Quiksilver Pro France<\/p>\n
Stop No. 8 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour <\/p>\n
Southwest Coast of France<\/p>\n
September 19-28, 2008<\/p>\n
\nAdrian Buchan Beats Kelly Slater to be Crowned Quiksilver Pro France Champion<\/p>\n
HOSSEGOR, France (Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008) \u0096 Adrian Buchan (AUS) has beaten eight-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) to win his first ever ASP World Tour event \u0096 the Quiksilver Pro France \u0096 in Hossegor, France today.<\/p>\n
Buchan beat Slater 15.73 to 15.16 in a tight heat held at Les Bourdaines this afternoon. The final berth was the first of Buchan\u0092s ASP World Tour career. Prior to winning the Quiksilver Pro France, Buchan he had never advanced from the quarterfinal round.\u0093I can’t believe it, to have Kelly in the final and to beat him, I am speechless,\u0094 Buchan said. \u0093He is my hero. I have watched him win five events this year \u0096 he has just been phenomenal. He sets the bar so high for all of us guys, I am really thankful that surfing has got such a great custodian.”<\/p>\n
Had Buchan lost the heat, Slater would have clinched his ninth ASP World Title. Buchan led the heat for most of the 35-minute affair with Slater needing a very attainable 7.51 to change the situation. The eight-time ASP World Champion caught a wave with seconds to go but came up short.<\/p>\n
\u0093I tried not to think about it paddling out for the final,\u0094 Buchan said. \u0093I had visions of him winning the title but I just tried to focus on myself and what I had to do out there \u0096 get two really good waves. Luckily Kelly did not get that one at the end.”<\/p>\n
Buchan, who has been on tour for three years, spent the first half of his rookie year injured. He earned an injury wildcard to compete on the tour in 2007 and finished the year rated 19th. He jumps to world No. 9 with this result. <\/p>\n
\u0093I have been injured so obviously doing well and to have a win today makes it all sweet,\u0094 Buchan said. \u0093My goal this year was to finish in the top 10 so we’ll see, we might have to take a look at reassessing that.”<\/p>\n
Slater dug deep in an effort to win his sixth event of the season, willing a last minute wave to pop up in the dying seconds. Despite needing a relatively small score, he was unable to pull out the last-minute comeback he\u0092s renowned for.<\/p>\n
\u0093It\u0092s cool that it came down to a wave in the end, at least it made it interesting,\u0094 Slater said. \u0093Truth is though, Ace was more in sync with it. He got those open face ones and did the turns. I had one wave I surfed pretty good on that I knew was going to get me back in it. Then I just needed a chance in the end but there wasn\u0092t quite enough time \u0096 I should have pushed for a 40-minute final.\u0094<\/p>\n
Slater only earned a 2.23 on the wave he caught with three seconds left. He will now have to wait until the next event in Mundaka to have another chance to clinch. <\/p>\n
\u0093I didn\u0092t think I had the chance to win with that last ride,\u0094 Slater said. \u0093I would have been bummed if they gave me the score on it. Maybe people didn\u0092t see it, but my foot came off, I didn\u0092t make that 360 very clean and I didn\u0092t really get above the lip on that air. Maybe if there would have been a punt section where I could have done a big air I could have possibly gotten the score, but I knew that score wasn\u0092t going to be close. It\u0092s frustrating though, to be so close \u0096 literally one score away from winning the title. I guess at this point I\u0092m two heat wins from winning the title.\u0094<\/p>\n
If Kelly finishes 9th or better in Mundaka he will win the world title. If he bows out with a 17th or 33rd and Mick Fanning (AUS) or Taj Burrow (AUS) win the event, the race continues until Brazil.<\/p>\n
Slater beat Adriano de Souza (BRA) in the semifinals today. De Souza and Slater have now met eight times, with Slater getting the best of the Brazilian each time. De Souza moves to World No. 4 with the result.<\/p>\n
\u0093It is great to surf against Kelly,\u0094 de Souza said. \u0093He pushes my level further and forces you to put so much energy into the heat. I learned so much from this heat and I hope that next time I can get past that one. I am really proud. I came to Europe to get some really good results and I did already so I am really happy. Making the semis is a really good result for me so I hope I can keep it up and stay in the Top 10 \u0096that is my main focus this year.\u0094<\/p>\n
Buchan beat Damien Hobgood (USA) in the semifinals en route to his maiden victory. <\/p>\n
“I never really had a stellar heat the whole contest, so that was kind of a bummer but I\u0092m really stoked with this result and hopefully I can build some momentum,\u0094 Hobgood said. \u0093This is the result I needed to get my year started. It is a good start to the end of the year for me.”<\/p>\n
Hobgood moved from 31st to 26th on the ASP World Tour ratings with the result. Only the Top 27 ASP World Tour surfers at year\u0092s end automatically requalify for the following year.<\/p>\n
The ASP Top 45 will now head to Mundaka in the Basque Country of Spain for the ninth stop of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour.<\/p>\n
For more details visit: www.aspworldtour.com and www.quiksilverlive.com.<\/p>\n
Final Quiksilver Pro France Results:<\/p>\n
Final: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.74 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 15.16<\/p>\n
Semifinal Quiksilver Pro France Results:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 14.90 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.97<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.17 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.83<\/p>\n
Quarterfinal Quiksilver Pro France Results:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.93 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 12.40<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.50 def. Mick Campbell (AUS) 12.33<\/p>\n
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 17.00 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.34<\/p>\n
Heat 4: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.34 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.00<\/p>\n
Round 4 Quiksilver Pro France Results:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.50 def. Dayyan Neve (AUS) 9.33<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Bobby Martinez (USA) 14.66 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.00 <\/p>\n
Heat 3: Mick Campbell (AUS) 14.00 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 11.17<\/p>\n
Heat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.27 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 14.77<\/p>\n
Heat 5: Dane Reynolds (USA) 16.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.33<\/p>\n
Heat 6: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.50 def. Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 10.66<\/p>\n
Heat 7: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.50 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.57<\/p>\n
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.67 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 8.50<\/p>\n
Top 10 ASP World Tour Ratings after the Quiksilver Pro France:<\/p>\n
1. Kelly Slater (USA) – 7852 points <\/p>\n
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) – 6002 points <\/p>\n
3. Bede Durbidge (AUS) \u0096 5668 points <\/p>\n
4. Adriano De Souza (BRA) \u0096 5426 points <\/p>\n
5. Joel Parkinson (AUS) – 5373 points <\/p>\n
6. Mick Fanning (AUS) – 5310 points <\/p>\n
7. Bobby Martinez (USA) – 5092 points <\/p>\n
8. CJ Hobgood (USA) – 4880 points <\/p>\n
9. Adrian Buchan (AUS) – 4719 points <\/p>\n
10. Jeremy Flores (FRA) – 4407 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Quiksilver Pro France Stop No. 8 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour Southwest Coast of France September 19-28, 2008 Adrian Buchan Beats Kelly Slater to be Crowned Quiksilver Pro France Champion HOSSEGOR, France (Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008) \u0096 Adrian Buchan (AUS) has beaten eight-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) to win his … Continue reading “Adrian Buchan Beats Kelly Slater to be Crowned Quiksilver Pro France Champion”<\/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-13673","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\/13673","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=13673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}