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By Press Release:

ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) NORTH AMERICA

NO FEAR MEXICAN SURF FIESTA PRESENTED BY SOBE
San Miguel, Mexico
October 13-15, 2006

BROKEN BOARDS AND KAMIKAZE SURFING AT THE NO FEAR MEXICAN SURF FIESTA

SAN MIGUEL, Mexico (Friday, October 13, 2006) – The opening round of the $25,000 No Fear Mexican Surf Fiesta presented by Sobe kicked off this morning in difficult 1-foot waves at San Miguel, Mexico.

The competition, in its 26th consecutive season, enjoys its first year ever as an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) two-star event, upgraded from a one-star in previous seasons.

Both the increase in prize purse as well as valuable ASP ratings points no doubt had an influence on the surfers today, opting to stick it out despite the barely contestable conditions.

Layne Harrison (San Diego, Calif.) fearlessly navigated the shorebreak conditions garnering the day’s high single-wave score of a 9.17 out of a possible 10.

“All I could do on that wave was pretend like the rocks weren’t there,” Harrison said. “Fortunately, the tide was optimal during my heat and I was able to squeeze in a few maneuvers before it closed out.”

Despite excellent scoring rides such as Harrison’s being logged in throughout the day, they remained few and far between, with the majority of surfers risking serious injury to themselves and their equipment on the cobblestone shoreline.

Nick King (San Clemente, Calif.) smashed the daylights out of his board after completing a well-scoring wave onto the rocky shoreline. King would go on to break what was left of his board a little bit more on the following wave, but survived through to the next round.

“There were absolutely no waves in my heat,” King said. “I caught that first one and finished it right on the shore and when I came up, my board was in half and all three of my fins had been stripped off! Then I tried to catch another wave on my half-a-board and smashed that in half too.”

The swell, which never really manifested, showed moments of improving at intervals throughout the day, but ultimately failed to deliver.

Matt Mohagen (Culver City, Calif.) was one of the lucky surfers to experience the temporary improvement in conditions during his heat and the lightning-quick goofy-footer wasted no time taking advantage.

“The conditions have been inconsistent for all the heats this morning,” Mohagen said. “I was fortunate enough to be in a heat that had more than three sets. The guys making their heats are the ones surfing on the rocks, the ones taking chances.”

All 16 heats of round one were completed today. Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM to assess conditions and decide whether or not the event will be moved.

For further information, log onto www.aspnorthamerica.org.

RESULTS – Day 1

Trials: 7 surfers (1st place in each heat receives wildcard into main event)
Heat 1: Raul Medina (MEX) 9.33, David Rutherford (MEX) 8.07, Adan Hernandez (MEX) 5.90, Pier Geffroy (MEX) 3.37
Heat 2: Jose Trujillo (MEX) 4.57, Jose Valasquez (MEX) 4.54, Bret Santos (MEX) 2.67

Round 1: 128 surfers left (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 1: Angelo Lozano (MEX) 7.67, David Gonsalves (HAW) 7.33, Dillon Perillo (USA) 4.16, Logan Strook (USA) 3.64
Heat 2: Mason Ho (HAW) 8.00, Riley Metcalf (USA) 7.50, Sam McGee (USA) 4.74, Jay Torres (USA) 1.14
Heat 3: JC Toro (MEX) 10.50, Casey Landvogt (USA) 9.17, Ryan Peterson (USA) 7.20, Greg Kaplan (USA) 3.13
Heat 4: Matt Mohagen (USA) 11.27, Tom Rezvan (USA) 10.67, Nat Young (USA) 7.34, Bryan Doonan (USA) 4.50
Heat 5: Matt McDonnell (USA), Jason Billings (USA) 7.84, Kahana Kalama (USA) 4.44, Rory Parker (HAW) 3.27
Heat 6: Layne Harrison (USA) 11.57, Sean Marceron (USA) 11.50, Nick Kovack (USA) 4.33, Dewey Cunnison (USA) 2.67
Heat 7: Micah Byrne (USA) 8.67, Eddie Lester (USA) 8.50, Gabe Garcia (USA) 3.57, Vince Alessi (USA) 2.00
Heat 8: Scott Hammonds (USA) 4.83, Ricky Schaeffer (USA) 4.23, Patrick Cahill (USA) 4.00, Julian Mullins (USA) 3.60
Heat 9: Ryan Sakal (USA) 13.33, Dennis Rizzo (USA) 6.64, Kyle Kennely (USA) 5.30, Jacob Kirschenbaum (USA) 1.90
Heat 10: David Post (USA) 11.83, Will Tant (USA) 9.50, Micah Mullen (USA) 3.40, Kent Doonan (USA) 1.60
Heat 11: Peter Mel (USA) 8.16, Chris Dennis (USA) 5.93, Pierce Flynn (USA) 5.60, Alex Ganguli (USA) 4.83
Heat 12: Jesse Colombo (USA) 11.60, C.J. Kahuna (HAW) 11.60, Chris Abad (USA) 11.40, Shea Yates (USA) 8.03
Heat 13: Tony Adams (USA) 9.60, Brad Hagglund (USA) 5.66, Sean Bacon (USA) 3.07, Brandon Guilmette (USA) 2.13
Heat 14: Roger Eales (USA) 8.43, Adam Knox (USA) 7.76, Michael Bailey (USA) 5.96, Craig Morris (USA) 1.67
Heat 15: Bud Freitas (USA) 3.33, Austin Smith-Ford (USA) 3.17, Whyatt Taubman (USA) 2.67, Warren Metcalfe (USA) 0.33
Heat 16: Colin Schildhauer (USA) 6.43, Nick King (USA) 6.00, Jamie Parkhurst (USA) 5.60, Colin Pierce (USA) 5.00

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