While the ASP's world tour stars are enjoying a healthy break in the schedule, the WQS side of things, A.K.A. The Grind, is heating up in the Maldives for the the 6 Star Prime SriLankan Pro, one of the most important stops of the season. Of course, being that this party is a world away, and it's not backed by a powerhouse industry player, it gets very little media spotlight, but that doesn't change the fact tha some heavy heats with serious consequences are going down. Usually, this is the type of event where new faces emerge, and true to form, that's exactly what's happened as the field was narrowed down to the final 16 surfers yesterday. The remaining list of competitors reads is best summed up by one question, "Who the Heck is That?"


Romain Cloitre? Miguel Pupo? Jonathan Gonzalez? Anyone?


Sadly, Australia's Owen Wright and Daniel Ross along with Brazilian Andre Jadson are the only three surfers left standing who are currently in the Top 20. In fact, all three of those guys are currently in the Top 5, which means they're strengthening their death grip on the top spots. Meanwhile, the Amercans have had a relitively rough go. Hungtington Beach's Brett Simpson had another early round exit, falling in the Round of 48. Some other notables who lost in the same round included Eric Geiselman, Tanner Gudauskas, Matty Wilkinson, Kai Barger and even Sunny Garcia.


Yet all is not lost for the Americans. San Clemente's Patrick Gudauskas will be facing off against veteran Cory Lopez in the next round, which means the yanks will have at least one surfer in the Quarterfinals. The other hopefull is Californian Austin Ware, who squares off next against Australia's Drew Courtney.


Stay tuned...