Hansen Wins Billabong Pro To Make It Three For the Year

Gisborne surfer Bobby Hansen won the Billabong Pro held at Whangamata in commanding fashion today (8th March) scoring 19.15 points out of a possible 20 – the highest heat score of the entire event. The win was Hansen’s third of the Corona Crown Series. Even though Hansen missed one of the five events contested to date he now finds himself in first place on the ratings with one event remaining.

The easterly swell arrived as predicted with clean 1.0m waves on offer at Whangamata Beach. Offshore winds ensured the conditions were excellent throughout the day.

Hansen dominated the Billabong Pro final with his three opponents requiring a combination of scores to catch him after he scored 9.5 and 9.65 point rides midway through the 30 minute final.

Hansen’s powerful forehand was unrivalled on the righthanders that were running up the beach. His excessive amount of speed saw him carve through numerous big turns on his waves showing the crowd on the beach what it takes to compete on the international stage.

Early on it was Blair Stewart (Gis) and Billy Stairmand (Rag) that took an early jump on the others scoring 8.0 and 8.75 points respectively on their opening rides. However their lead was short lived as Hansen reined them in.

“It was pretty cool final, it wasn’t just one person getting waves, Billy had a high eight point ride and Blair had two eights in the end so it was real fun” commented Hansen on the final.
 

Even though the win catapulted Hansen from fifth to first on the Corona Crown Series the leap was a by product of his sensational surfing and not something that he had his mind on.

“It is good to be leading it but I don’t think I am going to be here for the Super 16 so it may be short lived” commented Hansen on his current position adding “You never know, I might be back, I will be competing in West Australia but I could make it back, we will have to wait and see”.

Hansen who is New Zealand’s highest rated surfer on the ASP Men’s World Qualifying Series (WQS) will recommence his bid to qualify for the World Tour in little over a week when he heads to Tasmania for the first of the Australasian WQS events.

Placing second today was Blair Stewart who jumped from tenth to third on the Corona Crown Series ratings. Stewart amassed 16.00 in the final with a pair of 8.0 point rides but was still left behind by Hansen despite his high heat score. The result was Stewart’s best in three years and it puts him in a position to win the series with a good result at the final event.

Billy Stairmand placed third in the final scoring 14.65 to outpoint fellow Raglan surfer Leon Santorik who placed fourth with a score of 13.10.

While Hansen took his third win of the year in the Men’s Division, Laura Rishworth (Mnt) took her maiden win in the Open Women’s Division.

Rishworth has been knocking on the door of a title for some time. She placed fourth at the National Champs in January. Today everything came together for the aggressive natural foot surfer as she completed the big moves to post 15.50 in the final, her highest scoring ride, a long lefthander, netting her 8.25 out of a possible 20.

“It is kinda a little bit surreal at the moment” said Rishowrth adding “I am real stoked on the result though”.
 
 

Rishworth’s performance oozed confidence and that was something that she reflected on in her success today. “I felt good out in the water, the lefts were the good waves out there and I have been based in raglan recently so that is what I am used to”.

Placing second in the final today was Raglan surfer Alexis Poulter who also scored highly but just missed out on the win. Poulter scored 15.25 in the final. Despite her excellent result she slips one place to third on the Corona Crown Series ratings but still qualifies directly into the Corona Super 16 final.

Placing third in the final was Piha surfer Mischa Davis who scored 10.90 to outpoint local hope Grace Spiers (WGM) who finished in fourth place.

Tairua surfer Sean Peggs won the Under 20 Men’s Division and in doing so jumped from sixth on the ratings to first to take out the inaugural Under 20 Men’s Division for 2009.

Peggs’ win at the Billabong Pro came via a 17.0 total heat score in the final. He ran away with the win leaving nothing to chance on the lefthanders that suited his tight forehand surfing. Midway through the final Peggs locked in a 9.0 point ride to take the lead and then on his last wave scored 8.0 to drive home the advantage and leave his competitors requiring near perfect scores.

“I was looking to go left for sure” said Peggs. “I was lucky to get the wave of the heat and post that 9. The others drifted over to the righthander at the end of the final which meant I had the choice any wave that came through and that’s when I got the 8.0 to seal the win”.

Peggs was coy about taking out the Corona Crown Series for the Under 20 Men after entering the event thinking that it would not be possible. “Some guys told me I won the title but I didn’t really believe them. I didn’t really know I could win from where I was on the ratings but I am stoked now that I have done it”.

The battle for the minor placings was won by Matt Hewitt (Mnt) with 0.50 points separating second from fourth. Hewitt was left stranded with five minutes to go in the final after using his allotted twelve wave quota. From that point on he had to watch the final from the beach to see how his opponents would finish. His 13.95 heat total eventually bettered Mount Maunganui friend Alex Dive who posted 13.70 with Piha’s Ryan Hawker in fourth.

Tim O’Connor took out the Panasonic Expression Session with a crazy inverted forehand reverse and walked away with a Panasonic DVD cam. Sixteen guys took to the water for the expression session with some big aerial manoeuvres by the likes of Braedon Williams (WGM), Sam Willis (Mnt), Nathan Welch (Gis), Buck Woods (Gis) and Bobby Hansen (Gis).

