Durham – Tipene (Tara) will be out to impress yet again while 2011 National
Champion Airini Mason (Chch) has also entered the event with both surfers
expected to raise the bar in the division.
The Under 20 Men’s Division will contest their first
event of the year at the Billabong Pro presented by Sony. Great Barrier’s Sid West will go into the
event as the number one seed after placing fourth overall in 2011. He will be challenged by the likes of Ben
Poulter (Rag), Alex Dive (Mnt) and Tane Wallis (Piha).
The Billabong Pro presented by Sony is now in its
eighth consecutive year and boasts the largest prize pool of the New Zealand Pro
Series with over $12,800 of cash and prizes up for grabs.
Please see below for winners of the event over the past five years and the top rated
surfers in the Open Men’s and Women’s Divisions on the New Zealand Pro Series.
Open Men’s
2007 – Daniel Kereopa (Rag)
2008 – Maz Quinn (Gis)
2009 – Bobby Hansen (Gis)
2010 – Maz Quinn (Gis)
2011 – Richard Christie (Mah)
Open Women’s
2007 – Jessica Santorik (Rag)
2008 – Jessica Santorik (Rag)
2009 – Laura Rishworth (Mnt)
2010 – Jessica Santorik (Rag)
2011 – Sarah Mason (Gis)
Juniors
2007 – Ryan Hawker (Piha)
2008 – Ryan Hawker (Piha)
2009 – Keone Campbell (Tara)
2010 – Johnny Hicks (Gis)
2011 – JC Susan (Mnt)
Current New Zealand Pro Series Standings
Open Men’s Division
1. Billy Stairmand (Rag)
2. Chris Malone (Gis)
3. Tim O’Connor (Mnt)
4. Matt Hewitt (Mnt)
5. Jay Quinn (Gis)
5. Bobby Hansen (Gis)
7. Zen Wallis (Piha)
7. Alex Dive (Mnt)
Open Women’s Division
1. Thandi Durham – Tipene (Tara)
2. Mischa Davis (Piha)
3. Ella Williams (WGM)
4. Jayda Martin – Fitzharris (Gis)
5. Grace Spiers (WGM)
5. Jessica Santorik (Rag)
Please see below for the remaining events, dates and
locations for the New Zealand Pro Series:
Billabong Pro presented by Sony –
10-12 February, Whangamata
O’Neill Sequence Surf Shop Pro –
25-26 February, Gisborne
Rip Curl Pro – 16-18 March, Raglan
Entry into the
events can be completed at Surfing New
Zealand under events. Complete the
entry process online or download entry forms and send them in.
Further
Information
For further information on the Billabong Pro
presented by Sony please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings on 021 2278732
or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz. Alternatively contact Billabong Event Manager
AJ Matthews on 0212416227 or email aj.matthews@billabong.co.nz.
Imagery
Web clips and newsfeeds will be distributed free of charge from each
event. Please contact Ben Kennings for
further details.
High resolution action images of the surfing at all events on the New Zealand
Pro Series will be available to media free of charge upon request.
Event Hotline
The Surfing New Zealand
event hotline is 0211134506. This will
be updated daily at approximately 7am with venue, divisions contested and
conditions.
Partners
Generous support from Billabong, Sony, Monster,
Skinny, Von Zipper, Nixon, The Edge and Von Zipper has made this event
possible.
Surfing New Zealand Newsletter
If you want to keep updated with surfing information delivered right to your
inbox then sign up to the SNZ
Newsletter.
Follow Surfing New Zealand and the Billabong Pro
pres by Sony
Live results will be feed live to the SNZ website via twitter so stay tuned
with up to date results. Alternatively
follow the action via the SNZ
Facebook and SNZ Twitter.
Surfing New Zealand
are proudly partnered by
Hyundai
SPARC
Smokefree
Ends
|
