A ninth place finish in the first event of the year. © ASP

Through out round 4 there were upsets and close heats.
4 heats were separated by under 2.3 points with Mick going down to Kai by just 0.19 pts. Straight off the bat in heat 1 Adriano got past Ace by just 0.36 pts.

9 round 1 losers surfed in round 4 …
5 of those have gone through to the final 8.
Only 10 events in the last 46 events have been won by round 1 loses (22%)
These are events that have used the long method, three men round 1 heats.

9 of last years top 10 will start inside the top 9 with 16 surfers sharing the top 9 positions after event 1.

8 Surfers left in the event after round 4

What have they done here on the Gold Coast before
2002- 2009 Tour Years
3 have never been past round 4, “but they have now”…
(Otton (2) .. Reynolds .. Smith (2))
1 has made the semis but never been to the final
(Martinez)
3 have been runner up in the event
(Burrow .. Durbidge .. de Sousa)
1 has won the event before
(Parkinson (2)

The Final 8 Average Results on the Gold Coast
Parko has an average event result here of 5.50 in 8 years.
Taj of 8.13 in 8 years.
De Sousa 7.75 in 4 years.
Jordy 9.0 in 2 years.
Bede 12.00 in 5 years.
Otton 17.00 in 3 years.
Bobby 17.50 in 4 years.
Reynolds 23.00 in 4 years.

The round 4 winners and the final 8 left in the event are…
Aussies 4 … USA 2 … ZAF & Brazil 1 each.
7 have come from within the top 11 ratings from 2009 and Kai Otton last years number 17.
5 of the final 8 have won a Dream Tour event before.
There are 3 without a title yet… Dane & Kai have both been to a 1 final earlier in their careers for a 2nd each. Jordy has been as far as the semis before for two 3rds..

Quarter Final Series …
Four first class heats with 3 scores over 17 and an average between the 8 surfers of 15.81.

In round 3 Bede posted his second 19 plus score of his career. 19.30
His best was his 19.40 he posted on the Gold Coast in 2007.
In the quarter finals Dane posted his second 19 plus score of his career. 19.20
Danes equal best was his 19.20 he posted at J-Bay in 2009.

5 surfers in the Quarter finals were round 1 losers…
Only 10 events in the last 46 events have been won by round 1 loses (22%)
Only counting back events that have used the long method, three man round 1 heats.

9 of last years top 10 will start inside the top 9 with 16 surfers sharing the top 9 positions after event 1.

Semi Showdowns…
There are now just 3 heats left in the event till they Crown a Champion for two10…

The Quarter Final Winners and the 4 Semi Finalist left in the event are…
USA 2 … Aussies 1 … ZAF 1
2 of the final 4 have won a Dream Tour event before.
There are 2 without a title yet…
Dane has been to 1 final earlier in their career for a 2nd.
Jordy has been as far as the semis before for two 3rds.
Now they face off in semi number two for a crack at a title.
So there will defiantly be a first time champion possibility with one of the two to make the final.

All 4 surfers in the Semis finals are round 1 losers, they all came through the 2nd round to the finals, first time I have seen this…
Only 10 events in the last 46 events have been won by round 1 losers (22%)
Only counting back events that have used the long method, three man round 1 heats.

The top 12 average scores in 2010 and ladder position pre Semis, Event 1…
16.22 Fanning 9th
15.90 Durbidge 5th
15.68 Parkinson 5th
15.44 Slater 9th
14.79 de Sousa 5th
14.71 Andre 17th
14.51 Patacchia 9th
14.48 Smith ???
14.27 Knox 17th
14.21 Burrow ???
14.13 Gudauskas 33rd
14.02 Pirez 17th
2009 top 5; Fanning 14.96 .. Slater 14.69 .. Reynolds 14.61 .. Parkinson 14.60 .. Burrow 14.02

There has only been one score over 19.00 in Dream Tour history that has lost a heat.
It was here on the Gold Coast , 19.10
38.63 – Quar’ final 2007 Mick Fanning 19.53 d Josh Kerr 19.10
The second highest combined total in history..
The highest was 2004 Fiji Final between Damien and A.I…
Damien Hobgood USA 19.90 def Andy Irons Hawaii 18.96 (38.86)

The Semi Finals might be tomorrow or next week!!!

Aloha,

Mike Newman
RAS Sports surfing stats

Studying video footage of my heat post loss. © ASP

Cheers everybody, round 3 is now complete and we are down to the final 16…

There are now just 15 heats left in the event until they Crown an event Champ for 2010…
With round 3 behind us, the final 16 surfers are all from within the top 28 ranked surfers coming into the event. 15 are re-qualifiers from 2009 and the WQS Champion from 2009 and Muscle Man Dan Ross.

Bede Durbidge posted the second plus 19 score of his career today. With wave scores of 9.93 and 9.37 and a total of 19.30 he blitzed Luke Munro. It wasn’t the highest score of his career; his best was his 19.40 he posted on the Gold Coast in 2007.