Bobby Hansen (Gis) stole the Pacific Blue Highest Heat Score Award in the finals scoring 19.15. His heat total included a 9.65 and a 9.5. Earlier he posted the second perfect ten point ride of the event as well as an 8.75 point ride in his semifinal. Hansen wins a trip anywhere in the South Pacific or Australia.

The Billabong Pro is the fifth of six events on the 2008/09 Corona Crown Series. The series wraps on at Piha on the 4th – 5th of April with the Corona Super 16.

Please see below for results from final day of the Billabong Pro held at Whangamata Beach this weekend 6-8 March.

Open Men Quarterfinals

Heat 1
Blair Stewart (Gis), 1, Dan Scott (Whmata), 2, Keone Campbell (Tara), 4, Tim O'Connor (Mnt), 3

Heat 2
Gauranga Ormond (Whmata), 1, Leon Santorik (Rag), 2, Bodhi Whitaker (Gis), 3, Matt Groube (Cor), 4

Heat 3
Billy Stairmand (Rag), 1, AJ Matthews (Whmata), 2, Maz Quinn (Gis), 3, Kierin Van Der Helder (Rag), 4

Heat 4
Bobby Hansen (Gis), 1, Simon Deken (Tara), 2, Mike Banks (Rag), 3, Zennor Wernham (Rag), 4

Open Men Semifinals

Heat 1
Blair Stewart (Gis), 1, Leon Santorik (Rag), 2, Dan Scott (Whmata), 3, Gauranga Ormond (Whmata), 4
Heat 2
Bobby Hansen (Gis), 1, Billy Stairmand (Rag), 2, Simon Deken (Tara), 3, AJ Matthews (Whmata), 4

Open Men Final

Bobby Hansen (Gis), 1, Blair Stewart (Gis), 2, Billy Stairmand (Rag), 3, Leon Santorik (Rag), 4

Under 20 Men Semifinals

Heat 1
Matt Hewitt (Mnt), 1, Sean Peggs (Tairua), 2, Tane Wallis (Piha), 3, Zen Wallis (Piha), 4

Heat 2
Alex Dive (Mnt), 1, Ryan Hawker (Piha), 2, Paco Divers (Sandy Bay), 3, Buck Woods (Gis), 4

Under 20 Men’s Final

Sean Peggs (Tairua), 1, Matt Hewitt (Mnt), 2, Alex Dive (Mnt), 3, Ryan Hawker (Piha), 4

Open Women Semifinals

Heat 1
Mischa Davis (Auck), 1, Laura Rishworth (Mnt), 2, Jessica Santorik (Rag), 3

Heat 2
Alexis Poulter (Rag), 1, Grace Spiers (Whmata), 2, Rosa Thompson (Auck), 3

Open Women Final

Laura Rishworth (Mnt), 1, Alexis Poulter (Rag), 2, Mischa Davis (Auck), 3, Grace Spiers (Whmata), 4

Open Men’s Top 26 Super 16 Qualifiers

1, Bobby Hansen (Gis)
2, Gauranga Ormond (Whmata)
3, Blair Stewart (Gis)
4, Maz Quinn (Gis)
5, Tim O'Connor (Mnt)
6, Paco Divers (Sandy Bay)
7, Billy Stairmand (Rag)
8, Buck Woods (Gis)
9, Leon Santorik (Rag)
10, Keone Campbell (Tara)
11, Sean Peggs (Whmata)
12, Kierin Van Der Helder (Rag)
13, Dan Scott (Whmata)
14, Luke Cederman (Rag)
15, Jarrod Hancox (Tara)
16, Matt Hewitt (Mnt)
17, Luke Hughes (Rag)
18, Nathan Welch (Gis)
19, Bodhi Whitaker (Gis)
20, Alex Dive (Mnt)
21, Zen Wallis (Piha)
22, Braedon Williams (Whmata)
23, Nick White (Mnt)
24, Tane Wallis (Piha)
25, Sam Willis (Rag)
26, Ryan Hawker (Piha)

Open Women’s Top 10

1, Jessica Santorik (Rag)
2, Laura Rishworth (Mnt)
3, Alexis Poulter (Rag)
4, Mischa Davis (Auck)
5, Rosa Thompson (Auck)
6, Ella Williams (Whmata)
7, India Wray- Murane (Rag)
8, Jayda Martin-Fitzharris (Gis)
9, Rachel von Zalinski (Auck)
10, Nicola Colson-Koster (Auck)

Under 20 Men Top 10

1, Sean Peggs (Whmata)
2, Alex Dive (Mnt)
3, Buck Woods (Gis)
4, Tim O'Connor (Mnt)
5, Billy Stairmand
6, Keone Campbell (Tara)
7, Matt Hewitt (Mnt)
8, Paco Divers (Sandy Bay)
9, Bodhi Whitaker (Gis)
10, Tim Thompson (Auck)