Written by Ben Kennings, Saturday, 27 February 2010
 |
| Jess Santorik – Image Silas / Kiwi Surf |
New Zealand’s best female surfers tackled clean but challenging conditions on day two of the Rip Curl Pro being held at Manu Bay, Raglan this weekend (26th – 28th February). The finalists were found in the Women’s Division while the Under 20 Men’s Division also endured a long day of surfing.
This Rip Curl Pro is the third of five events on the Export Gold Series. 2010 marks the tenth anniversary for the Rip Curl Pro with $12,000 up for grabs. There is also a return ticket to Bali and an invitation into the Rip Curl Padang Cup for the winner of the Open Men’s Division. The Padang Cup is one of the most anticipated events on the planet held at one of the best surf breaks in the world.
Despite the trying surf conditions with waves under 1.0m, the clean conditions offered up plenty of opportunity to gain the big scores.
Local girl Jessica Santorik posted the highest heat score of the women’s semifinals with 13.25 out of a possible 20. Using her local knowledge she managed to link two long waves down on to the sand bar at Manu Bay stringing together a series of re-entries to post her high scores. Santorik progressed alongside fellow Raglan resident Laura Rishworth who scored 8.25 out of a possible 20.
“It was amazingly challenging out there, I mean the waves looked like they were going to be good but they just flattened out” said a disappointed Santorik despite moving through to the final and now having a good chance to make it three wins from three events on the Export Gold Series.
“I am stoked to make it through though. I was a bit worried out there. I would be stoked to surf bigger waves in the final tomorrow if the swell comes like they predict” said Santorik.
On her chances of nailing a hat-trick of wins on the Export Gold Series “We will see, hopefully good. I mean everyone is surfing real good. Rosa (Thompson) was ripping this morning and even the girls that got ‘knocked’ were surfing well so it will just come down to who gets the best waves.
Rosa Thompson (Auck) progressed through to the final in second place behind Mischa Davis (Piha) in the second semifinal. Earlier Thompson surfed to an exceptional division-high 16.0 point heat total in the quarterfinals.
The final of the Women’s Division will take place on Sunday afternoon. Santorik will retain her ratings lead on the Export Gold Series regardless of placings while Thompson will jump one place to second on the ratings leap frogging Alexis Poulter who was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Late in the day the quarterfinals of the Under 20 Men’s Division were contested over the dead low tide. Gisborne surfer Johnny Hicks was one of the first surfers to progress through to the semifinals pushing his big frame along on the waves that he described as “knee high”.
“I just tried to get as much speed as possible on the waves so I could throw some spray out from my turns and make them look good” said Hicks of his strategy en-route to a 13.75 point heat total. His score saw him claim a comfortable win and progression to the semifinals alongside Blake Myers (WGM).
In the second heat it was Paco Divers (Sandy Bay) who dealt with the small conditions to the best of his ability surfing to a 12.50 point heat total for an easy heat win. Divers scored an impressive 8.25 point ride for his best ride which included several vertical backhand turns. Divers progressed alongside fellow Northland surfer Joe Moretti (Mimiwhangata) together eliminating Keone Campbell (Tara) and Travis McCoy (Mnt).
The Open Men’s Division had a lay day today with conditions less than favourable after the pumping waves on Friday afternoon. However they will be back in action on Sunday morning with some big match ups set to explode on the water.
Looking to take victory and cement their place on the ratings will be the likes of the top five surfers – Maz Quinn (Gis), Chris Malone (Gis), Gauranga Ormond (WGM), Leon Santorik (Rag) and Tim O’Connor (Mnt).
Day three (Sunday 28th February) will see all finals take place. The swell is expected to increase overnight Saturday and peaking on Sunday afternoon.
Please see below for results from day two of the Rip Curl Pro held at Manu Bay, Raglan.
