Commanding Kereopa Notches Up Another Win

Raglan’s Daniel Kereopa notched up another win today (Sunday) at the Lion Red Pro – Gisborne. His win makes it three in a row after winning the Rip Curl Pro and Lion Red Super 16 earlier in the year. Kereopa admitted he left his best until last after sneaking into the finals but like he says “that’s all that counts”.

Paddling out for the 25 minute final, Kereopa noticed some nice lefthanders peeling through the contest area and headed over to hunt them out. Damon Gunness also searched out the longer lefthanders and led the final in the early stages but was followed closely by Kereopa.

With the surf deteriorating throughout the day, the Open Men’s surfers had to settle for dropping 2-3ft sea breeze conditions. After posting a 7.35 late in the heat to better his earlier 7.0, Kereopa had the victory well within his grips. However he was kept honest throughout the final with local Gunness surfing some good rides to post a heat score of 12.85. Mark Dovey (Mnt) also posted an excellent 7.0 point ride smashing the lip on his backhand for his 12.25 total but ended up in third place. Unfortunately Justin Souter (Mnt) couldn’t find any waves in the final falling into the wave starved trap that many competitors had done over the day’s competition and finished fourth.

In his victory speech, Kereopa made special mention to all of the competitors especially the juniors who this time round, really pushed the envelope in high performance surfing. He also couldn’t say enough about the two perfect blue dome days that the event was blessed with even though we are just seeing out the end of winter.

Earlier in the day, Dovey and Kereopa eliminated an inform Brent Rasby (Gis) and defending champ Ben Kennings ((WGM) while Gunness and Souter nedged out Blair Stewart and young Keirin Van Der Helder.

Making one of her limited appearances on New Zealand shores, Lisa Hurunui (Gis) made the most of the surf to win the Tairawhiti Polytech Open Women’s in a tight four way final. Hurunui was placed second behind Jessica Santorik (Rag) for much of the final. Santorik opened with a 6.0 point ride but that was not enough to stop Hurunui who went about her work mid heat to notch a 5.25 and then a 6.05 in the dying stages of the final to win. All four girls including Taranaki’s Paige Hareb and Kelly Clarkson were in the running but it was Hareb and Clarkson that rounded out the final in third and fourth after not being able to find the better waves.

The win was welcomed by Hurunui who is now based in Auckland for the remainder of the year after finishing the ASP World Qualifying Series in 28th position. Santorik’s second placing will strengthen her lead on the Lion Red Pro Surfing Tour after she won the first two events of the series.

Hareb and Clarkson eliminated Wini Paul (Sandy Bay) and Katrina Baty in the semis while Santorik and Hurunui kept Daisy Thomas (Chch) and Monique Hedges (Wgtn) out of the finals.

Billy Stairmand continued on from his day one demolition job to win the Blitz Surf Shop Under 18 Junior Men. After loosing in the quarter finals of the Open Men he kept his cool throughout his Juniors run and completed the final with a total heat score of 14.25.

Stairmand started out with an excellent 7.0 point ride after stringing several fast and flashy forehand reos together. Tim O’Connor (Mnt) fought back with his own opening wave of 6.75 and from then on it appeared a two horse race. O’Connor held the lead until 15 minutes into the heat when Stairmand fired up again to post the final-high 7.25 to seal the win, his first in the Under 18 division. Tim O’Connor was left needing 7.51 which he could not manage while Raglan pair Luke Hughes and Morehu Roberts were left needing 9 point rides to win the final finishing in third and fourth respectively.

For Stairmand, he could not time his run of good form any better with his World Junior Championships campaign approaching on Wednesday week.

Roberts and Hughes won out over Levi O’Connor (Kaik) and Keirin Van Der Helder (Rag) in the first junior semi final and O’Connor and Stairmand made easy work of Joseph Gethen (H-Bay) and Dean Amess (WGM) in the second.

