2009 Stats Wrap

A statistical recap courtesy of Mike Newman

With a round 3 win and a 9th place finish at Pipeline, Mick become a two time World Champion. There has been two others to claim two Titles before Mick… Tom Carroll (83 - 84) and Damien Hardman (87 - 91), and now Mick Fanning (07- 09)

Now Mick will set out on his next campaign to join living legends Tom Curren and Hawaiian Superstar Andy Irons as a 3-time winner. And if he wins 4 titles on tour, he will join Newcastle’s Mark Richards…

Slater’s 9 titles is obviously still a pretty safe record. However, there is one person who might catch Slater’s 9… And that’s Stephanie Gilmore. With three titles at 21 years old and getting better and better with age, she has won 44% of all events she has surfed. Kelly has won 23%.

With the 2010 season about to get underway on the Gold Coast I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what was in 2009… The year of Mick…

It was a phenomenal season, one of the best can I remember. The highlight was seeing Mick and Joel fight it out for the title till the very last event. A couple of records were also rewritten at different venues, 8 surfers had career high results to requalify inside the top 27 and 3 of the 8 rookies made it onto next years tour. Kekoa 18th, Michel 21st, Drew 27th.

Joel dominated the first half of the year and Mick the second half, but statistically there wasn’t much in it. In the first half for the season Mick and Joel’s win ratios were very close and their average heat scores were almost identical. Mick lost in 3 events in the first half of the season with heat scores well above his average heat score for the season, Mick ended the seasons with the highest average heat total..

He went out in 3rd position on the Gold Coast with a 17.66 heat score total. He lost at Bells by just 0.34 with a 15.16 to finish 5th. And finished with a 17th at J-Bay with a 17.17 heat score.

In the other two events in the first half of the season, Mick lost in Tahiti by just 0.03 in round 3 and in Brazil made the quarters, so he was statistically still well and truly in contention. Just needed a few breaks.

Mick’s 09 season: 10 events… 36 heats… 28 wins… 77.78% win ratio… 14.97 average heat score… 13 finals heats, 3 x 1st… 1 x 3rd… 2 x 5th… 3 x 9th… 1 x 17th. He posted 11 scores over 17.00 with a season highest in the quarter-final of event 1 on the Gold Coast , 18.53.

It is interesting to note that Mick’s average result after event number 4 in Brazil was 5.5 and at the end of the season was 6th, just showing that he was on World Title Target all the way through… Joel sat on top of the leader board for 7 events, Mick headed the leader board for three, the final three, when it counted.

Mick topped most the leader boards, he had the highest average score, the best win ratio, posted the most heat points, most heat wins and most scores over 17.00. He had the best average event result but Joel had the most 10-point rides posting 5 of the 15 recorded this season, 3 were notched by wildcards and 3 by Dane Reynolds. Mick posted no perfect scores in 2009, but there were a few that I saw that should have been 10s!

Joel also posted most consecutive heat wins in a row with 12. Mick, Bobby and Kelly all did 7 in a row during the season. Joel posted the highest season score for the second year in a row, with a 19.93 to best Mick in the semi’s on the Goldie.

Mick is one of 16 World Champions in history and this year he won the 14th Australian World Title, of which are shared between 8 different Aussie surfers. The USA have 13 titles shared between 3 surfers. Hawaii 5 titles from 3 surfers. Britain and South Africa 1 title each, from one surfer. Including Mick this year 29 of 34 World Champions have came from within the top 10 the previous year.

He was the first surfer to win the title from the 8th position the previous season, it was the 4th closest title race in history, it is the 26th natural footers title, the goofys have 8 titles. The Goofy footers haven’t finished in the top 2 since C.J and Occy went 1st and 2nd in 2001.

MICK JOINED THE 300 CLUB during the 2009 season
In round 3 of the Bells event Mick surfed in his 300th Dream Tour heat, this time against Bobby Martinez. Mick smoked Bobby with a 14.26 to 3.43 score line to progress into the final series.

Mick’s Career Stats including his wild card entries.
84events… 329 heats… 226 wins… 68.69% win ratio. 14.69 average career score.
55 scores over 17.00 in his 268 two wave scoring heats.
(95 finals heats) - 45 quarter finals .. 30 semi finals .. 20 finals for 12 wins.

It’s been a pleasure to watch, Mick. Best of luck for 2010. Aloha, Mike Newman, RAS Stats

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