Title contenders dominate in Mundaka round three

The race for the Foster's ASP Men's World Tour title is hotting up as
all contenders for the crown have progressed through to round four of
the Billabong Pro Mundaka.

TITLE CONTENDERS DOMIINATE IN BILLABONG PRO MUNDAKA ROUND THREE 

MUNDAKA, Basque Country, Northern Spain (Tuesday, October 10, 2006) –
The race for the Foster's ASP Men's World Tour title is hotting up as
all contenders for the crown have progressed through to round four of
the Billabong Pro Mundaka.

In one metre (three foot) and reeling
waves, Kelly Slater (USA), Andy Irons (HAW) and Taj Burrow (AUS) all
won heats today thus keeping their stakes on the big prize alive.

Current
ratings leader and seven-time world champion Slater surfed a very smart
heat when he disposed of local wildcard Hodei Collazo (EUK) in the
day's first encounter.

Slater looked to be in perfect position
right throughout the heat and monopolised every set wave that pushed
through the arena. Yet he felt within himself there is still plenty of
room for improvement.

"I don't feel like I'm totally in sync
with the waves yet," said Slater. "I felt like towards the end of that
heat I was starting to open up a little more with my turns. I'm
starting to feel a little more free ever time I surf."

At one
stage the defiant Collazo had an opportunity to catch up to the heat
frontrunner and Slater was worried his underdog rival could have pulled
an upset.

He also joked that the result was payback for Collazo's win over Slater's good friend Taylor Knox in round two.

"I
saw him take off on that wave," said Slater. "I had flash backs of Luke
Egan beating me in '97 or '98 at Grajagan. The same thing happened… I
saw him free-fall into the wave and I crossed my fingers hoping he
wouldn't come out. I wasn't sure if he came out or not because I heard
the crowd yelling. He beat my best friend the other day, Taylor Knox,
so now we're even between me and my crew (laughs)."

His
opponent Collazzo did put up a valiant effort and with the vocal crowd
pushing him all the way he showed that he certainly possesses the
skills that could take him onto the world stage.

Collazzo was appreciative of the opportunity to surf against his hero.

"I
think it's a really good experience for me," said Collazo. "I've been
watching him surf since I was really young. Surfing in these waves with
Kelly Slater, who is a world champion, puts a lot of pressure on me,
but I also learn a lot from him."

Slater must now face Cory Lopez
(USA) in round four. And after having a strong run so far, Slater is
also wary of Lopez's capabilities.

"I'm coming up against Cory
Lopez in the next round and I'm hoping for some more open face waves,"
said Slater. "Cory can fit into those little barrels pretty good. He's
one of the best tube riders in the world."

Irons meanwhile had a
very close encounter with his rival in Yuri Sodre (BRA) almost letting
him in the door in the last few minutes when Sodre grabbed a decent
scoring ride.

Sodre, for an instant, went to the lead but was pegged back when Irons blasted a wave in the dying seconds.

"Yeah
that was pretty sketchy," said Irons. "At the beginning I got a little
laid back. I left the door wide open and he was at the gate for about
22 minutes or something, so it was definitely not one of my better
heats. I didn't know what he got on that last wave, as I wasn't sure
what he did, but I knew he went pretty far. I was definitely biting my
nails out there."

Irons was more eager to build some momentum, as it's been a while since he surfed his round one heat.

"It's
been over a week since my last heat," said Irons. "So it just felt good
to get back in the water with a jersey on and get back into motion."
Burrow looked dangerous in his heat against rookie Adrian Buchan (AUS).

He only rode four waves in the heat, three of which demonstrated why he is one of the biggest names in the sport.

He was worried however that there was always a possibility that the ocean could go flat and adapted his strategy to suit.

"I
saw Jake (Paterson) lose the heat before due to only getting one ride,"
said Burrow. "So I thought it would be good to get a bit of a wave
count up, at least build a little house with a couple of small scores.
It was pretty scarce though."

Only two other heats were run today as once again the tide filled in the break and the waves began to dry up.

As
mentioned by Burrow, heat six between Jake Paterson (AUS) and Phil
Macdonald (AUS) was a completely one-sided affair as Paterson only rode
one wave during the heat.

"The ocean just went flat," said
winner MacDonald. "Jake and I sat out there and Jake couldn't get a
wave. I just fluffed around and got a 5.5 and a 4.83. I didn't think
they were going to be counters but in the end they were the two highest
scores of the heat. It's just one of those things, Mundaka turns on and
then it turns off just as quick. It's just Mother Nature."

The remaining heat of the day was between Trent Munro (AUS) and Shaun Cansdell with Munro running home with a win.

"I've
been surfing with Shaun ever since he was a little kid," said Munro. "I
wasn't going to take him lightly. I was going to give it everything
I've got and I'm sure he did the same. I owed him one from Trestles
where he beat me so there you go Shauny!"

Munro now has the unenviable task of surfing against Andy Irons in round four.

"Again
I've been surfing against Andy for years, all through the junior
ranks," said Munro. "He's at the top of the world so to be up against
him and giving him a good go, that's where I'm at."

Organisers
will meet again tomorrow at 9am to check conditions and will no doubt
wait once again for the tide to become favourable.

The www.surfline.com
forecast indicates that while we perhaps won't see huge swell over the
next few days there potentially could be some very nice waves on which
the event will be completed.

"Wednesday will see mostly
leftover energy with waist high waves on the better tides and
occasional larger sets to chest high," said Surfline. "Going further
out, it appears that back to back west north west swells will build
through the day on Thursday and hold waves into Friday."

Stay tuned to www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com for all the latest updates.

And for downloadable audio files, transcribed quotes and heat-by-heat updates head to Media Centre.

Round three heat results: (1st to round four 2nd receives 17th placing and 410 ratings points)

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (Aus) 19.70 def. Jarrad Howse (Aus) 8.27
Heat 2: Bruce Irons (Haw) 13.84 def. Luke Stedman (Aus) 7.66
Heat 3: Victor Ribas (Bra) 11.27 def. CJ Hobgood (Aus) 10.84
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (Aus) 18.00 def. Toby Martin (Aus) 15.00
Heat 5: Pancho Sullivan (Haw) 15.10 def. Tim Reyes (USA) 13.34
Heat 6: Tom Whitaker (Aus) 17.27 def. Chris Ward (USA) 13.67
Heat 7: Cory Lopez (USA) 12.17 def Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.34
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) 14.33 def Hodei Collazo (EUK) 12.23
Heat 9: Andy Irons (HAW) 11.76 def Yuri Sodre (BRA) 10.60
Heat 10: Trent Munro (AUS) 13.73 def Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 12.96
Heat 11: Bobby Martinez (USA) 15.17 def Peterson Rosa (BRA) 12.94
Heat 12: Phil MacDonald (AUS) 10.33 def Jake Paterson (AUS) 4.67
Heat 13: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.00 def Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.23

Remaining round three heats:
Heat 14: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 15: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs Mikael Picon (FRA)
Heat 16: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs Michael Lowe (AUS)