Kai Sallas wins Pasta, Ingleby wins 2009 Tour

The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Oxbow World Longboard Tour Maldives event today crowned two champions – Harley Ingelby (Australia) as the ASP 2009 World Longboard Champion and Kai Sallas (Hawaii) as the Oxbow Maldives event champion.

Sallas won the event, surfing clean 3 feet (1 meter) surf at Pasta Point defeating Australasia’s Harley Ingelby in a high scoring final that saw Sallas take the win with a combined two wave tally of 15.65 to Ingelby on 14.00. Ingelby’s second placing in today’s final event on the two event ASP 2009 World Longboard Tour secured him the World Title.

“I’m so stoked to win this event, the waves have been super fun all week and to beat Harley in the final capped off a perfect week for me” said Sallas.“ I started well with 7.65 on my first ride and felt confident that I could back that ride up and take the win, Ingelby came at me hard in the final few minutes but my best ride was my final one and it’s great to win and actually beat the current world champion as well!”

The ASP World Longboard Champion is decided across the ratings from two events and Ingelby’s 1st placing in the season’s opening event in Japan along with his 2nd place here in the Maldives see’s him take the first ASP World Title for the 2009 season. “It’s the best day of my life” said 26 year old Ingelby after the final.

“I’ve been close to winning in the past and always felt I could win the title but I’ve also seen many great surfers not win world titles and I was wary that the opportunity could slip – It’s a huge weight off my shoulders and right now the feeling is unbelievable.” Ingelby secured the world title early in the day when he defeated Brazilian Phil Ratzman in a very close see-sawing quarter final.

“It would have been great to take the event win as well as the world title but full marks to Sallas, he surfed a great final and he deserved the win as he’s been a standout all week.” “I really left my run in the final late, I don’t think I had one decent score in the first 20 minutes, when I did get that 8 point ride late in the final I was a real chance but simply could not find a wave to deliver a decent second score” added Ingelby.

Today’s Semi Finals were both tightly fought out with Sallas defeating fellow Hawaiian Ned Snow while Ingelby survived a late challenge in his semi final from French surfer Antoine Delpero winning on a score-line of 14.80 to Delpero on 14.35. With excellent surf throughout the event all surfers enjoyed a great week and it was a fitting finale to the ASP Oxbow Longboard World Tour for 2009.

OXBOW ASP WORLD LONGBOARD TOUR MALDIVES QUARTER FINALS
Heat 1: Kai Sallas (HAW)12.00 V Eduardo Bagé (BRA)11.85
Heat 2: Ned Snow (HAW) 15.75D Ben Skinner (GBR)11.75
Heat 3: Harley Ingleby (AUS)14.00 D Phil Rajzman (BRA) 13.55
Heat 4: Antoine Delpero (FRA) 13.50 D Remi Arauzo (FRA) 12.00

OXBOW ASP WORLD LONGBOARD TOUR MALDIVES SEMI FINALS
Heat 1: Kai Sallas (HAW) 14.50 D Ned Snow (HAW) 13.45
Heat 2: Harley Ingelby (AUS) 14.80 D Antoine Delpero (FRA) 14.35

FINAL
Kai Sallas (HAW) 15.65 d Harley Ingelby (AUS) 14.00

1	Ingleby,Harley	AUS
2	Sallas,Kai	HAW
3	Delpero,Antoine	FRA
4	Rajzman,Phil	BRA
5	Perkins,Bonga	HAW
6	Snow,Ned	HAW
7	Bage,Eduardo	BRA
8	De Soto,Duane	HAW
9	McPhillips,Colin	USA
10	Skinner,Ben	GBR
11	Jensen,Taylor	USA
12	Matos,Amaro	BRA
13	Edwards,Keegan	HAW
14	Arauzo,Remi	FRA
15	Moir,Matthew	ZAF
16	Young,Bryce	AUS
17	Neal,Jared	AUS
18	Bahia,Carlos	BRA
19	Constable,Josh	AUS
20	Bleakley,Sam	GBR
20	Deniel,Alexis	FRA
22	Salazar,Alex(Picuruta)	BRA
23	Silva,Jeremias	BRA
24	Silvagni,Tony	USA
25	Mori,Taiki	JPN
25	Ogashira ,Nobuhiro	JPN
25	Macleod,Dylan	ZAF
28	Mothershead,Troy	USA
29	Viudes,Jaime	BRA
29	Maurin,Romain	FRA
31	Robbins,Cole	USA
31	Teal,Eugene	JPN
33	Kinoshita,David	JPN
34	Shimabukuro,Noah	HAW
35	Surman,Mitch	AUS
35	Bing,Justin	ZAF
35	Pioli,Dane	AUS