LION RED OPEN MEN QUARTER FINALS
(First and second in each heat progress to the semi finals)

Heat one

Brent Rasby, Gis, 1, Ben Kennings, Cor, 2, Rowan Aish, Muriwai, 3, Luke Cederman, Rag, 4

Heat two

Daniel Kereopa, Rag, 1, Mark Dovey, Bop, 2, Luke Hughes, Rag, 3, Chris O'Leary, Gis, 4

Heat three

Justin Souter, Bop, 1, Blair Stewart, Gis, 2, Sam Willis, Rag, 3, Morehu Roberts, Rag, 4

Heat four

Damon Gunness, Gis, 1, Kierin Van Der Helder, Rag, 2, Billy Stairmand Rag, 3, Ryan Glover, Mnt, 4

LION RED OPEN MEN SEMI FINALS
(First and second in each heat progress to the finals)

Heat one

Mark Dovey, Bop, 1, Daniel Kereopa, Rag, 2, Brent Rasby, Gis, 3, Ben Kennings, Cor, 4

Heat two

Damon Gunness, Gis, 1, Justin Souter, Bop, 2, Blair Stewart, Gis, 3, Kierin Van Der Helder, Rag, 4

LION RED OPEN MENS FINALS

Daniel Kereopa, Rag, 1, Damon Gunness, Gis, 2, Mark Dovey, Bop, 3, Justin Souter, Bop, 4

BLITZ SURF SHOP JUNIORS (U18) QUARTERS

Heat one

Luke Hughes, Rag, 1, Levi O'Connor, Kaik, 2, David Crofoot, 3. Jhia Steevens, Gis, 4

Heat two

Morehu Roberts, Rag, 1, Kierin Van Der Helder, Rag, 2, Joe Nicole, Gis, 3, Zal Ferguson, Whngrei, 4

Heat three

Dean Amess, Whmata, 1, Tim O’Connor, Mnt, 2, Bodhi Whitaker, Gis, 3, Gauranga Ormond, Whmata, 4

Heat four

Billy Stairmand, Rag, 1, Joseph Gethen, Te Awanga, 2, Ryan Hawker, Piha, 3, Hugo Phillips, Piha, 4

BLITZ SURF SHOP JUNIORS (U18) SEMIFINALS

Heat one

Morehu Roberts, Rag, 1, Luke Hughes, Rag, 2, Levi O'Connor, Kaik, 3, Kierin Van Der Helder, Rag, 4

Heat two

Tim O’Connor, Mnt, 1, Billy Stairmand, Rag, 2, Joseph Gethen, Te Awanga, 3, Dean Amess, Whmata, 4

BLITZ SURF SHOP JUNIORS (U18) FINALS

Morehu Roberts, Rag, Luke Hughes, Rag, Tim O’Connor, Mnt, 1, Billy Stairmand, Rag

TAIRAWHITI POLYTECH OPEN WOMEN Round 1

Heat one

Kelly Clarkeson, Rag, 1, Paige Hareb, Tara, 2, Sophie Moore, Muri, 3

Heat two

Katrina Baty, Gis, 1, Wini Paul, Sandy Bay, 2, Kara Stephenson, Rag, 3, Elaine Van Den Worm, Gis, 4

Heat three

Lisa Hurunui, Gis, 1, Monique Hedges, Wgtn, 2, Jessica Welch, Gis, 3

Heat four

Jessica Santorik, Rag, 1, Daisy Thomas, Can, 2, Clare Thomson, Gis, 3

TAIRAWHITI POLYTECH OPEN WOMEN SEMIFINALS

Heat one

Paige Hareb, Tara, 1, Kelly Clarkeson, Rag, 2, Wini Paul, Sandy Bay, 3, Katrina Baty, Gis, 4

Heat two

Jessica Santorik, Rag, 1, Lisa Hurunui, Gis, 2, Daisy Thomas, Can, 3, Monique Hedges, Wgtn, 4

TAIRAWHITI POLYTECH OPEN WOMEN FINALS

Lisa Hurunui, Gis, 1, Jessica Santorik, Rag, 2, Paige Hareb, Tara, 3, Kelly Clarkeson, Rag, 4

The Lion Red Pro – Gisborne is sponsored by Lion Red, Tairawhiti Polytechnic and Blitz Surf Shop.

The event would be not possible without the support of Surfing New Zealand and Gisborne Boardriders.

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by

Lion Red
Vodafone
Hyundai
SPARC
Smokefree

Source: Surfing New Zealand

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