Jensen and Smith Claim All-American Victory at Malfunction Surf Festival
KINGSCLIFF / Australia (Sunday, March 27, 2011) - American surfers Taylor Jensen (Oceanside), 27, and Jennifer Smith (San Diego) , 25, upstaged their Australian counterparts to win the respective ASP Australasia Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) Cancer Institute NSW men’s and women’s divisions.
Californian carver Jensen, who has placed 2nd in the LQS men’s division at the Malfunction for the past two years, finally etched his name onto the event’s winner’s list, beating Buderim’s Mitch Surman, former ASP Men’s World Longboard Champion Josh Constable and Currumbin’s Jackson Close in an entertaining final.
“It feels pretty good to finally win this event,” said Jensen, who claimed US $2000 and 250 rating points.
“I started off really slow. I couldn’t get a wave, fell on my first one and wasn’t feeling great. But I finally lucked into a couple smaller ones which ran along the bank.”
The lanky natural foot accruing a 9.33 and an 8.82 to finish in the numero-uno position on 18.16 points (out of a possible 20).
Despite his third placing in the day’s blue ribbon final, Constable heads the men’s LQS ratings ahead of Jensen, with Surman, Jared Neal (Coffs Harbour) and Harley Ingleby (Emerald Beach) rounding out the top 5. The final event of the Australasian LQS is the Whalebone Classic, which starts on July 16.
Smith, the two-time ASP Women’s World Longboard champion (2007 and 2009), was in a class of her own in the 30-minute finale, schooling Melissa Combo (Ballina), Emma Webb (Victoria) and Jodie Barsby (Crescent Head) with a combined two-wave total of 14.14, which included a 6.47 on her opening ride and an even stronger 7.67.
Smith, who claimed a second place at the Noosa Festival, said she was eager to ta ste victory in the LQS women’s division during her time in Australia.
“It’s been good,” she said. “Getting second at Noosa was the main reason I came to the Malfunction. I wasn’t going to do it and coming so close in Noosa I wanted to do better. I haven’t done well in Australia over the past few years, so it feels good to win.”
Following today’s result, Smith leads the LQS women’s ratings ahead of Chelsea Williams (Kingscliff), Combo, Webb and Bianca Anstiss (Currumbin).
In the Greenline SUP Pro final, Kingscliff’s Justin Holland defeated former ASP World Tour competitor Luke Egan (Coolangatta), Currumbin’s Jackson Close and Noosa’s Dane Wilson.
After a slow start, Holland unloaded a bevy of big forehand moves to notch a 5.73 and a 7.43 to finish with a two-wave combined total of 13.16 (out of a possible 20).
2011 Malfunction Full Results:
LQS Men’s
1 Taylor Jensen
2 Mitch Surman
3 Josh Constable
4 Jackson Close
LQS Women’s
1 Jennifer Smith
2 Melissa Combo
3 Emma Webb
4 Jodie Barsby
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Thema: [ASP News] Jensen and Smith Claim All-American Victory at Malfunction Surf Festival
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