Kereopa Class Does It Again
It was a touch of Kereopa class that saw him win yet another national event this weekend at the first of seven on the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour for 2008. The 2007 tour champion cleaned up the strong field of surfers at Bay of Plenty’s Papamoa Beach and will lead the ratings from the outset – a position that he never relinquished in 2007.
DK too strong in
the final
all pics courtesy Slide Magazine
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Winners are grinners |
Played out in clean 1.0m surf, today’s surfing was exceptional with a variety of manoeuvres thrown into the scoring mix by the top longboard surfers in the country. Kereopa was as strong as ever with excellent wave selection helping him complete big powerful turns.
When Kereopa opened the final with an 8.0 point ride it was always going to be a tall order for the other three finalists to front up with the big scores under pressure. With a long lull of waves affecting early proceedings, Kereopa managed to score a further good ride from under his competitor’s noses before locking in a 7.67 to his total 16.00 two-wave-tally. By this stage the other surfers barely had a wave ‘in their back pocket’ and found themselves vying for the minor placings.
“It was good and I felt really good today and I wanted to show the boys that we can push these longboards around a little more than we are used to” commented Kereopa “I was pulling off some of my turns and managed to throw in some traditional stuff and it was just really nice to win”.
Second place getter and 2006 event champion Daryn McBride (Mnt) required a perfect ten point ride to catch up to Kereopa. He pulled out some amazing surfing on his last ride including a long nose ride but the wave did not offer enough with McBride only closing the big margin between first and second scoring a 7.17. McBride would have known all a long that it was possible to come back especially after winning the ‘soul session’ earlier in the day.
Third placed Dylan Barnfield (Ohope) rode some nice waves but once Kereopa put a big margin between him and the rest of the field it appeared that Barnfield was looking for more than what the waves were offering up and by pushing the limits he fell on several occasions at critical times. First time finalist Ant McColl finished in fourth place but would be happy with his first finals berth in the open men’s. He showed some outstanding form in the preliminary rounds of the event to win several heats to progress to the final.
Earlier in the semi-finals it was Kereopa and Barnfield who eliminated Thomas Kibblewhite (Auck) and Michael Burling (Gis) in semi-final one while McColl and McBride eliminated Kelly Ryan (Gis) and Sam Guthrie (Mnt) in semi-final two.
Sam Guthrie (Mnt) took out his first ever win on the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour scoring 12.50 in the final of the junior men to out point his counterparts. Guthrie has been a long time competitor on the tour but has always played second fiddle to his older mates who have dominated the division. Today he showed his class with a top scoring ride of 6.83 securing a comfortable win and early lead on the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour ratings. Second place getter Rick Williamson (Ohope) was a late entrant in the event. His first ride in the final was a heat high 7.17 after he displayed swift footwork to get to the nose of his board twice on the one wave. Shaun Goddard placed third in the final with young Whakatane surfer Hone Douglas in fourth.
Lynden Kennings (Piha) and Michael Fitzharris (Gis) made their first appearances in the over 40s and they didn’t disappoint as they went blow for blow to take the win after making early exits in the Open Men’s. Fitzharris started off on fire posting a 7.83 on his first wave with several nice nose rides. He then racked up two further good scores the second being a 7.00 point ride leaving everyone else well behind. However it was Kennings who came on with a late charge surfing from way out the back he pulled the big turns to post consecutive scores of 7.57 and 7.60 to edge out Fitzharris by less than half a point. Defending division champion Mike Thomsen (Rag) placed third with Mal Brady (Auck) in fourth.
Christchurch surfer Daisy Thomas made the switch from short to longboard this weekend and her efforts paid off when she let loose with some huge forehand turns to post an excellent heat total of 15.07 in the women’s final. Thomas had a top scoring ride of 7.67 that she secured for completing a radical forehand re-entry to finish her wave on the shore-break. It was Thomas’ first win on the tour. Shelley Jones (Auck) placed second scoring 11.40 with Australian Claire Norman in third and Belinda Galley (Napier) in fourth.
Lynden Kennings simply ripped
Whangarei’s Viv Teacy took out his first win in over a year in the Over 50s. A regular on the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour, he went winless in 2007 but has started the year on fire convincingly winning today’s final scoring 11.67. David Storck (Piha) placed second scoring 8.23 with last years tour winner Mike Thompson (Rag) in third for the second time at this weekend’s event and Grant Cochrane (Chch) placed fourth.
