USA Team sits in First Place going into last days of Competition
PACSUN USA SURF TEAM SITTING IN FIRST PLACE HEADING INTO THE FINAL TWO DAYS OF COMPETITION
USA continues to advance surfers through event and solidifies its lead in the 2009 Billabong ISA World Surfing Games
Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica – August 7, 2009 – Rain was the theme of the day in Playa Hermosa yesterday as the USA fought hard to strengthen its position in the contest.
Photo: AJ Neste/Surfing America
The event started with Open Men Cory Lopez and Austin Ware in the same qualifying round heat. After the hard fought battle, Cory advanced and Austin was bumped to the repercharge round. Later in the day, Austin was in the water again and advanced through to the next round of repercharge, staying in the contest.
Cory Lopez
Photo: AJ Neste/Surfing America
Benny Bourgeois won his qualifying heat handily and continued his march toward the finals.
In the Longboard division, the Tony Silvagni advanced in his qualifying heat by upsetting Hawaiian Bonga Perkins and France’s Antoine Delpero.
Steven Newton got off to a quick start in his longboard heat and also advanced to the qualifying round semi-finals with Silvagni.
The event was shut down for about three hours in the afternoon when, during a powerful rain storm, a tree fell onto a power line and cut all power to the contest. Local crews worked feverishly to get power back up in time for four late afternoon longboard heats.
Team USA holds the first place position, by itself, for the first time in Surfing America’s history.
The current top five nations are:
1st – USA – 19080 points
2nd – Hawaii – 16960 points
3rd – Australia – 16720 points
4th – South Africa -15040 points
5th – France -14040 points
Note: The above points show the maximum that each team can achieve. The final scores will be always lower
“We’re not there yet”, said Ian Cairns, head coach of the PacSun USA Surf Team. “But the team did a great job today and we’re very well positioned as we move into the final two days of the competition.”
VIEW, DOWNLOAD, AND SHARE DAILY VIDEO WEBISODES OF THE TEAM’S PROGRESS AND GET TWITTER FEEDS DIRECTLY FROM THE TEAM ON THE HOMEPAGE AT SURFINGAMERICA.ORG
The 2009 SIMA Surfing America USA Championships presented by Verizon Wireless will take place August 24-30 at Huntington Beach Pier. For more information, or to watch the live webcast, go to http://surfingamerica.org