Open Women’s Round 1
Heat 1Daisy Thomas (ChCh), 1, Laura Rishworth (Mnt), 2, Kelly Clarkeson (Rag), 3Heat 2Mischa Davis (Auck), 1, Nina Dodge (Hawaii), 2, Anna Hawes (Westport), 3
Open Women’s Quarterfinals
Heat 1Jessica Santorik (Rag), 1, Daisy Thomas (ChCh), 2, Sophie Moore (Muri), 3, Rachel von Zalinski (Auck), 4Heat 2Grace Spiers (Whmata), 1, Laura Rishworth (Mnt), 2, India Wray- Murane (Rag), 3, Ella Williams (Whmata), 4Heat 3 Rosa Thompson (Auck), 1, Mischa Davis (Auck), 2, Hayley Coakes (Dun), 3, Marguerite Vujich (Napier), 4Heat 4Jayda Martin-Fitzharris (Gis), 1, Thandi Durham – Tipene (Tara), 2, Alexis Poulter (Rag), 3, Nina Dodge (Hawaii), 4
Open Women’s Semifinals
Heat 1Jessica Santorik (Rag), 1, Laura Rishworth (Mnt), 2, Grace Spiers (Whmata), 3, Daisy Thomas (ChCh), 4Heat 2Mischa Davis (Auck), 1, Rosa Thompson (Auck), 2, Jayda Martin-Fitzharris (Gis), 3, Thandi Durham – Tipene (Tara), 4
Under 20 Men Round 1
Heat 1Patxi Scott Arrieta (Sandy Bay), 1, Korbin Hutchings (Gis), 2, Geordi Dearns (Dun), 3Heat 2Tyler Barry (Rag), 1, Manu Scott Arrieta (Sandy Bay), 2, Ethan Burge (Wgtn), 3, Jimmy Thomas (Rag), 4Heat 3Tyler Lawson (H-Bay), 1, Sid West (Gt Barrier), 2, Charlie Denniston (Mast), 3, Ra Higgins (Rag), 4Heat 4 Adam Grimson (Gis), 1, Paul Moretti (Mimiwhangata), 2, Elliot Paerata Reid (Piha), 3, Waretini Wano (Piha), 4
Under 20 Men’s Round 2
Heat 1Ben Poulter (Rag), 1, Travis McCoy (Mnt), 2, Patxi Scott Arrieta (Sandy Bay), 3, Nat Hughes (Rag), 4Heat 2Blake Myers (Whmata), 1, Joe Moretti (Mimiwhangata), 2, Korbin Hutchings (Gis), 3, Adam Cranston (Gis), 4Heat 3Paco Divers (Sandy Bay), 1, Tim Thompson (Auck), 2, Tyler Barry (Rag), 3, Dune Kennings (Whmata), 4Heat 4 Keone Campbell (Tara), 1, Johnny Hicks (Gis), 2, Jacob Kohn (Gis), 3, Manu Scott Arrieta (Sandy Bay), 4Heat 5 Sean Peggs (Tairua), 1, Tyler Anderson (Tara), 2, Zen Wallis (Piha), 3, Tyler Lawson (H-Bay), 4Heat 6Braedon Williams (Whmata), 1, Todd Doyle (Mnt), 2, Sid West (Gt Barrier), 3, Ben Bennett (Dun), 4 Heat 7Tane Wallis (Piha), 1, Ryan Hawker (Piha), 2, Adam Grimson (Gis), 3, Fraser Chatham (Whmata), 4Heat 8Alex Dive (Mnt), 1, JC Susan (Mnt), 2, Mark Parthemore (Tara), 3, Paul Moretti (Mimiwhangata), 4
Under 20 Men’s Quarterfinals
Heat 1Johnny Hicks (Gis), 1, Blake Myers (Whmata), 2, Tim Thompson (Auck), 3, Ben Poulter (Rag), 4Heat 2Paco Divers (Sandy Bay), 1, Joe Moretti (Mimiwhangata), 2, Travis McCoy (Mnt), 3, Keone Campbell (Tara), 4Heat 3
Sean Peggs (Tairua), 1, JC Susan (Mnt), 2, Braedon Williams (Whmata), 3, Ryan Hawker (Piha), 4
Heat 4Alex Dive (Mnt), 1, Tane Wallis (Piha), 2, Tyler Anderson (Tara), 3, Todd Doyle (Mnt), 4
Open Men Round of 16 (To be surfed on Sunday)
Heat 1Keone Campbell (Tara), Nick White (Mnt), Jay Quinn (Gis), Luke Cederman (Rag)Heat 2Luke Hughes (Rag), Jarred Hancox (Tara), Maz Quinn (Gis), Leon Santorik (Rag)Heat 3Chris Malone (Gis), Billy Stairmand (Rag), Morehu Roberts (Gis), Alex Dive (Mnt)Heat 4Gauranga Ormond (Whmata), Ryan Hawker (Piha), Tim O’Connor (Mnt), Paco Divers (Sandy Bay)
2010 will marks the tenth anniversary for the Rip Curl Pro held at Raglan’s famous Manu Bay. The event is being run over three days this weekend from the 26th – 28th of February and features the best surfers New Zealand has to offer.
To mark the milestone, this year’s winner of the Open Men’s Division will receive return flights to Bali, an entry to compete in the Rip Curl Padang Cup Invitational event and the $3,000 NZD cash prize!
The Rip Curl Pro will also play host to the National GromSearch Final. The final will be contested by eight of New Zealand’s top Under 16 surfers from around the country. Each of the finalists qualified for the final by placing first or second at one of the 2009 GromSearch events. The winners of the National GromSearch will each receive an all expense paid trip to compete at the International GromSearch Final held as part of this year’s World Championship Tour event the Rip Curl Pro at Bell’s Beach, Australia in April.
The Kiwi Surf Boost for Cash Airshow is back for 2010 rewarding one lucky free surfer with a cheque for $500. However, this years event has a twist as the Airshow is filmed and edited and put on New Zealand’s leading surf forecasting website surf2surf enabling the public to jump online and vote for the winner. The winner will be decided solely by the public as there will be no onsite judging for this specialty event.
The Rip Curl Pro is a six star rated event on the Export Gold Series with $12,000 in prize money on offer.
Press Release: Surfing NZ, Written by Ben Kennings, Saturday, 27 February 2010