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New Zealand’s Best Surfers Shine Through |
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Written by Ben Kennings
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Friday, 14 January 2011 |
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Keone Campbell - Image PhotoCPL
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New Zealand representatives showed their class on day two of the Hyundai National Surfing Championships progressing through to the quarterfinals of the Open Men’s Division with big wins.
Keone Campbell (Tara), Morehu Roberts (Gis) and Luke Hughes (Rag) surfed to big wins putting themselves firmly in the ‘ones to watch’ category as the event moves through to the final stages and the action gets hotter over the last two days of the event.
Campbell was the day’s highest scoring surfer along with day one standout Richard Christie (Mah) – both surfers scoring 14.0 out of a possible 20 points to win their heats.
Campbell came into the event as the fifth seed after the first event of the SOL Series and will be keen to press for another semifinal placing or better to improve his rating. He will be up against Ben Poulter (Rag), Ryan Hawker and fellow Taranaki surfer Jarred Hancox in his quarterfinal match up tomorrow (Saturday 15th January).
Hancox himself placed second in his heat today behind four time national champion Maz Quinn (Gis). However, Quinn found himself languishing behind the heat leaders at one stage before he surfed his final wave on the hooter to score 4.63 out of ten and nudge Hancox into second.
Quinn exited the water and was surprised to find out he progressed through the heat.
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Morehu Roberts - Image PhotoCPL
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Morehu Roberts (Gis) was another standout taking a liking to the lefthanders running into the corner at St Clair Beach. Roberts blasted the backs out of the waves on several big turns to score 7.3 and 6.7 point rides.
Defending Hyundai National Champion in the Open Men’s Division, Billy Stairmand (Rag) won his heat to move through to the quarterfinals. His quarterfinal match up is one of the toughest of the four, Stairmand being pitched against Tim O’Connor (Mnt), Richard Christie (Mah) and Leon Santorik (Rag).
Another notable match up includes the Quinn brothers Maz and Jay facing off with Luke Hughes (Rag) and Alex Dive (Mnt).
Airini Mason (Gis) surfed in her first domestic event since she departed for Australia six years ago. Mason made short work of her opening heat scoring a 12.0 point total heat score.
“I really enjoyed it. I haven’t really seen many of the competitors around before so it was good to see the girls coming through and it is good to be back in New Zealand” said Mason after her heat.
Like many competitors on another day of low scoring heats, Mason found it tough to pick off the best waves.
“It was real tricky. From the beach it looked manageable but when you were out there it was hard to know where you were, if you got a good wave with a bit of a reform on the inside you could still get the good scores.”
Mason will face off against Jayda Martin - Fitzharris (Gis), 2009 National Champion Daisy Thomas (Chch) and current SOL Series ratings leader Jessica Santorik (Rag) in her semifinal.
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Jessica Santorik - Image PhotoCPL
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Santorik was the highest scoring female surfer on day two posting 13.0 points to win her heat and progress alongside Alethea Lock (Chch), together the two surfers eliminating Mischa Davis (Auck).
Other heat winners included the Whangamata duo of Ella Williams and Grace Spiers who will face off against Alethea Lock (Chch) and the local girl Hayley Coakes (Dun).
The event is the second of six events on the 2010/11 SOL Series and is being held at St Clair Beach, Dunedin. Today the surf remained around the 2.0m mark with the sun breaking through the clouds during the afternoon.
Day three will take place at St Clair Beach with an 8.00am start. The order of events will be confirmed once officials assess the conditions in the morning. Two arenas will be run throughout the day with several finals likely to be contested.
Please see below for results of day two of the Hyundai National Surfing Championships, Event 1 of the SOL Surf Series (Friday 14th January).
