With the completion of the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships fueled by Monster Energy earlier this month (won by Maxime Huscenot (REU) and Laura Enever (AUS) respectively), ASP International has confirmed the activation of the ASP World Junior Tour (WJT).

“The WJT is a natural development for the ASP and serves as recognition for Billabong’s vision and long-standing support for world junior surfing and for the sheer and immense surfing talent we now

PIPELINE, Oahu/Hawaii (Monday, February 1, 2010) – Prayers, plundered surfboards and Pipeline perfection were the order of the final day of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 5-Star Volcom Pipeline Pro, and local boy Jamie O’Brien avoided the

Beginning in 2010, ASP International will activate a One Ranking structure for the men’s ASP Dream Tour and the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS).

The concept of the ASP One Ranking structure is to make both the ASP-sanctioned World Tour and Qualifying Series events contribute to a surfer’s year-end rating. The ASP One Ranking structure will be the primary means for determining if a surfer is eligible to compete in ASP World Tour events and the highly-rated ASP Qualifying events.

Surfers will start to accumulate their respective ASP One Ranking points from the start of the 2010 season. However, the first season will be a bridge year to allow ASP to ensure that points are correct across all events and the changeover times onto the ASP World Tour are finalized.

Below is a brief summary of the ASP One Ranking System and how the crowning of the ASP World Champion will work. We have begun with 2011, as it is the first full year season of operation.

ASP One Rankings from 2011

· A surfer’s ASP ranking is determined by their best eight results from 2010. These results can come from any ASP event.

· As a surfer progresses through the 2011 ASP World Tour, they to replace and results, but always counting their best eight results from the past 12 months. Essentially, a surfer’s ranking constantly changes throughout their career (subsequent years will work in a similar fashion).

· EXAMPLE: if a surfer is counting a result from the 2010 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, once the 2011 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast comes around, they need to that result and pick up their next best. That next best result can (but does not have to) come from the 2011 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast if they perform better than the previous year or from their 9th best result of the past 12 months.

· The ASP One Ranking structure will determine which surfers qualify for the 32-man ASP World Tour events at pre-determined changeover points throughout the year. The ASP is currently considering that the changeovers will occur approximately every three events or three months. However, 2010 will be used to better analyze the results of the ASP One Ranking tem before finalizing.

· The changeover points for each season will be announced as soon as the following year’s schedule is finalized.

· A surfer cannot count the same event twice in their top eight results should that event change dates to fall twice in 12 months.

The ASP World Champion will be determined by counting only results from ASP World Tour events. Each year, a new ASP World Title race will start and surfers can only win by counting their best eight results from ASP World Tour events. The rationale behind this is to ensure that the surfers competing for the prestigious ASP World Title are all competing at a level playing field and not chasing points in ASP Qualifying events at the end of the season,

ASP Bridge Year in 2010

2010 will act as a bridge year for the transformation into the ASP One Ranking structure. ASP One Ranking points will start accumulating from the first ASP-sanctioned event of 2010 – the ASP 1-Star Movistar Pro Peru from January 15 – 17, 2010.

The ASP Top 45 (the Top 27 from the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Top 15 from the 2009 ASP WQS and three wildcards) will commence 2010 as they have in the past, with the first ASP World Tour event at the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast.

After the fifth ASP World Tour event (the Billabong Pro Teahupoo), the field will be reduced to the Top 32 from the 45 who qualified for the start of the 2010 season. After the final ASP World Tour event of 2010 (the Billabong Pipe Masters), the ASP will determine the Top 32 surfers for the 2011 ASP World Tour. ASP International has built in a safety net to guarantee the number of surfers that comprise the 2011 ASP Top 32 – 22 from the ASP World Tour events and 10 from the ASP One Rankings events.

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

With a historic 2009 coming to a close, the 2010 ASP schedule has been released and will mark some major shifts in venues and dates in order to ensure that the world’s best surfers battle one another in the world’s best waves.

“2010 will mark some major changes for professional surfing and the schedule reflects this,” Brodie Carr, ASP International CEO, said. “We’re moving dates of certain venues to ensure that we get the best possible surf as well as adding landmark new events. Across all disciplines, the 2010 ASP schedule will see nearly $12,000,000 paid out in prize money. It’s going to be an incredible year for surfing.”

