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ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) NORTH AMERICA

O’NEILL SI PRO PRESENTED BY RON JON
Sebastian Inlet, Florida
January 5-11, 2007

BIG UPSETS AND WILD CONDITIONS AT O’NEILL SI PRO DAY SIX

SEBASTIAN INLET, Florida (Wednesday, January 10th, 2007) – Big action graced the 16 heats of round five today as the O’Neill SI Pro presented by Ron Jon narrowed the field down to the final 32 surfers.

The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) four-star event enjoyed an increase in swell with the unfortunate addition of heavy northeast winds. The shifty conditions that resulted would go on to be the setting for several upsets throughout the day.

Ben Bourgeois (Wrightsville Beach, NC) took the honors today by grabbing the event high single wave score of a 9.33 out of a possible 10 for a series of inverted turns on his backhand. The powerful natural-footer has come close to qualifying for the prestigious Foster’s ASP World Tour for several seasons and will look once again for a good result at the 2007 ASP WQS season opener, the O’Neill SI Pro.

“It’s a long year,” Bourgeois said. “I’m stoked to make it through, but I’m just taking it one heat at a time and one event at a time. Of course qualifying (for the Foster’s ASP World Tour) is my goal, but I can’t get too far ahead of myself.”

Eric Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach, FL), defending ASP North America Pro Junior champion, caused a sensational upset today defeating Foster’s ASP World Tour stalwart Cory Lopez (Indian Rocks Beach, FL) in round five.

“It’s super difficult out there and really easy to lose,” Geiselman said. “If you’re out there and the waves don’t come to you then that’s it. You’ve just got to get really lucky.”

While the 18-year old still has two more seasons left in his ASP Pro Junior tenure, Geiselman’s performance thus far has several wondering if he will make a legitimate push on the ASP WQS in 2007.

“I’m just trying to shake off the jetlag from being in Australia for the ASP World Junior Championships,” Geiselman said. “I’ll be slowly easing into some WQS events this season and definitely back on the ASP Pro Junior series. I’m super stoked to get through this heat and hopefully I can get through a few more.”

In addition to Cory Lopez being eliminated, several local favorites suffered early losses including Kyle Garson (Melbourne Beach, FL), Aaron Cormican (New Smyrna Beach, FL), Wesley de Souza (Deerfield Beach, FL), Travis Beckmann (Vero Beach, FL) and several others.

Patrick Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA), who finished 22nd on last season’s ASP WQS ratings, took down local standout Eric Taylor (Vero Beach, FL). After narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Foster’s ASP World Tour last season, Gudauskas will look for a solid result here to kickstart his ’07 campaign.

“The first event of the season could go either way – you could either just want to get it out of the way or it could really spark the season for you,” Gudauskas said. “I’m happy I get through, but it’s still a ways to go before I get a result I can put in the bag.”

Gabe Kling (St. Augustine, FL), who will begin his rookie season on the prestigious Foster’s ASP World Tour in February, put his world tour talent on display this morning as he stitched up his competitors to advance to the round of 32. Although already qualified for the elite Dream Tour, Kling is still competing on the ASP WQS to ensure that he remains a fixture at the sport’s highest level of competition.

“I’m going to start out doing all the WQS events,” Kling said. “I’m going to Brazil next week and the idea is to start out well on the WQS just to give myself a backup. Hopefully halfway through the year on the ASP World Tour, I will have done well enough that I won’t need to worry about the WQS anymore.”

Tomorrow will be the last day of competition and will run from the round of 32 through the finals. Heat 1 of the round of 32 will begin promptly at 8:00 am.

Live scoring will be available at www.aspnorthamerica.org.

For more information, log onto www.aspnorthamerica.org or www.oneillsipro.com.