Open Men’s Round 2
Heat 1
Keone Campbell (Tara), 13.6, 1, Luke Hughes (Rag), 13, 2, Tyler Lawson (H-Bay), 9.57, 3, Jai Earnshaw (W.Coast), 9.17, 4
Heat 2
Ben Poulter (Rag), 10.03, 1, Alex Dive (Mnt), 9.5, 2, Josh Thickpenny (Dun), 6.67, 3, Sam Willis (Gis), 5.1, 4
Heat 3
Maz Quinn (Gis), 9.13, 1, Jarred Hancox (Tara), 9, 2, Elliot Paerata Reid (Piha), 6.8, 3, Adam Grimson (Gis), 5.7, 4
Heat 4
Jay Quinn (Gis), 13.4, 1, Ryan Hawker (Piha), 10.3, 2, Matt Scorringe (Whmata), 7.83, 3, Christo Gilbert H-Bay), 5.57, 4
Heat 5
Billy Stairmand (Rag), 10.8, 1, Blair Stewart (Gis), 10.5, 2, Nat Parsons (Dun), 9.77, 3, Patxi Scott Arrieta (Sandy Bay), 4.87, 4
Heat 6
Richard Christie (Mahia), 13.5, 1, Nick White (Mnt), 8.17, 2, Ben Kennings (Whmata), 5.2, 3, Thomas Kibblewhite (Auck), 4.6, 4
Heat 7
Morehu Roberts (Rag), 14.2, 1, Tim O'Connor (Mnt), 8.67, 2, Sid West (Gt Barrier), 6.97, 3, Luke Murphy (Dun), 3.87, 4
Heat 8
Tane Wallis (Piha), 9.37, 1, Leon Santorik (Rag), 9.13, 2, Zen Wallis (Piha), 7.73, 3, Todd Doyle (Mnt), 5.33, 4
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Airini Mason - Image PhotoCPL
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Dan Warren - Image PhotoCPL
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Jay Quinn - Image PhotoCPL
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Ella Williams - Image PhotoCPL
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Nat Parsons - Image PhotoCPL
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Shane Baxter - Image PhotoCPL
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Open Women Round 1
Heat 1
Ella Williams (Whmata), 11.6, 1, Jayda Martin-Fitzharris (Gis), 11.2, 2, Kristi Zarifeh (ChCh), 6.7, 3, Leilani Morgan (ChCh), 1.9, 4
Heat 2
Jessica Santorik (Rag), 12.7, 1, Alethea Lock (ChCh), 5.37, 2, Mischa Davis (Auck), 4.2, 3
Heat 3
Grace Spiers (Whmata), 6.13, 1, Daisy Thomas (ChCh), 5.57, 2, Marguerite Vujich (Napier), 2.93, 3
Heat 4
Airini Mason (Gis), 11.9, 1, Hayley Coakes (Dun), 7.63, 2, Rosa Thompson (Auck), 6.77, 3, Alexis Poulter (Rag), 5.37, 4
Open Longboard Round 1
Heat 1
Brendon Young (HBay), 10.2, 1, Kelly Ryan (Gis), 7.33, 2, Jae Kilgour (Dun), 4.33, 3
Heat 2
Zen Wallis (Piha), 6.8, 1, Jake Barton, 5.87, 2, Shayne Baxter (ChCh), 4.77, 3, Stephen Weir (ChCh), N/S
Heat 3
Matt Cockayne (Mngwhai), 8.03, 1, Dan Warren (ChCh) , 6.27, 2, Ambrose McNeill (ChCh), 3.83, 3, Blake Barnfield (Ohope), 2.47, 4
Heat 4
Leroy Rust (Dun), 9.83, 1, Cale Tolley (Mnt), 9.33, 2, Glen Johnson (Auck)*, 6.87, 3, Sam Bradford (Pakiri), 5.97, 4
Twenty three national titles go up for grabs at the Hyundai National Championships. As well as the premier Open Men’s and Open Women’s Divisions, there will be a further 21 divisions comprising of age groups from Under 14 through to Over 55s and also Kneeboard and Bodyboard disciplines.
Complete lists of all National Champions are located on the Surfing New Zealand website under History.
Please see below for the remaining five events that make up the 20010/11 SOL Surf Series.
Sol Series Event 2 - 13-16 January - Hyundai National Championships, Dunedin (5-star)
Sol Series Event 3 - 29-31 January - Billabong Pro presented by Sony, Whangamata (6-star)
Sol Series Event 4 - 12-13 February - Power Balance Pro, Mount Maunganui (4-star)
Sol Series Event 5 - 11-13 March - Rip Curl Pro, Raglan (6-star)
Sol Series Event 6 - 2-3 April SOL Super 16, Mobile (6-star)
The remaining events on the 2011 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour follow:
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 2, 13-16 January, Dunedin (5-star)
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 3, 4-6 February, Sandy Bay (SNZ 6-star / ASP LQS 1-star)
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 4, 19-20 February, Mount Maunganui (4-star)
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 5, 4-5 March, Port Waikato (6-star)
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. The 2011 SOL Surf Series is expected to receive high entry levels so entrants will need to be in well before the cut off dates to assure themselves a slice of the action.
Further Information
For further information on the 2011 Hyundai National Championships please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz. Alternatively contact Hyundai Brand Manager Devyn Cantley on 0275541548 or email dcantley@hyundai.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 SOL Surf 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 Hyundai, SOL and South Coast Boardriders 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 Hyundai National Championships
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.
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Ends
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