The 2010 ASP World Tour schedule is as follows:

Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, February 27 – March 10, 2010

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, March 30 – April 10, 2010

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro, April 21 – April 30, 2010

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, July 15 – 25, 2010

Billabong Pro Teahupoo, August 23 – September 3, 2010

Hurley Pro Trestles, September 12 – 21, 2010

Quiksilver Pro France, September 25 – October 5, 2010

Rip Curl Pro Portugal, October 7 – 18, 2010

Rip Curl Pro Search, October 30 – November 10, 2010

Billabong Pipe Masters, December 8 – 20, 2010

The 2010 ASP Women’s World Tour schedule is as follows:

Roxy Pro Gold Coast, February 27 – March 10, 2010

Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach, March 30 – April 5, 2010

Taranaki Women’s Surf Festival, April 11 – 16, 2010

Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic, April 21 – 26, 2010

Movistar Peru Classic pres. by Rip Curl, TBA

Rip Curl Pro Portugal, October 7 – 11, 2010

Rip Curl Pro Search, October 30 – November 4, 2010

Gidget Pro Sunset Beach, November 24 – December 6, 2010

Billabong Pro Maui (Tentative), December 8 – 20, 2010

2010 will see nearly 200 ASP-sanctioned events around the globe.  A full schedule and more information can be found on www.aspworldtour.com

The final stop on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour, the Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines, saw freshly-crowned three-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 21, and current ASP Women’s World No. 2 Silvana Lima (BRA), 25, lead the charge through a marathon day in pumping eight foot (2.5 metre) surf at Honolua Bay today while ping the event’s highest scores.

The Billabong Pro Maui is a critical event for several of the world’s finest female surfers’ campaigns towards requalification for the 2010 ASP Dream Tour and also marks the final stop of the prestigious Vans Triple Crown. Today’s thumping surf at Honolua Bay provided an excellent stage for the girls of the ASP Women’s World Tour to showcase their talents while striving to end their year on a good note.

Gilmore, who clinched her third consecutive ASP Women’s World Title at Sunset Beach, absolutely dominated her Round 3 heat over event wildcard Alessa Quizon (HAW), 15, crushing the day’s highest heat total of a near-perfect 18.80 out of 20 by capitalizing on the firing barrels at Honolua Bay.

“I’m not even here to do turns,” Gilmore said. “I’m probably on a way bigger board than all of the other girls, but it’s a place where you can take a really nice and get all stylish and try and pull into the tube. I’m just looking forward to the next round, I’m so excited.”

Gilmore, who has a perfect two-for-two record at the Billabong Pro Maui, is out to keep her flawless event record alive at the famed pointbreak and is hoping to take out her third consecutive Billabong Pro Maui win to cap off her impressive year while enjoying the pumping surf on offer this year.

“Three seems to be a pretty lucky number for me right about now,” Gilmore said. “I don’t know, I’m just so happy to be here in the most amazing waves we’ve had all year and the girls were charging. I just want to get barreled.”

With Vans Triple Crown forerunner Alana Blanchard (HAW), 18, falling in Round 3 of today’s competition, Gilmore is also hungry to claim a repeat Vans Triple Crown victory for 2009.

“We want action and drama for the Triple Crown and it’s going to be really great to see how it unfolds,” Gilmore said. “All of the heats are going to be full of action and there has been $25,000 put up by Vans for the winner and it’s going to be an exciting finish to the whole Hawaiian leg.”

Lima clinched the day’s only perfect 10-point ride when she drove through a freight training barrel. The Brazilian talent has had a stellar year on the ASP Women’s World Tour, clinching two event victories and was nearly lost for words due to today’s conditions.

“I feel great,” Lima said. “I loved that wave and I was sitting by myself thinking ‘Thank you God’ when that wave came in. I pulled into the barrel and I couldn’t believe I was coming out.”

Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 18, current ASP Women’s World No. 5, is fresh off of her first career final at Sunset Beach and dominated the Honolua Bay lineup to claim two heat victories while advancing through to the Quarterfinals with lengthy barrel rides and aggressive forehand carves.

