Billabong Pro Tahiti pres. by Air Tahiti Nui<\/p>\n
Stop No. 3 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour <\/p>\n
Teahupoo, Taiarapu, Tahiti<\/p>\n
May 8-18, 2008<\/p>\n
[img]http:\/\/www.aspworldtour.com\/photos\/tah08\/santos1316tahiti08kirstin_l.jpg[\/img]
\nPhoto: Bruno Santos takes a victory lap through the channel after winning the Billabong Pro Tahiti.<\/p>\n
TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Thursday, May 15, 2008) \u0096 Brazilian wildcard Bruno Santos has defeated local wildcard Manoa Drollet (PYF) to win the Billabong Pro Tahiti and become the first Brazilian to win an ASP World Tour event in five years.\u0093I\u0092m really happy, my dreams just came true,\u0094 Santos said. \u0093Today is not the perfect day to surf the final, but I don\u0092t care I\u0092m still happy. It\u0092s still the best day of my life.\u0094<\/p>\n
Santos, who earned his spot in the Billabong Pro Tahiti with a runner-up finish in the Air Tahiti Nui VonZipper Trials held prior to the main event, got the better of local Teahupoo specialist Drollet in their low scoring affair. Santos beat Drollet 9.16 to 6.83 on a borrowed surfboard in inconsistent three-foot (one metre) waves.<\/p>\n
\u0093I got two little barrels and then there were no more waves, I don\u0092t know, maybe Mother Nature was trying to help me,\u0094 Santos said. \u0093Today is so small and my 6\u00923 was too big so I borrowed a board from a French guy in the channel. He saved my life, I want to keep the board.\u0094<\/p>\n
Santos defeated last year\u0092s World No. 1 Mick Fanning (AUS), World No. 2 Taj Burrow and 2001 ASP World Champion C.J. Hobgood (USA), among others, en route to his victory. <\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092ve surfed more than 10 heats if you count the trials,\u0094 Santos said, \u0093The waves in the trials were so perfect and I have surfed the best barrels of my life in this event. I got injured in the trials and had to get 15 stitches and not surf for 15 days. My first heat back was the one against Mick Fanning that I won in the last minute so I knew from then that luck was on my side.\u0094<\/p>\n
The Billabong Pro Tahiti was the eighth ASP World Tour event for both Santos and Drollet \u0096 both surfers have enjoyed multiple wildcards into Pipeline and Teahupoo events among others. <\/p>\n
The last Brazilian to win an ASP World Tour event was Neco Padaratz in France in 2003.<\/p>\n
Drollet\u0092s best result previous to today, was a semifinal showing at Teahupoo in 1999. He is widely regarded as one of the best surfers at Teahupoo but conditions in the Final weren\u0092t exactly the big hollow barrels he is used to surfing.<\/p>\n
\u0093The waves were small but they were small for him too,\u0094 Drollet said. \u0093He did better in the final and he deserved to win. Getting so close to winning the event gets you nervous and there were not many waves. Bruno was putting pressure on me and he had priority. I was paying more attention to him than the waves. I let him take that first one which was a big mistake \u0096 he won there.\u0094<\/p>\n
Drollet beat World No. 1 Kelly Slater and earned two perfect 10s in the Billabong Pro Tahiti but victory at home eluded him.<\/p>\n
\u0093Before the final I said to myself, \u0092it doesn\u0092t matter if I win the final because I have had such a good event and surfed so many amazing heats, I shouldn\u0092t put pressure myself to win,\u0092\u0094 Drollet said. \u0093If I don\u0092t win, it\u0092s still a good day of surfing and in the end that is all that matters. I would have loved to have won though. It won\u0092t be easy to ever make it that far again \u0096 I think I got quite lucky to get the waves I got in this event.\u0094<\/p>\n
Drollet beat Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.33 to 10.27 in the semifinals \u0096 the same heat in which he earned the second of his perfect 10 point rides. Parkinson caught four waves to Drollet\u0092s eight. <\/p>\n
\u0093The swell was definitely dying so I was trying to be selective,\u0094 Parkinson said. \u0093I still thought I could get a 10.00, anything is possible, but there was only one other wave that came through, right through the inside, and I was up the top with priority. Manoa got it and got an 8.00. I\u0092m stoked I got a third and good for Manoa, it takes the points away, so that\u0092s a good thing.\u0094<\/p>\n
Parkinson moves to World No. 2 behind Slater with the result. Behind him, Bede Durbidge (AUS), Andy Irons (HAW) and Mick Fanning (AUS) sit in third, fourth and fifth respectively.<\/p>\n
