Greg Emslie’s victory in the O’Neill Cold Water Classic in Cape Town with Jordy Smith’s earlier victories in the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay and the Mr Price Pro completed an historic clean sweep by local surfers of all three ASP events staged in South Africa.
Smith’s triumph in J-Bay made him the first local winner of an ASP World Tour event and the first to lead the ASP World Title Race rankings, since Shaun Tomson won the World title in 1977.
Meanwhile his win in the Mr Price Pro saw Jordy become only the third SA surfer to capture the title after Tomson (1973-78) and Ricky Basnett in 2006. The event was first run back in 1969. At the same time Smith rose to the top of the ASP World Rankings which combine the all the ASP World Tour, Prime and Star rated events.
Sean Holmes once again confirmed his status as the ASP’s most dangerous wildcard by carving his way through the world’s top surfers to reach the quarter-finals of the Billabong Pro J’Bay for the third time, notably eliminating nine time World Champion Kelly Slater and three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons at Supertubes on the same day.
ASP World Title Race Rankings: Top 5 (after Event No. 4 – Billabong Pro J-Bay):
1. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 28500 pts
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 24750 pts
3. Kelly Slater (USA) 23500 pts
4. Dane Reynolds (USA) 20000 pts
5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 19500 pts
6. Mick Fanning (AUS) 19250 pts
7. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 18750 pts
8. Bobby Martinez (USA) 16500 pts
9. Jadson Andre (BRA) 16000 pts
10. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14750 pts
South Africans
30. Travis Logie (ZAF) 6500 pts
ASP World Rankings: Top 5 (after event No. 30 – O’Neill Cold Water Classic, Cape Town):
1 Smith,Jordy ZAF 34428
2 Burrow,Taj AUS 30625
3 De Souza,Adriano BRA 23807
4 Slater,Kelly USA 23500
5 Durbidge,Bede AUS 22683
South Africans (top 200 of 885)
27 Logie,Travis 10651
39 Bryson,Royden 8560
66 Palmboom,Rudy 5372
91 Jackson,Brandon 4094
105 Weare,David 3367
120 Basnett,Ricky 2993
132 Joubert,Shaun 2819
141 Gibbens,Brendon 2576
153 Grant,Casey 2218
164 Fahrenfort,Damien 1985
180 De Vries,Beyrick 1611
195 Staples,Dale 1504
200 Du Toit,Chad 1395
