4 July, 2014 4 July, 2014

Five Full Working Days (Mr Price Pro Day 5)

Five incredible days of action have passed at the Mr Price Pro and every time we thought the performance ceiling had been reached, competitors have kept pushing the limits further.

Torrey
Torrey Meister raises the roof.

Wednesday’s action went down in history as one of the best ever witnessed at the event, but after Day 5’s action it is a distant memory. Leading the pack has been Filipe Toledo, whose surfing today likely battered his opponents’ self-confidence as he racked-up another Perfect 10 and the highest heat total of the day (19.00 out of 20.00pts).

There have been plenty of other highlights throughout the week and the beach and webcast commentary team have seen it all, so we asked them what they thought were the best and not-so-best moments so far.

Meet the team:
Andi
ANDI VAN ZYL (Davey Van Zyl’s sister)
Post-Heat Beach Interviewer

Kai2

 

WOK
Webcast Commentary

KAI LINDER aka ‘Captain Kai’
Webcast Commentary

 

Gigs

 

GIGS CELLIERS
Beach Commentary

JARRYD SMITH aka ‘The Voice’
Beach Commentary

 

HIGHLIGHT OF THE EVENT SO FAR?
ANDI: Getting to meet and interview some of the best surfers in the world.
WOK: Filipe Toledo’s surfing here has officially changed my mind. He is now the best surfer in the world.
KAI: Probably Toledo, but actually the waves. It has been super good for big airs.
GIGS: It’s hard to not say the highlight is the top-end heat scores for Toledo. Other highlights may include the new four-man priority applied by ASP.
JARRYD: Filipe Toledo – this kid is the future. His aerial game is next level stuff, and his rail surfing is beyond his years. The fact that he wasn’t even born when Kelly Slater won his first world title is ridiculous.

Felipe2
Filipe Toledo has been blowing up!

THE UNDERDOG THREAT?
ANDI: I’ve been really impressed with Timmy Reyes. I think he could be one to look out for.
WOK: Timmy Reyes has been flying through heats under the radar. Timmy is an ex-WCT surfer, but I think he is definitely a dark horse for this event.
KAI: I thought it was Torrey Meister, but he is out, so Dillon Perillo.
GIGS: The underdog threat is definitely Perillo.
JARRYD: Dillon Perillo has shown some great BMT. It’s nice to see an American who is super passionate about winning.

Dillon
Dillon Perillo is one of the underdogs to watch.

ANY BEHIND THE SCENE DRAMA?
ANDI: Nothing to cry over.
WOK: Officials having words with each other about the beach commentary not being professional.
KAI: All I will say is that Monster Girls are dangerous (laughs).
GIGS: Behind the scenes ASP machine running well. Only real problem is Wok hustling the promo girls.
JARRYD: Michael Dunphy querying the heat result when judges took five minutes to give out the score for Jack Freestone’s questionable last ride. A 7.93 for two decent turns, but nothing amazing. It ended Michael Dunphy’s great run at this year’s event. I don’t blame Dunphy for being a pissed.

BehindScenes
Behind the scenes, Sebastian Zietz and Tom Whittaker went about their business as usual.

THE STANDARD OF THE JUDGING? ANY DODGE CALLS?
ANDI: I think the judges have done really well. I guess there will always be one or two controversial calls in any event.
WOK: Everything has been pretty solid so far, until I saw Michael Dunphy get shafted in his heat against Jack Freestone. Really heavy call.
KAI: I have been pretty happy with the judges. The call on Beyrick was 50/50 for me, but the judges stuck to the law.
GIGS: Panel are on the money. Good calls on points for aerials and variations. Power being rewarded. Jack Freestone vs Dunphy the closest call so far.
JARRYD: The standard has been excellent except for the very last wave of today (Jack Freestone vs Michael Dunphy). Not bad considering how many waves have been surfed.

MichaelDunphy
Michael Dunphy was unlucky not to advance.

SURFER WITH THE BEST CLAIM?
ANDI: Jordy always has fun claims.
WOK: Toledo claims his big airs. Well deserved, though. He throws down chest slaps and a few gang signs with his fingers. It’s pretty classic.
KAI: Jordy (laughs). That claim was serious!
GIGS: Best claims are always shared amongst the Brazilians.
JARRYD: Surprisingly not too many claims this year, especially as Beyrick De Vries got knocked out early. Even the Brazilians appear to have toned it down.

Jordy_Claim
Jordy Smith shows the judges what he thinks about his ride.

MOST AWKWARD INTERVIEWEE?
ANDI: That’s easy, Dillon Perillo
WOK: Dillon Perillo is a weird human. His one word answers leave the commentators speechless. He acts a little dumb, or maybe he is just trying to be funny.
KAI: Andi Van Zyl chooned Heitor Alves about taking out two saffas (laughs). He was super sheepish. Apparently he messaged her later saying she is hot, so no hard feelings then.
GIGS: Van Zyl. Classic!
JARRYD: Actually, pretty funny having Davey Van Zyl’s sister, Andi, doing the post-heat beach interviews. Especially when ASP media official, Kirstin Scholtz, kakked all over her for not being “professional” enough. Last I checked though, the surfers prefer looking at Andi than me.

Felipe_Andi
Filipe grins at Andi after another big heat win.

With only the Quarter-Finals, Semis and Final left to surf, the last day of the Mr Price Pro will take place either tomorrow (Saturday, 5 July), or on Sunday depending on the conditions. Watch it LIVE on mrpricepro.com

These are the highlights from an incredible Day 5 at the Mr Price Pro:

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *