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Australia’s
Kieren Perrow (Byron Bay, NSW) today won the six-star prime-rated Drug Aware Pro
Margaret River, Western Australia, beating Portugal’s Tiago Pires in testing
three-metre (10ft) surf. 
It was Perrow’s first-ever ASP victory and his most important
career win to date, with prize money of $US15,000, together with 3,000 points
– the highest possible points on the ASP World Qualifying Series.
The historic win sets up Perrow with his greatest chance to
requalify for the Fosters ASP World Tour in 2008. 
Today’s performance was all the more exceptional, given
that finalists were forced to surf five heats in seriously large and stormy surf
– a challenge which saw both finalists on the verge of exhaustion nearing
the end of their Final. 
In a very one-sided Final, Perrow opened early with a strong
7.67-point ride and backed that up shortly after with a 6.7 to put enormous pressure
on his opponent. Pires left what appeared to be many good waves in his quest to
try and find a great wave which simply did not appear. In
the end, Perrow won with a final score of 14.34 to Pires on 7.36. 
Perrow surfed on the elite Fosters ASP World Tour from 2002
to 2004, achieving a career high world rating of 6 in 2003. After starting a family
in 2004, he chose to miss a number of Tour events, resulting in him dropping out
of the world’s Top 44 ratings. Perrow has been aiming to requalify for the
Tour through the World Qualifying Series over the past two years. Following
the Final, an emotional and ecstatic Perrow said: “It’s
amazing that this is my first-ever win on the ASP World Tour or WQS (World Qualifying
Series). It’s a dream come true and it’s taken a long time. It couldn’t
have happened at a better place. I love it here – incredible waves and one
of surfing’s great locations. “I’m very
confident I can requalify for the World Tour now – 3,000 points is the biggest
on the Series, but it’s a long year and I’ll still need plenty more
strong results. But a win like this certainly gives me a lot of confidence.
“I’m enjoying my surfing and really looking forward
to the coming events in South Africa and Scotland. It’s so exciting for me.”
Second-placed Pires walked away with $US7,500 and more importantly,
2,625 points on the World Qualifying Series, and is also now exceptionally well-placed
to qualify for the 2008 elite Fosters ASP World Tour. Pires
said: “I was really tired in the Final and probably made a tactical error
in trying to find a left-peeling wave, while Perrow did the right thing and found
some really good rights. It’s a great result for me however. The points are
really important and I have never started seasons very well before, and on two
occasions I have just missed out on qualifying. Right now, I’m number one
on the ratings and that’s really good, but it’s very early days and
there’s a lot ahead for me.” In equal third-place
today was Daniel Ross (Aus/Yamba/NSW), who was defeated by Perrow in the Semi-Finals,
and Dane Reynolds (USA/Ventura) who lost to Pires in his Semi. For
both Ross and Reynolds, the results are their best-ever and position them strongly
for a great year on the World Qualifying Series. Reynolds
was an absolute standout in this week’s contest. He posted the event’s
three highest-scoring heats (18.73, 18.43 and 17.83), along with the event’s
two highest-scoring single rides (9.73 and 9.6). Until now, Reynolds had been
regarded as one of the world’s top free surfers, but the Drug Aware Pro has
seen him emerge as a serious competitive surfer. Taking home 2,250 points from
today’s result will see Reynolds seriously challenge for a position on the
elite Fosters ASP World Tour in 2008. Local favourite
Jake Paterson (Yallingup, WA) was eliminated in the Round of 24, after Hawaii’s
Roy Powers moved from fourth to first position in the final two minutes of the
heat, pushing Paterson into third. Paterson finished as the highest-placed West
Australian surfer and was later presented with the Highest-Placed Regional Surfer
Award by Western Australia’s Department of Sport & Recreation.
“I’m so disappointed with the result,” Paterson
said. “But the conditions today were really tough. I didn’t have a good
time out there – unfortunately it was a shocker for me, but I’m now
looking forward to next year.” Men’s Final
Results Winner : Kieren Perrow (Byron Bay, NSW) - 14.34
points Runner-up : Tiago Pires, Portugal - 7.36 points Equal
Third : Dane Reynolds, California, USA - 12.10 points and Daniel Ross,Yamba, NSW,
Australia - 9.34 points The Toohey's Extra Dry
Expression Session was also a feature of the day’s action, with Clint Kimmins
(Coolangatta, QLD) taking out the win with some big powerful moves over the shallow
Margaret River reef. | 
