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ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) NORTH AMERICA

O’NEILL COLD WATER CLASSIC PRESENTED BY JEEP
Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz, California
October 17-22, 2006

LOCALS DOMINATE DAY ONE OF O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (Tuesday, October 17, 2006) – The O’Neill Cold Water Classic presented by Jeep kicked off this morning with the opening round of competition at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, California. The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) four-star event features a bevy of top-notch international competitors vying for both valuable ASP ratings points and a crack at the $75,000 prize purse.

As the final event of both the ASP North America season and the Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series, the opening day O’Neill Cold Water Classic saw local surfers dominate the competition at the infamous righthander.

Noi Kaulukukui (Santa Cruz, Calif.) opened up his O’Neill Cold Water Classic campaign in fine form this morning locking in the day’s high heat total of a 16.00 out of a possible 20. Kaulukukui decimated the long walls on his forehand surfing with a speed and flare that went unrivaled by his opponents

“It was looking a little iffy with the tide coming in and I actually read the tide book this morning and thought it was going to be way high tide for my heat,” Kaulukukui said. “However, it turned out to be medium tide and the waves just started popping up.”

As the day progressed, the locals would continue to dominate the competition with eight surfers from Santa Cruz advancing out of round one today.

Peter Garaway (Santa Cruz, Calif.), winner of this morning’s trials, tore the bag out of a long roping righthander this afternoon to secure the day’s highest single-wave score of an 8.67 out of a possible 10.

“The momentum (from this morning’s trials heats) definitely helped as I haven’t done a contest for the past three years,” Garaway said. “My nerves were kicking in at the start because I just decided to do the event last night and I got into the locals trials round as an alternate. I got through those first two heats and I’m feeling more confident with each round.”

The high-flying action of this morning’s trials rounds was punctuated by the devastating injury sustained by Austin Smith-Ford (Santa Cruz, Calif.).

Smith-Ford, pushing his limits in an attempt to qualify for the main event, fell too close to the rocks and received a four-inch gash to his backside.

“The force of the wave pushed him into the cliff – there was really nowhere to go,” Garaway, fellow competitor, said. “We could see the blood as we started paddling in.”

The young natural-footer was helped in by his fellow competitors where he was treated by event staff before being taken to the local hospital.

The Oakley Pro Junior (an ASP grade-two event), running in conjunction with the O’Neill Cold Water Classic, will commence on Friday, October 20th, 2006, featuring some of the best junior competitors (aged 20 and under) in world vying for their last opportunity at qualifying for the prestigious ASP World Junior Championships.

The top-four finishers on the ASP North America Pro Junior series, along with Alex Gray (Palos Verdes, Calif.) will be sent to the ASP World Junior Championships held in Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia. Gray has already secured his entry by being the highest-ranked North America surfer of the WQS who is of junior age – Gray is currently ranked 43rd.

Event organizers and surfers will meet tomorrow morning to assess a possible 8:00 am start at Steamer Lane or a 9:00 am start at backup location Waddell Creek – depending on conditions.

For further information, log onto www.aspnorthamerica.org.

TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE:
8:00 am – 2:40 pm: Round 2 (128 surfers remaining) Heats 1 – 16
2:40 pm – TBA: Round 3 (96 surfers remaining) TBA

RESULTS – Day 1

Trials Round 1: 16 surfers left (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 1: Peter Garaway (USA) 11.34, Stefan Woliczko (USA) 6.50, Z Haas (USA) 6.33, Homer Henard (USA) 4.14
Heat 2: Jesse Colombo (USA) 9.50, Austin Smith-Ford (USA) 9.17, Tyler Smith (USA) 8.16, Anthony Ruffo (USA) 6.76
Heat 3: Josh Mulcoy (USA) 7.84, Russell Smith (USA) 6.00, Joey Hutson (USA) 5.76, Nat Young (USA) 0.67
Heat 4: Josh Loya (USA) 13.84, Anthony Tashnick (USA) 8.90, Shane Desmond (USA) 7.50, Aaron Carrera (USA) 7.03

Trials Round 2: 8 surfers left (1st and 2nd of each heat into main event)
Heat 1: Peter Garaway (USA) 10.80, Jesse Colombo (USA) 10.37, Austin Smith-Ford (USA) 9.90, Stefan Woliczko (USA) 7.93
Heat 2: Josh Loya (USA) 13.00, Josh Mulcoy (USA) 11.00, Anthony Tashnick (USA) 8.66, Russell Smith (USA) 3.00

Round 1: 160 surfers left (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 1: Sean Taylor (USA) 10.50, Ricky Whitlock (USA) 10.47, Matt Shadbolt (USA) 8.56, Shane Upchurch (USA) 6.43
Heat 2: Omar Etcheverry (USA) 9.93, Joe Tanaka (JPN) 9.24, Matt Mohagen (USA) 4.64, Devon Tresher (USA) 3.20
Heat 3: Brandon Guilmette (USA) 8.90, Chris Drummy (USA) 6.23, Colin Schildhauer (USA) 5.17, Wesley Larsen (HAW) 4.93
Heat 4: Noi Kaulukukui (USA) 16.00, Jeremy Sherwin (USA) 13.43, Jamie Parkhurst (USA) 9.43, Jesse Colombo (USA) 7.16
Heat 5: Josh Loya (USA) 11.83, Jesse Heilman (USA) 10.16, David Giddings (USA) 9.16, Jacob Kirschenbaum (YSA) 6.97
Heat 6: Kellen Ellison (USA) 11.34, Ryan Peterson (USA) 7.34, Corey Garcia (AUS) 6.60, Zach Humphries (USA) 4.06
Heat 7: Matt Myers (USA) 13.16, Kilian Garland (USA) 10.33, Brad Burdick (USA) 5.90, Roger Eales (USA) 4.33
Heat 8: Eric McHenry (USA) 11.17, Sean Marceron (USA) 9.94, Peter Mussio (USA) 9.07, Ben Graeff (USA) 3.87
Heat 9: Drew Ventura (USA) 12.60, Dylan Slater (USA) 10.54, Zach Keenan (USA) 10.10, Tom Rudd (USA) 9.00
Heat 10: Kai Ellison (USA) 11.10, Justin Swartz (USA) 7.50, Randy Townsend (USA) 5.36, Casey Landvogt (USA) 5.23
Heat 11: Shey Yates (USA) 9.34, Golden Depesa (HAW) 6.67, Dennis Rizzo (USA) 6.60, Eddie Guilbeau (USA) 6.00
Heat 12: Josh Mulcoy (USA) 13.10, John Daniels (USA) 10.83, Bud Freitas (USA) 8.44, TJ Mikus (USA) 6.10
Heat 13: Peter Garaway (USA) 12.94, Micah Byrne (USA) 8.23, Chris Ropero (USA) 6.13, John John Florence (HAW) 5.10
Heat 14: Mason Ho (HAW) 12.70, Peter Mel (USA) 12.60, Willie Safreed (USA) 12.33, Alex Ganguli (USA) 6.07
Heat 15: Granger Larsen (HAW) 12.67, Brandon Roberts (ZAF) 7.30, Adam Wickwire (USA) 6.57, Toby Ogden (USA) 5.33
Heat 16: James Athorn (AUS) 9.67, Randy Bonds (USA) 9.00, Danny Hart (USA) 4.60, Chris Rodriguez (HAW) 3.50

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