Written by Ben Kennings, Surfing NZ, Monday, 11 April 2011
Billy Stairmand has jumped ten places to 48th on the ASP World Tour after his recent ninth placing at the Telstra Drug Aware Pro held at Margaret River, Western Australia over the weekend.
The rating is the highest by a Kiwi since Maz Quinn competed on the ASP World Championship Tour in 2002.
Stairmand is now 4,500 points outside the top 32 in the world, a fair distance from qualifying for the ASP World Title events but edging ever so closer.
The assault to move up the ratings further starts overnight Wednesday this week with the second event of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series which takes place at Thurso, Scotland. The event is rated six-star with 3500 points up for grabs for the winner.
Stairmand will be competing at the event alongside Richard Christie and Jay Quinn, his two travelling companions.
Christie moved up one place to 58th on the ratings after his 13th placing at Margaret River where he was defeated by Mick Fanning.
Jay Quinn sits in 96th place.
The three surfers will return to New Zealand briefly at the end of April before heading off for the Nike 6.0 ASP Prime event at Lower Trestles, California, USA.
Meanwhile Paige Hareb recommences her efforts on the ASP Women’s World Tour at Bells Beach starting next week (19th April). Paige currently sits in 13th place on the ratings and will need to produce a good result at the Rip Curl Pro to get herself back in contention amongst the top girls.
Paige also competed at Margaret River placing fifth in the six-star event, a fantastic result that has her sitting in fifth place on the Women’s WQS.