ASP Australasia Sanctioning Secured

10.11.10
Immediate release

Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Secures ASP Australasia Sanctioning

The 2011 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour has received sanctioning from Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Australasia with the most popular event of the tour held at Sandy Bay, Whangarei, being granted a 1-star Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) rating. The news comes as five venues are confirmed to host events in 2011 making for yet another performance-filled summer of longboard surfing.

The Sandy Bay leg of the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour is joined by events at Piha, Dunedin, Mount Maunganui and the famous Port Waikato finale.

The launch of the tour follows Hyundai’s confirmation of their commitment to the sport of surfing and Surfing New Zealand for a further year.

“Hyundai New Zealand is extremely proud to continue the sponsorship of Surfing New Zealand, building on its five year investment and involvement in one of New Zealand’s favourite summer past times” said Hyundai Marketing Manager Darren Kirkland.

“Being 100% locally owned and operated, it’s rewarding and a privilege to play such a large role in communities up and down the country – bringing the world-class Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour to the shores of some of New Zealand’s best surf breaks and beaches.”

The surfing will indeed be world class in 2011 with the ASP sanctioning of the Sandy Bay event which is set to attract a bevy of surfers from Australia and the Pacific to contest the event.

Hyundai will also use the opportunity to kick off a Trans Tasman Challenge between the best longboarders from New Zealand and Australia in a team’s event that will determine ultimate supremacy.

The sanctioning of the event provides a significantly improved pathway for New Zealand longboarders to get on to the world stage, a fact that ASP Australasia Tour Manager Dane Jordan was quick to highlight. “The inclusion of this event on the 2011 ASP calendar is a great step forward for longboard surfing in the Australasian region and hopefully this brings us closer to seeing a New Zealand surfer competing for the World Longboard Title in the very near future.”

Some of the world’s top longboarders such as Taylor Jensen (USA) and current ASP world champion Josh Constable (AUS) have already competed at events on the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour and will no doubt return to New Zealand in 2011 to collect valuable rating points and enjoy the festive atmosphere put on by IC Motor Group in the generally sleepy little enclave.

2010 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour champion Dylan Barnfield (Ohope) was surprised at the announcement “I reckon it is brilliant… awesome” said Barnfield of the news that the Sandy Bay leg will be ASP sanctioned. “It’s good for the New Zealand competitors surfing against the top guys in the world. It shows us what we need to do and what level ‘they’ are at” he added.

Dane Jordan also pointed out the benefits for spectators at the three day event “The Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Sandy Bay event will also offer a great opportunity for spectators to witness the world’s best longboarders competing against New Zealand’s best.”

Changes to the 2011 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour do not stop at the Sandy Bay event.

The Tour will kick off at Piha Beach, Auckland at the start of January, Winger Hyundai bringing their power to the first event of the year. The Tour will boast a record $20,000 in prize money with both the Sandy Bay and Port Waikato events having a six star rating for the domestic tour. The ‘longboard nationals’ will return to the fold of the main event in 2011 as part of the Hyundai National Championships to be held at Dunedin in mid January and hosted by Cooke Howlison Hyundai.

2011 will see a return to Mount Maunganui for the fourth leg of the tour and at a more suitable time for decent waves in mid February. Backed by surfing fanatics at Jacobson Hyundai, the Mount Maunganui event will be a cracker in the lead up to the final event of the year at Port Waikato.

The best surfing family in New Zealand will again feature in 2011. Throughout the tour, families that enter Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour events will go into the draw to win New Zealand’s most popular diesel family wagon, the Santa Fe for a year at the end of the season. This further promotes the fantastic family atmosphere that the tour is renowned for while still retaining that brutally competitive nature of the key divisions.

To foster the competitive nature amongst the top echelon of the Open Men’s Division, the 2011 Tour winner will also receive an all expenses paid trip to Australia and entry into the Noosa Surf Festival – one of the three other ASP LQS events held in the region.

“Cool prize for the overall tour winner as well” said Barnfield. “That person can go over to Aussie without having to do anything. There are a lot of people that haven’t been to that comp including me, so it is a crazy opportunity to get to go to it if you win the tour.”

Surfing New Zealand CEO Greg Townsend is ecstatic with how the 2011 tour and the pending summer of longboard activity are shaping up.

“As like every other year, we continue to get queries on the tour daily from surfers both in New Zealand and abroad” commented Townsend.

“The ASP sanctioning of the Sandy Bay event will add a new dimension to the tour and we expect the surfing to jump another step again from what we have seen in the past” added Townsend.

Six divisions will be contested on the tour – Open Men, Women, Junior Men (under 18), Over 40, Over 50 and Stand Up Paddle boarding.

Hyundai will continue to bring the relaxed family orientated surf event to the beach. The raffles will be back again in 2011 with Stand Up Paddleboards up for grabs and proceeds from the raffles being donated to the local Board riders clubs. Initiatives such as this ensure that while having a competitive side to them, they also offer a lot to the host surf communities.

The complete calendar of events for the 2011 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour follows:

Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 1, 8-9 January, Piha (4-star)
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 2, 13-16 January, Dunedin (5-star)
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 3, 4-6 February, Sandy Bay (SNZ 6-star / ASP LQS 1-star)
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 4, 19-20 February, Mount Maunganui (4-star)
Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour Event 5, 4-5 March, Port Waikato (6-star)

Entry into the events can be completed at www.surfingnz.co.nz under events from 1st December. Complete the entry process online or download entry forms and send them in. The 2011 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour is expected to receive high entry levels so entrants will need to be in well before the cut off dates to assure themselves a slice of the action.

Past Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour champions are set out below.

Open Men
2006 – Michael Fitzharris (Gis)
2007 – Daniel Kereopa (Rag)
2008 – Daryn Mcbride (Mnt)
2009 – Michael Burling (Gis)
2010 – Dylan Barnfield (Ohope)

Women
2006 – Pauline Pullman (Sandy Bay)
2007 – Anna Jolly (Piha)
2008 – Daisy Thomas (Chch)
2009 – Daisy Thomas (Chch)
2010 – Daisy Thomas (Chch)

Over 40
2006 – Brendon Young (HBay)
2007 – Michael Thomson (Rag)
2008 – Michael Thomson (Rag)
2009 – Lynden Kennings (WGM)
2010 – Grant Cochrane (Chch)

Over 50
2006 – David Storck (Piha)
2007 – Michael Thomson (Rag)
2008 – Viv Treacy (Whangarei)
2009 – David Storck (Piha)
2010 – Mike Thomson (Rag)

Junior Men
2006 – Dylan Barnfield (Ohope)/Kirk Beyer (Wgtn)
2007 – Dylan Barnfield (Ohope)
2008 – Sam Guthrie (Mnt)
2009 – Sam Guthrie (Mnt)
2010 – Jackson Winter (Noosa, Aus)

Stand Up Paddleboard
2010 – Shayne Baxter (Chch)

Further Information

For further information on the 2011 Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnzco.nz. Alternatively contact Hyundai Sponsorship Coordinator Lily Clark on 0272886780 or email lclark@hyundai.co.nz.

Event Hotline
The Surfing New Zealand event hotline is 0211134506. This will be updated daily at approximately 7am with venue, divisions contested and conditions.

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