Oxbow World Longboard Tour starts at Pasta

25 October, 2009 : An idyllic setting and perfect waves at Pasta Point set the scene for the final event of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Oxbow World Longboard Tour for 2009.As the second and final event, this will decide the 2009 World Champion. All 32 surfers competing in the event have arrived and are warming up in excellent three-to-four foot (1 – 1.5 metre) surf at Pasta Point.

Australia’s Harley Ingelby, the current leader on the 2009 ASP World Longboard season ratings, has been here for three days and has already spent many hours in the water familiarizing himself with the wave in hopes of giving himself the best chance to win this year’s ASP World Longboard Title.

“Awesome waves here and I’m really enjoying surfing,” Ingelby said. “As far as the world title goes, I’m only thinking about surfing heat-by-heat and simply treating this as another important ASP event. The ratings will take care of themselves, I just have to surf my best and try and win.”

Defending ASP World Longboard Champion, Bonga Perkins (Hawaii), is currently in third position on the ratings, and on a two-event series, has every chance of adding another title to his already impressive two ASP World Longboard Titles (1996, 2008).

“The world title is there to be won and that’s what I’m here for,” Perkins said. “There’s all sorts of equations as to how to win and I’m here to defend my title and if that means making the Final and winning the event then that’s what I’ll try and do. The waves are super fun, incredibly warm water and I’ve enjoyed surfing the last two days. I’m ready to go.”

Among the world’s elite of longboarding visiting the Maldives, the title contenders from the Oxbow team include Antoine Delpero (FRA), Duane de Soto (HAW), Ben Skinner (GBR), Eduardo Bagé (BRA), Matthew Moir (RSA) and Bryce Young (AUS).

Being a two-event series for 2009, there is a strong possibility that the No. 1 position on the ratings could be tied after this event and if that is the case, a surf-off will occur at this event.

ASP Tour Manager Al Hunt outlined the plans for this situation today.

“With two events of identically-rated events to decide the ASP World Longboard Title for 2009, there’s a big possibility of a first place tie and if that happens we’ll run a special Final here to determine the World Title,” Al Hunt, ASP World Longboard Tour Manager, said. “It’s a situation that will only be applied for 1st place on the ratings and we’ll determine how that final would be run if and when it’s required at the end of this event.”

The event will be live web via www.aspworldtour.com and with excellent swell running today it looks very much like round one action will commence early tomorrow morning.

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

OXBOW ASP WORLD LONGBOARD TOUR MALDIVES ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Colin McPhillips (USA) vs. Dylan Macleod (ZAF)
Heat 2: Bryce Young (AUS) vs. Kai Sallas (HAW)
Heat 3: Carlos Bahia (BRA) vs. Sam Bleakley (GBR)
Heat 4: Eduardo Bage (BRA) vs. Nobuhiro Ogashira (JPN)
Heat 5: Duane De Soto (HAW) vs. Troy Mothershead (USA)
Heat 6: Ned Snow (HAW) vs. Tony Silvagni (USA)
Heat 7: Ben Skinner (GBR) vs. Alexis Deniel (FRA)
Heat 8: Bonga Perkins (HAW) vs. Mitch Surman (AUS)
Heat 9: Harley Ingleby (AUS) vs. Justin Bing (ZAF)
Heat 10: Keegan Edwards (HAW) vs. Jared Neal (AUS)
Heat 11: Phil Rajzman (BRA) vs. Cole Robbins (USA)
Heat 12: Taylor Jensen (USA) vs. Jaime Viudes (BRA)
Heat 13: Antoine Delpero (FRA) vs. Taiki Mori (JPN)
Heat 14: Alex (Picuruta) Salazar (BRA) vs. Josh Constable (AUS)
Heat 15: Matthew Moir (ZAF) vs. Remi Arauzo (FRA)