Bianca busts out
Monday 24 February 2014 South Africa's Bianca Buitendag employed her trademark vertical backhand manoeuvres to clinch third place in the Hunter Ports Women's Classic, a 6-Star rated ASP Qualifying Series (QS) event in Newcastle, Australia on Sunday.
Buitendag was in sparkling form, winning three of the four heats she contested on her way to the semi-finals before bowing out to Alessa Quizon (HAW) by 11.83 vs. 14.50. The 20 year-old from George collected US $1 900 (about 21 000) and 2 080 points which moved her up to No. 7 on the ASP Women’s QS rankings after three events.
The confidence boosting performance was ideal preparation for Buitendag’s campaign on the 2014 Samsung Galaxy ASP Women’s WCT which gets underway at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in Queensland on 1 March. In 2013 she finished her inaugural year at the highest level ranked No. 8 and was crowned the Rookie of the Year.
The confidence boosting performance was ideal preparation for Buitendag’s campaign on the 2014 Samsung Galaxy ASP Women’s WCT which gets underway at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in Queensland on 1 March. In 2013 she finished her inaugural year at the highest level ranked No. 8 and was crowned the Rookie of the Year.
The Hunter Ports Women’s Classic was won by Malia Manuel who defeated fellow Hawaiian Alessa Quizon in the final. SA’s Sarah Baum (Durban) finished equal 13th and Faye Zoetmulder ended equal 67th.
The Burton Toyota Pro, a 6-Star ASP QS men’s event, which ran in conjunction with the women’s event as part of the 2014 Surfest Newcastle Australia, was won by Matt Banting who beat fellow Australian Nathan Hedge in the final earlier today.
Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) and David van Zyl (Durban) were the highest placed South Africans in equal 17th place with US $2 000 and 625 points each. Slade Prestwich (Durban) ended equal 49th, Dale Staples (St Francis Bay) and Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay) were equal 73rdand Michael February (Kommetjie) placed equal 97th.
Lightfoot also reached the quarter-finals of the Hunter Business Boardriders Pro Junior, finishing equal 13th overall.
ASP Qualifying Series Rankings (After Newcastle)
Men
1 De Souza,Adriano BRA 6564
2 Banting,Matt AUS 3729
3 Hedge,Nathan AUS 3470
4 Hermes,Tomas BRA 3000
5 Martin,Charles GLP 2716
South Africans
42 De Vries,Beyrick ZAF 1005
51 Van Zyl,David ZAF 855
81 Staples,Dale ZAF 610
89 February,Michael ZAF 536
93 Prestwich,Slade ZAF 500
155 Lightfoot,Dylan ZAF 190
Women
1 Manuel,Malia HAW 5580
2 Quizon,Alessa HAW 5280
3 Moore,Carissa HAW 3500
4 Melamed,Nage HAW 3120
5 Le Car,Maud FRA 3000
South Africans
7 Buitendag,Bianca ZAF 2460
16 Baum,Sarah ZAF 1570
62 Zoetmulder,Faye ZAF 433