The waves pumped for day 4 of the Quiksilver Pro. © ASP

9 of today’s 16 heats were won by less than 2 points with the 4 closest being…
H 13; Dane Reynolds def Jeremy Flores by 0.34 pts
H 2; Adrian Buchan def Taylor Knox by 0.40 pts
H 14; Kieren Perrow def Mick Campbell by 0.63 pts
H 16; Jordy Smith def Tiago Pirez by 0.64 pts

ROOKIE FILE
This year 11 young surfers have started their Dream Tour careers at Snapper Rocks in event 1.
5 went into round 3 but none went through into round 4…
5 rookies have started the season with 17ths and the other 6 have taken 33rds home.

MILESTONE FILE
TAJ (300 wins)

In round 3, Taj Burrows won his 300th heat on the Dream Tour in his 13th year.
Career to date; 134 events .. 492 heats .. 300 wins .. 61% win ratio
116 final heats; 59 quarters .. 38 semis .. 19 finals for 7 wins.
Taj wins an event 1 in every 19 events he surfs in…

The day 4 winners and the final 16 left in the event are…
Aussies 9 … USA 4 … Hawaii, ZAF & Brazil 1 each.
9 of the final 16 have won a Dream Tour event before.
So with 7 surfers having not won before, there is a chance that event 1 might see a first time winner…

16 Surfers left in the event - what have they done here before
1 had never been past round 2… he has now. Congrats Dan Ross.
6 have never been past round 4: Davidson, Otton (2), Patacchia (2), Reynolds, Perrow, Smith (2).
2 have made the quarters but never won a final: Buchan (2), D Hobgood (2).
1 has made the semis but never been to the final: Martinez.
3 have been runner up in the event: Burrows, Durbidge, de Sousa)
3 have won the event before: Slater (2), Parkinson (2), Fanning (2)

Round 4 & the Finals could be on today.

Aloha,
Mike Newman
RAS Sports surfing stats

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.00 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.46
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.10 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 13.70
Heat 3: Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.00 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 9.27
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.84 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 6.67
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) 14.16 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 11.26
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.73 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 13.40
Heat 7: Kai Otton (AUS) 13.97 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 12.60
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.74 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 10.43
Heat 9: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.63 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.20
Heat 10: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.17 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 12.64
Heat 11: Daniel Ross (AUS) 13.54 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.00
Heat 12: Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.57 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.23
Heat 13: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 19.30 def. Luke Munro (AUS) 7.37
Heat 14: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.06 def. Mick Campbell (AUS) 12.43
Heat 15: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.37 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 7.56
Heat 16: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.23 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.77

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 2: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)
Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 6: Daniel Ross (AUS) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

Event highlights to-date.
In 2009 - 54 scores over 17 were posted by the top 45.
33 of them were posted by Fanning (11), Slater (9), Parko (7), Reynolds (6).
In the first 24 heats of 2010 there have been 5 already. Guess who has three of them? Fanning, Slater, Reynolds.
In 2008 Slater posted 24, Parko 10, Reynolds and Fanning 6 each, Jordy Smith 4.Same old same old.
All 3 wild cards lost today…

In Rd 2 Jordy Smith logged the best heat score of 2010 so far. © ASP

ROOKIES
This year 11 young surfers started their Dream Tour careers at Snapper Rocks in round 1.
4 of the 11 started with a winning heat. Brett Simpson, Dusty Payne, Owen Wright and Jadson Andre
3 more Rookies took to the water on day two, none of them won and all will leave Snapper Rocks with 33rd results to start the year.
Good luck at Bells boys!

MILESTONES
TAJ (300 heat wins)
In round 2 today, Taj Burrow won his 299th heat on the Dream Tour in his 13th year.
C.J. (200 wins)
In round 2 today, C.J Hobgood won his 199th heat on the Dream Tour in his 12th year.
Round 3 could see both these guys go into the record books with milestone wins.

100 EVENTS CLUB
Slater 183, Knox 178, Taj 134, Campbo 125, Andy Irons 116, CJ Hobgood 113
(next inductees Damo 99, Joel 94, Neco 94)

The day 2 winners… Red singlet day
USA mainland 4, Aussies 2, ZAF 1, Hawaii 1

Highest Scores Posted on the Gold Coast
19.93 - Joel Parkinson, Semi final 2009
19.83 – Kelly Slater Round 3 2007
19.63 – Andy Irons QF 2004
19.60 – Mick Fanning, QF 2003
19.53 – Mick Fanning QF 2007
19.50 - Chris Ward, Round 2 2005

The lowest scores on the Gold Coast belongs to Tom Whitaker, who had a heat score total of 2.34 in a Semi final in 2004.
There has been 146 scores under 10 points posted in Quiksilver Pro history.
18 of them have been posted so far this year in just 24 heats.
2 of these 146 scores were winning scores.
In 05 Tom Whits won with a score of 9.67 against Occy 6.73 in the Quarters.
And in 07 Josh Kerr won in round 4 with a score of 9.16 against Jeremy Flores who had 7.67.
In the very next round Kerr lost to Mick Fanning with the only losing score over 19.00 in history.
Fanning 19.53 def Kerr 19.10, the highest combined total on the Gold Coast. (38.63) 2nd highest in history
The highest combined score in the history of the two-wave scoring era went down in Fiji back in 2004 when Damien Hobgood USA 19.90 def Andy Irons Hawaii 18.96 (38.86) in the final.

To watch the event live click here.

Aloha,
Mike Newman
RAS Sports Surfing Stats

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