Dane ReynoldsOnce again, very little action on the ASP ’QS front with just one event this week, the Oakley Newport Beach Pro presented by Jeep in California, but there were ASP Pro Junior events in Australia, Peru, South Africa and Hawaii at great venues like Sunset Beach and Jeffreys Bay.
Seeing as how the ASP WQS ratings are basically unchanged this week, I thought I might cover the rise and fall over the year on the ratings for the Foster’s ASP World Tour contenders.
Top of the ratings one week and down and out the next. Without consistent results, surfers can really move around in those ratings.
The year started off well for C.J. Hobgood with a win in Florida, but then C.J. slipped down as far as 73rd before clawing his way back to 6th with great results in HB and at Hossegor and maintaining that 6th till now.
Shea Lopez took over from C.J. into 1st position ealy this year, but has gradually slipped down to 25th.
Aritz Araburu, with his Noronha result, jumped into the lead and held it for five events before dropping down to 18th after Newquay, then moving up a bit to be in 12th currently.
Tiago Pires moved into 1st at event No. 9 in Margaret River, and (except for a one event drop to 2nd) stayed in 1st until event No. 24 in Newquay. Since then, Tiago has been able to maintain a 2nd to 3rd placing.
Current No. 1, Jordy Smith, started the year at 142nd, then jumped to 44th to 12th by event No. 12, hit the lead after the Maldives for one event, dropped back to 4th, and then, with a great result in Lacanau, moved back into the top spot and has been unopposed since.
Current No. 2, Dane Reynolds, started around 88th this season before moving into 3rd after Scotland, dropping back to 10th at the US Open, then hitting and maintaining 2nd since Hossegor.
Others like Ben Bourgeois, Jay Thompson, Jihad Khodr, Rodrigo Dornelles and Heitor Alves currently rated from 4th to 9th all gradually moved up the ratings during the year while others were like yo-yo’s.
Jordy Smith currently sits at the top of the WQS ratingsNeco Padaratz was 2nd after Margaret River, dropped to 10th after the Maldives, then back up to 5th, only to drop back to his current position of 15th.
Miky Picon went from 9th to 26th, back to 6th down to 20th, then back up again to 13th.
Jean da Silva, Tim Boal and Drew Courtney all started well in the top five, but dropped dramatically to current mid 20’s and 30’s.
Jarrad Howse and Kirk Flintoff both have dropped from a high of 4th to 20th and 21st respectively.
Others like Kieren Perrow started well around 5th, only to gradually drop to 14th, not being able to find a good result since the Maldives.
So as you can see, even starting off the year with a great rating, thinking you are set for a Foster’s ASP World Tour slot, is not the way it goes these days. Surfers need those quarterfinal results consistently to maintain a high rating, otherwise there are plenty of others not far below them that can jump up dramatically on the ratings.
It will be very interesting to see how the ratings look after the ASP WQS 6-Star Prime in Lanzarote and the ASP WQS 6-Star events in Brazil over the next month.
By then, going into Hawaii, we should know who is in or out of the Top 15 on the ASP WQS. The Hawaii events historically have very little impact on the ratings as the locals and Foster’s ASP World Tour surfers seem to dominate these events and they don’t need the points.
For more on the World Qualifying Series Tour, as well as the Foster's World Championship Tour, visit www.ASPWorldTour.com