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| Lord Dorrington, to you serfs! (Photo: ASP) |
Dorrington surfed brilliantly on the final day of competition with a stunning semi-final performance defeating equal third placed Richard Christie (NZL) with a combined two-wave total of 18.50 out of 20, the highest of the entire event. Dorrington then went on to control the tactical final heat in the remaining pulses of an epic swell that has been hitting Thurso East for the past 3 days.
“I have never won a comp in my life so to be in a final and win it is truly amazing. I’m on top on the O’Neill Coldwater Classic Series now,” said an elated Dorrington. “l am looking for the bonus at the end of the series and the points from this contest are really important to me. It has just pumped here this week and it has been the best waves I’ve had in a comp.”
“The semi-final was unreal,” continued Dorrington on his massive heat total that included a near perfect 9.50 out of 10. “I just snagged two waves in the first 10 minutes with a first turn and then a barrel on both of them. There hadn’t been any barrels before that or after so they were the only two out there and I got them both, lucky me. (laughs)”
Dorrington, who had never before experienced the freezing waters of Thurso, decided to compete this year thanks to encouragement from good friend and fellow competitor Romain Cloitre (FRA) and made it to the top of the podium at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic Scotland.
“I wasn’t going to come over here but my mate Romain (Cloitre) talked me into coming over and getting on the wetties and I owe him a beer for sure. The sword I am going to hang it up in my pool room. It will look good for sure on the wall. Adam Melling and Royden (Bryson) are good friends of mine and they have one so I am stoked to join the club.”
Jay Quinn (NZL) was unable to get into the race during the 35-minute final which held a restart due to lack of waves in the first 10 minutes. With no real scores on the board the final came down to the final minutes where Quinn was unable to find a decent scoring ride.
“Things just didn’t go to plan and there were a lack of waves in the final so basically nothing went right for me. I was looking for anything and nothing really eventuated. I had a good heat in the quarters and a bit of a slow semi but in the final I wanted to get some waves under my belt but it didn’t pan out like that.”
Quinn held onto his priority wisely throughout the final stages and was unlucky not to catch a scoring ride on the last set of the day and had to be content with the runner-up placing, his second following his narrow defeat in Newquay last season.
“That one set that came through in the end and the wave broke on top of me as I was taking off was a good wave and could have made the difference.”
“Two finals and two seconds is a bit heart wrenching,” continued Quinn. “I have a Prime event next week in California so if I could win that one it would be better then both of them put together for sure.”
Alain Riou (Tahiti, PYF) 27, finished in equal third in a slow tactical heat against Quinn after the midday hold off. Behind the eight ball after the opening exchange where Quinn secured a solid ride, Riou played catch-up surfing, failing to over haul the leader in a one-sided affair.
“Can’t be mad with a semi,” stated Riou. “It has been my best result for the last year. Disappointed that I didn’t get to the final but there weren’t that many waves and I made a mistake in the first place with him getting the first wave. That set the rhythm for him and then he got another wave. It was a slow heat and it could have gone either way but he got the good waves.”
Riou, who at one stage held the lead by the smallest of margins after adding a 3.00 ride to his two-wave total, attempted to place pressure on his opponent by taking away his leadership. Quinn did not fall into the trap and waited for his back-up score and a comfortable win.
“It is always a better position to be in first place. You are a bit more comfortable. He had priority and I was either going to sit with him or try and get the lead, explained Riou. “I got the lead but I knew there was going to be another set and we would both have to get to work on that and unfortunately he got the set. Jay has been surfing well all event so good on him.”
Richard Christie (NZL) 22, who was chasing down his opponents massive 18.50 two-wave total, could do little to peg back a rampaging Dorrington in semi-final No. 2 and had to be content with an equal third placing and 2080 World Ranking points.
“It just didn’t go my way that heat at all. Brent got screamers and he is an amazing surfer so of course he is going to get those scores so good on him”
Christie’s fight for the first wave of the heat back fired on the young Kiwi when the following set waves offered far higher scoring potential which Dorrington latched took 100% advantage of.
“I saw Jay (Quinn) get the first wave in the last heat and it was so slow so I went off that heat. However as soon as I caught that wave two screamers came through before I even had time to get out the back. To get those scores you need good waves and after that I don’t think any more came through.”
The O’Neill Coldwater Classic Scotland is stop nº 2 of 4 of the O’Neill Coldwater Classic Series which now moves on to Tofino, Canada, October 15-21, 2011.
The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland is scheduled from April 13 -19, 2011. For more information, and all upcoming results, photos, video highlights, press releases log on to http://www.oneill.com/cwc/Scotland.html or www.aspeurope.com
O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND FINAL RESULT
Brent Dorrington (AUS) 9.00 Def Jay Quinn (NZL) 7.66
O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Heat 1: Jay Quinn (NZL) 11.17 Def. Alain Riou (PYF) 7.17
Heat 2: Brent Dorrington (AUS) 18.50 Def. Richard Christie (NZL) 12.50
O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
Heat 1: Jay Quinn (NZL) 12.70 Def. Joan Duru (FRA) 12.67
Heat 2: Alain Riou (PYF) 14.67 Def. Hodei Collazo (EUK) 10.60
Heat 3: Richard Christie (NZL) 16.96 Def. Leonardo Neves (BRA) 14.33
Heat 4: Brent Dorrington (AUS) 13.40 Def. Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 10.93
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