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BUBBLE BOYS
SURF NEWS BUBBLE BOYS
November 17, 2008
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WEEK 01, DAY 06
 It's been a bizarre year in professional surfing. With Kelly Slater running away with the World Title and an extra contest to drop, the ASP World Tour became a scattered playing field over the last few months. And with bubble guys like Roy Powers, Jay Thompson and Ben Bourgeois electing not to surf the WQS, 2009 could see up to 15 new faces on Tour. In fact, only Tiago Pires, Heitor Alves and Jihad Kodhr have a shot at requalification via the WQS road.
 
The story on the slog was a little different in 2008, but still a bit precarious. Gabe Kling reclaimed his spot on the Dream Tour, as have Josh Kerr and Chris Davidson. Nathaniel Curran sits in first on the WQS -- being one of six surfers to win multiple events. A German Surfer, Marlon Lipke, has a shot at qualification, which could make four Europeans in the Top 45 with Lipke and Tim Boal. And just as the number of WQS surfers reached 1,000, the total Mens WQS prize money hit $4 million.
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Yadin Nicol also has an outside shot at the 2009 Dream Tour, sitting in 19th. If things go his way at Haleiwa and Sunset, the big boys could have another high-flying, young Aussie to contend with next year. Photo: ASP World Tour/Covered Images/Kirstin


So with so much swirling around out there and two major Six-Star Prime events left in Hawaii, we figured we'd get the scoop straight from the man. ASP Tour Manager, Al Hunt breaks down who has a shot at the 2009 ASP World Tour:

Of course all of 1000 WQSers would have loved to make the Top 15 that qualify for the 2009 Men's Dream Tour but that's not the case. For now, all eyes are on Hawaii with just the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa down to the Round of 64 and the WQS finale at Sunset just around the corner.

Two of the current Top 15, Phil MacDonald and Simao Romao, were eliminated in the Round of 96 at Haleiwa so the top seeds -- like Pat Gudauskas and David Weare -- still in the event can make up some serious points with a good result. Other surfers that were closing in and needed a good result that also lost in the Round of 96 are Jadson Andre, Raoni Monteiro, Heitor Alves, Shaun Cansdell, Shaun Gossman and Pablo Paulino. It's all down to a great result at Sunset now for these six guys.

Dustin Barca, Michel Bourez, Yadin Nicol, Jihad Kohdr and Kekoa Bacalso are still going at Haleiwa and have a chance to make some ratings jumps. Both Dustin and Kekoa have low 800-point throwaways to replace so one more round will see them move up a lot. A quarterfinal or semifinal finish should see them jump into the qualification area of around 11,500 points. Both Dustin and Kekoa have two low scores counting now, so they have a double chance with the Sunset O'Neill World Cup still to go.

Stay tuned to Surfline for daily coverage of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.
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