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