RESULTS: DAY SIX O’Neill SI Pro presented by Ron Jon – ASP WQS four-star

Round Five: 64 surfers remain (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 1: Gabe Kling (USA) 11.83, Cory Arrambide (USA) 11.57, Clay Marzo (HAW) 11.00, Mineto Ushikoshi (JPN) 6.60
Heat 2: Shaun Burrell (USA) 12.66, Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.66, Brian Toth (PRI) 10.43, Kyle Garson (USA) 9.93
Heat 3: Brett Simpson (USA) 10.83, Tonino Benson (HAW) 9.00, Aaron Cormican (USA) 9.00, Tim Boal (FRA) 8.03
Heat 4: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 14.66, Dave Reardon-Smith (AUS) 11.63, Eric Taylor (USA) 11.34, Cheyne Cottrell (USA) 9.34
Heat 5: Asher Nolan (USA) 14.83, Daniel Jones (HAW) 10.26, Izuki Tanaka (JPN) 9.24, Charles Martin (GLP) 6.17
Heat 6: David Awbrey (USA) 9.44, Mikael Picon (FRA) 8.33, Austin Ware (USA) 7.53, Wesley Larsen (HAW) 3.83
Heat 7: Adam Virs (USA) 14.00, Ola Eleogram (HAW) 9.50, Jorge Spanner (BRA) 8.53, Alain Riou (PYF) 5.90
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.66, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 12.50, Anthony Petruso (USA) 5.77, Brandon Guilmette (USA) 5.54
Heat 9: Eric Geiselman (USA) 14.83, Ryan Helm (USA) 11.30, Cory Lopez (USA) 10.70, Wesley de Souza (USA) 7.94
Heat 10: Dustin Barca (HAW) 9.76, Jeremy Johnston (USA) 9.34, Hira Teriinatoofa (PYF) 6.13, Micah Byrne (USA) 5.80
Heat 11: Ben Bourgeois (USA) 15.50, Mike Losness (USA) 10.10, Travis Beckman (USA) 7.13, Blake Howard (USA) 7.10
Heat 12: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 11.43, Nathan Carroll (USA) 7.94, Kieran Horn (USA) 6.43, Tyler Anderson (USA) 5.33
Heat 13: Kellen Ellison (USA) 11.20, Roy Powers (HAW) 10.90, Bud Freitas (USA) 10.53, Dane Gudauskas (USA) 7.84
Heat 14: Yuri Sodre (BRA) 13.33, Shaun Ward (USA) 8.70, Dane Johnson (USA) 8.44, Josh Montgomery (USA) 6.20
Heat 15: Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW) 12.43, Bryan Hewitson (USA) 11.43, Heath Walker (AUS) 10.60, Aritz Aranburu (ESP) 7.87
Heat 16: CJ Hobgood (USA) 15.73, Shea Lopez (USA) 10.30, Daryll Goodrum (USA) 9.14, Dane Reynolds (USA) 9.10

Event Schedule: O’Neill SI Pro pres. by Ron Jon – ASP WQS four-star event

Day One – Friday, January 5, 2007
8:00 am – 12:00 am: Heats 1 – 8 (Round of 176)
12:00 am – 4:00 pm: Heats 1 – 16 (Round of 160)
Day Two – Saturday, January 6, 2007
8:00 am – 4:00 pm: Heats 1 – 12 (Round of 128)
Day Three – Sunday, January 7, 2007
8:00 am – 9.20 am: Heats 13 – 16 (Round of 128)
12:30 am – 4:00 pm: Heats 1 – 12 (Round of 96)
Day Four – Monday, January 8, 2007
8:00 am – 9:20 am: Heats 13 – 16 (Round of 96)
Day Five – Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Lay day called
Day Six – Wednesday January 10, 2007
8:00 am – 2:40 pm: Heats 1 – 16 (Round of 64)
Day Seven – Thursday, January 11, 2007
8:00 am – 10:40 am: Heats 1 – 8 (Round of 64)
10:40 am – 12:00 pm: Heats 1 – 4 (Quarterfinals)
12:00 pm – 12:40 pm: Heats 1 – 2 (Semifinals)
1:00 pm: Finals

NOTE: SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

APS WCT Tour 2010 Schedule

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