The impromptu ‘soul session’ got the crowd fired up just before the finals were held. Ten guys took to the water all riding single fin longboards. The best wave ridden in a traditional fashion was to be deemed the winner. It was Daryn McBride who stole the show in the first five minutes. He completed a hang five (one foot over the nose) into a ‘hang heels’ (requiring the surfer to turn and place both heels over the nose of the board) then a ‘Tudor Stroll’ (where the surfer faces the tail of their board and walks back to their normal position). A 9.2 point score was awarded to McBride for an easy win.
Below are the full results from event one of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour.
Open Men’s Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Michael Burling (Auck), 1, Thomas Kibblewhite (Auck), 2, Daniel Proctor (Gis), 3, Matt Hands, (Mnt), 4
Heat 2
Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, Dylan Barnfield (Ohope), 2, Matt Cockayne (Auck), 3, Paul Culpan (Auck), 4
Heat 3
Sam Guthrie (Mnt), 1, Ant McColl (Mnt), 2, Lynden Kennings (Whmata), 3, Sam Johnson (Gis), 4
Heat 4
Kelly Ryan (Gis), 1, Daryn Mcbride (Mnt), 2, Kirk Beyer (Wgtn), 3, Steve Tyro (ChCh), 4
Open Men’s Semifinals
Heat 1
Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, Dylan Barnfield (Ohope), 2, Thomas Kibblewhite (Auck), 3, Michael Burling (Auck), 4
Heat 2
Ant McColl (Mnt), 1, Daryn Mcbride (Mnt), 2, Kelly Ryan (Gis), 3, Sam Guthrie (Mnt), 4
Open Men’s Final
Daniel Kereopa (Rag), 1, Daryn Mcbride (Mnt), 2, Dylan Barnfield (Ohope), 3, Ant McColl (Mnt), 4
Open Women’s Semifinals
Heat 1
Claire Norman (Aus), 1, Belinda Galley (Napier), 2, Kirstie Thomsen (Whangarei), 3
Heat 2
Daisy Thomas (Chch), 1, Shelly Jones, (Auck), 2, Michelle Langdon. (Mnt), 3
Open Women’s Finals
Daisy Thomas (Chch), 1, Shelly Jones, (Auck), 2, Claire Norman (Aus), 3, Belinda Galley (Napier), 4,
Over 40 Men’s Semifinals
Heat 1
Mike Thomson (Rag), 1, Mal Brady (Auck), 2, David Storck (Auck), 3
Heat 2
Lynden Kennings (Piha), 1, Michael Fitzharris (Gis), 2, Grant Cochrane (ChCh), n/s
Over 40 Men’s Finals
Lynden Kennings (Piha), 1, Michael Fitzharris (Gis), 2, Mike Thomson (Rag), 3, Mal Brady (Auck), 4,
Over 50 Men’s Semifinals
Heat 1
Viv Treacy (Ocean Beach), 1, Grant Cochrane (ChCh), 2, Ian Parker (Auck), 3
Heat 2
Mike Thomson (Rag), 1, David Storck (Auck), 2, Warwick Gray (Waihi Bch), 3
Over 50 Men’s Final
Viv Treacy (Ocean Beach), 1, David Storck (Auck), 2, Mike Thomson (Rag), 3, Grant Cochrane (ChCh), 4
Under 18 Men’s Final
Sam Guthrie (Mnt), 1, Rick Williamson (Ohope), 2, Shaun Goddard (Auck), 3, Hone Douglas (Whakatane), 4
See below for the upcoming 2008 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour dates and venues:
Hyundai National Surfing Championships Presented by Quiksilver, Gisborne – 12th – 19th January
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 3, Sandy Bay – 2nd – 3rd February
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 4, Christchurch – 16th – 17th February
RnR South Island International Longboard Pro-Am in association with Hyundai, Kaikoura – 14th – 16th March
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 6, Lyall Bay Wellington – 5th – 6th April
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 7, Port Waikato – 12th – 13th April
Hyundai have been involved with Surfing New Zealand since 2004 and also sponsor the most prestigious event in New Zealand – The Hyundai National Championships presented by Quiksilver. However the focus is on longboarding and this year the tour will be televised on Maori Television with half hour shows dedicated to each event. Stay tuned for up coming dates for the shows. Hyundai have also set up a specific surfing website focussing on longboarding and the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour - http://www.surf.co.nz/hyundai.