Former winner C.J. Hobgood suffered a similar fate to Parkinson when he lost to Santos 8.67 to 14.34.<\/p>\n
\u0093If I had it to do over again, I wouldn\u0092t change a thing,\u0094 Hobgood said. \u0093Fifteen minutes left, I had priority and I needed a six so I sat there. If you did that again, nine times out of 10 a wave would come in. A wave didn\u0092t break for 15 minutes. Yea, I\u0092m bummed and I wanted to break my board into a million pieces and kick and scream and cry, but I\u0092m just going to smile.\u0094<\/p>\n
Hobgood moves to World No. 12 with the result, but after opening the season with two equal 17th showings, was hoping for more. The fact that ratings points for 1st and 2nd place weren\u0092t doled out since the wildcards aren\u0092t rated surfers was of little consolation for him.<\/p>\n
\u0093Two wildcards in the final, if you are Kelly Slater you are laughing,\u0094 Hobgood said. \u0093But if you\u0092re the rest of us, it\u0092s a missed opportunity.\u0094<\/p>\n
The World\u0092s Top 45 surfers will have another opportunity to earn points when they head to Fiji for Stop No. 4 on the ASP World Tour next week.<\/p>\n
Visit www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com for additional information.<\/p>\n
Billabong Pro Tahiti Final Results:<\/p>\n
Final: Bruno Santos (BRA) 9.16 def. Manoa Drollet (PYF) 6.83<\/p>\n
Billabong Pro Tahiti Semifinal Results:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Manoa Drollet (PYF) 18.33 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.27<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Bruno Santos (BRA) 14.34 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 8.67<\/p>\n
Billabong Pro Tahiti Quarterfinal Results:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.33 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 6.14<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Manoa Drollet (PYF) 17.84 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 9.83<\/p>\n
Heat 3: Bruno Santos (BRA) 9.83 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.07<\/p>\n
Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 15.00 def. Bruce Irons (HAW) 10.16<\/p>\n
Billabong Pro Tahiti Round 4 Results:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Andy Irons (HAW) 18.93 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 13.26
\nHeat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.50 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 8.17
\nHeat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.50 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 14.50
\nHeat 4: Manoa Drollet (PYF) 15.00 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 5.33
\nHeat 5: Bruno Santos (BRA) 15.34 def. Tim Reyes (USA) 3.70
\nHeat 6: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.50 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.84
\nHeat 7: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 9.00 def. Chris Ward (USA) 2.10<\/p>\n
Heat 8: Bruce Irons (USA) 15.16 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 8.73<\/p>\n
Today\u0092s Billabong Pro Tahiti Round 3 Results:<\/p>\n
Heat 15: Mikael Picon (FRA) 11.27 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 6.93<\/p>\n
Heat 16: Bruce Irons (HAW) 18.17 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 16.34<\/p>\n
Top 10 ASP World Tour Rated Surfers after the Billabong Pro Tahiti:<\/p>\n
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 2810 points<\/p>\n
2. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 2340 points<\/p>\n
3. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 2318 points<\/p>\n
4. Andy Irons (HAW) 2196 points<\/p>\n
5. Mick Fanning (AUS) 1989 points<\/p>\n
6. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 1932 points<\/p>\n
7. Taj Burrow (AUS) 1886 points<\/p>\n
8. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 1874 points<\/p>\n
9. Kai Otton (AUS) 1800 points<\/p>\n
10. Dane Reynolds (USA) 1742 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billabong Pro Tahiti pres. by Air Tahiti Nui Stop No. 3 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour Teahupoo, Taiarapu, Tahiti May 8-18, 2008 [img]http:\/\/www.aspworldtour.com\/photos\/tah08\/santos1316tahiti08kirstin_l.jpg[\/img] Photo: Bruno Santos takes a victory lap through the channel after winning the Billabong Pro Tahiti. TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Thursday, May 15, 2008) \u0096 Brazilian wildcard Bruno Santos has defeated … Continue reading “Bruno Santos wins All-Wildcard Billabong Pro Tahiti Final”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}