Careers on line at at Billabong Pro Mundaka

Surfers competing in the Billabong Pro Mundaka were greeted by small
clean swell lines this morning and after a wait for the tide to become
more favourable, organisers pushed forward with seven more heats of
round two.

CAREERS ON THE LINE AT BILLABONG PRO MUNDAKA 

MUNDAKA, Basque Country, Northern Spain (Sunday, October 8, 2006) –
Surfers competing in the Billabong Pro Mundaka were greeted by small
clean swell lines this morning and after a wait for the tide to become
more favourable, organisers pushed forward with seven more heats of
round two.

Heading the top scorers list for the day was tour
veteran Cory Lopez (USA) who totalled a 16.33 out of 20 after excelling
in the half to one metre (two to three feet) long-walling waves.

The
goofy footer, who hails from Florida, made the most of everything that
came his way racking up points for some very creative surfing and in
the end he easily disposed of his Hawaiian rival Roy Powers.

"I
knew that in my heat the tide would turn and it would get a little
better," said Lopez. "Luckily the tide stopped ripping out and we had
to move up the point. A couple of good waves came in. I was stoked to
get them."

For Lopez a good result is a must here at this event
as like many surfers at the bottom end of the Foster's ASP Men's World
Tour ratings he is literally fighting to maintain his position amongst
surfing's elite.

At the end of each season surfers ranked lower
than 28 are replaced by up and comers from ASP's second tier tour, the
World Qualifying Series (WQS).

"I've been sitting at the back
of the pack, just working away," said Lopez. "Now I've made it through
this heat, hopefully the rest of the event will go well for me. If I
can get a good result here I'll be a little bit more comfortable going
into the last couple of events for the year. It's been a tough year for
me but we'll see how it finishes."

Another who was extremely pleased top take a win today was 2005 world number six, Trent Munro (AUS).

The
powerhouse naturalfooter was a sensation on last year's tour winning
one event at Bells Beach Australia then finishing solidly in most
events throughout the year.

Unfortunately this season, despite
showing solid form, he has struggled to finish at the pointy end of
competition and like Lopez is sitting uncomfortably on the edge of
relegation back to the WQS.

Munro however was confident his stay at the bottom end will only be short lived.

"I've
had a terrible year compared to last year," said Munro. "I've been
surfing good and feeling good, but I just haven't had the luck factor I
think. Lets hope it changes for the last three events. It's a position
I really don't like to be in but I've been here before and I know how
to deal with it. I'm just going to go out and surf and play the cards
right hopefully."

Flying the flag for the South Africans today was Travis Logie who lifted a notch to oust Raoni Monteiro (BRA).

The
size and speed of the waves on offer in the heat were well suited to
the goofyfooters style and he really made the most of every
opportunity.

He too recognizes the importance of getting a solid result here.

"You
don't want to have 33rds at all," said Logie. "At the end of the year
they hurt you so bad. It was a really important heat for me and it's a
really important contest for a lot of guys.

"I'm in 19th at the
moment which isn't on the bubble but it's the kind of position where
one bad contest and you're on the edge of being relegated. The world
title is out of reach so it's just a matter of trying to requalify… So
far so good."

Adriano de Souza (BRA) was another to turn heads today in his defeat of fellow countryman Paulo Moura.

The
exciting naturalfooter has had to overcome a back injury in the past
few days and at one stage was looking like he would be unable to
compete.

The injury certainly didn't affect his performance today.

"I'm
pretty happy that I can move again and get back into the contest," said
de Souza. "I've been spending all of my days in bed with a back injury.
I'm really happy to move to round three. I need the points to maintain
my spot of the tour."

Organisers will return tomorrow at 7.30am and will assess conditions.

With
such extreme tides it is difficult to predict exactly when the event
will take place and on most days throughout the waiting period only a
small number of heats have been run as conditions change drastically.

Looking at tomorrow's forecast www.surfline.com indicated there potentially could be a few waves around the middle of the day.

"We
can again expect a slow start Monday morning with the large high tide
and new swell just starting to fill in," said the Surfline report. "The
best waves will be found over the afternoon on Monday with the
low/incoming tide and building swell."

Today's round two heat results: (1st goes to round 3 2nd receives 33rd placing)

Heat 8: Mikael Picon (FRA) 16.20 def Fred Patacchia (HAW) 13.83
Heat 9: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 10.00 def Davey Weare (ZAF) 9.16
Heat 10: Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 12.10 def Pedro Henrique (BRA) 10.83
Heat 11: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.17 def Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.57
Heat 12: Cory Lopez (USA) 16.33 def Roy Powers (HAW) 8.67
Heat 13: Trent Munro (AUS) 14.83 def Marcelo Nunes (BRA) 13.70
Heat 14: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.50 def Paulo Moura (BRA) 13.00

Remaining round two heats:

Heat 15: Victor Ribas (BRA) vs Darren O'Rafferty (AUS)
Heat 16: Nathan Hedge (AUS) vs Chris Ward (USA)