“The waves were amazing in my Round 3 heat,” Fitzgibbons said. “It was better than earlier and cleaner and hitting the reef better. I saw a fair few barrels going unridden and I figured I’d better pull in. I went out and managed to get one of those inside ones and managed to get one of the best barrels of my life. I was pretty happy to have it here in the contest.”

Fitzgibbons, who is currently competing in her rookie year on the ASP Women’s World Tour, is thrilled to wrap up her first year amongst the world’s finest female surfers in flawless Honolua Bay conditions.
“It’s a pretty amazing day,” Fitzgibbons said. “We’ve woken up and it’s the best Honolua I’ve seen. I’m pretty amazed to have conditions like this for my first event at Honolua on the ASP Women’s World Tour. It’s pumping and I think a lot of the girls are excited and I’m happy to have a few good heats.”

Melanie Bartels (HAW), 27, who was the runner-up to Gilmore in last year’s Billabong Pro Maui, was relegated to Round 1 after a tough first heat, but crushed an amazing 17.50 out of 20 heat total in Round 2 before ousting Rosanne Hodge (ZAF), 22, in Round 3 to earn a Quarterfinals berth.

“I just wanted to go out there and get shacked,” Bartels said. “I’m so stoked that Billabong puts this contest on and we get to surf Honolua Bay with only a few girls out. It’s amazing and a dream come true. I’ve been watching this wave since I was little and I’m just stoked to be out there and surf and get barreled.”

The final heat of the day was compromised when a non competitor interfered with Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS), 23, in the dying minutes of her Round 3 heat against Sofia Mulanovich(PER),26.

“Water security lost control of the lineup and were unable to protect the contest zone from the 30 surfers who were intruding on the contest area,” Richie Porta, Billabong Pro Maui Head Judge, said. “Both surfers were interfered with by non competitors, hindering their chances on capitalizing on potentially heat changing waves.”

The matchup between Mulanovich and Miley-Dyer will be fully restarted with the heat’s original 30-minute time and will prior to Billabong Pro Maui Quarterfinals competition.

Bruna Schmitz (BRA), 19, and Nikita Robb, 20, have also solidified their spot on next year’s ASP Women’s World Tour due to the double qualification of Rebecca Woods (AUS), 25, and Paige Hareb (NZL), 19, who posted standout performances among the Top 17 and the ASP WQS.

Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am for a possible 8am start. For all of the live scores, heats on demand and event photos, videos and more log on towww.triplecrownofsurfing.com or www.billabongpro.com

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.50, Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 8.90, Paige Hareb (NZL) 7.17
Heat 2: Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 12.67, Samantha Cornish (AUS) 12.33, Coco Ho (HAW) 10.53
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 13.00, Alessa Quizon (HAW) 7.07, Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 6.93
Heat 4: Silvana Lima (BRA) 15.33, Carissa Moore (HAW) 14.60, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 5.77
Heat 5: Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 12.84, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 9.37, Megan Abubo (HAW) 8.00
Heat 6: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 13.50, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 8.60, Melanie Bartels (HAW) 8.50

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Round 2 Results:
Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 14.50, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 11.37, Megan Abubo (HAW) 11.17
Heat 2: Melanie Bartels (HAW) 17.54, Paige Hareb (NZL) 8.83, Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 1.97

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 13.94 def. Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 13.16
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.40 def. Alana Blanchard (HAW) 10.26
Heat 3: Samantha Cornish (AUS) 9.50 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 6.33
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 18.80 def. Alessa Quizon (HAW) 13.50
Heat 5: Silvana Lima (BRA) 14.33 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.50
Heat 6: Melanie Bartels (HAW) 12.43 def. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 9.10
Heat 7: Rebecca Woods (AUS) 14.00 def. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 9.90

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Quarterfinal Match-Ups:
QF 1: Coco Ho (HAW) vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (HAW)
QF 2: Samantha Cornish (AUS) vs. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
QF 3: Silvana Lima (BRA) vs. Melanie Bartels (HAW)
QF 4: Rebecca Woods (AUS) vs. TBD