GrindTV news, Septemeber 14, 2009 - In a clash some ASP officials are calling the "best finals ever" young Aussie Owen Wright, 19, narrowly edged California's Pat Gudauskas, 23, by a score of 19.23 to 18.93 to take top honors at the coveted Sri Lankan Airlines Pro, the 6-Star Prime held at the legendary Pasta Point in the Maldives. With his victory, Wright also took over the top spot on the WQS rankings by jumping past countrymen Daniel Ross in the quarterfinals to start his day. The young Austrailan has already surpassed his goals that he set out to start the year, and is now reassessing. "At the start of the year, I was focusing on winning the ASP Pro Junior season in Australia and doing a few WQS events to get the experience, but now I'm definitely looking to win the WQS and qualify for the ASP World Tour," Wright said.

Wright certainly has the judges conviced that he belongs in the big leagues. After the final head judge Perry Hatchet said he considered the final one of the top five he's ever witnessed. While others in attendance claimed it was the best they'd ever seen. The two aerial aces went at each other with some of the most impressive stunt flying ever seen in competition. Wright struck first, landing two aerials on the same wave, and mixing in some serious hard carves, scoring a 9.83 out of a possible 10 points on his second ride of the final. Gudauskas responed with an 8.94 on his backhand, but fell at the end on what some beleive was going to be a 10-point ride.

When Wright struck again, earning a 9.40 via another aerial assault, Gadauskas suddenly found himself in the dreaded combination situation, which left him no other option but to swing for the fences. So that's what he did. Earlier in the event Gudauskas pulled the first ever rodeo flip in WQS competition. With nothing to lose he decided to go back to that well during the second half of the final. His first couple of attempts went haywire upon landing, adding serious tension for those watching. But then, in the final five minutes Guduaskas found the perfect ramp he was looking for...this time, after some speedy set up turns he lined up his takeoff perfectly and executed another stellar inverted twisting-flip. The move netted him a perfect 10 points out of 10, and put him right back into contention in the closing moments. Though Wright hung on to win, Gudauskas felt good about making Wright earn the win.

"You know, I feel like I've won the event even though I lost," Gudauskas said. For that incredible effort he catapulted all the way to number 7 in the WQS ratings, from number 27. California's Austin Ware also managed to jump 20 slots up the rankings, to 15 from the 35, after his impressive equal 3rd place finish. Ware had an solid run, defeating notables like Drew Courtney and Leigh Sedley before losing to an unstoppable Wright in the second semifinal.


Australia's Daniel Ross and Brazil's Jadson Andre finished 5th and 3rd respectively, but along with Owen Wright, have taken a very firm hold within the Top 5 of the ratings. Ross remains in second place, but has widened his lead over everyone nearby except for Andre, who's jumped up to the number 4 slot. California's Brett Simpson is still managing to cling in the Top 5, but with only two strong results, he's 1500 points behind the guys in front of him, which means he's on much shakier ground.


While the visibility of this event was low due to lack of a huge sponsor and the fact that it happend while most of North America was sleeping, the message conveyed by the progressive surfing was clear. Performances are heading to new heights, literally. Gudauskas summed it up best when he was asked about the standard of surfing afterward. "I think surfing's heading to exciting places with these moves." We think he's right.


Results of the $145,000 SriLankan Airlines Pro, 6-Star Prime WQS Event

1. Owen Wright (AUS)
2. Pat Gudauskas (USA)
= 3. Austin Ware (USA), Jadson Andre (BRA)
= 5. Dantas Wiggolly (BRA), Romain Cloitre (FRA), Daniel Ross (AUS), Leigh Sedley (AUS)


WQS Rankings After the SriLankan Airlines Pro

1. Owen Wright (AUS)
2. Daniel Ross (AUS)
3. Adam Melling (AUS)
4. Jadson Andre (BRA)
5. Brett Simpson (USA)
6. Joan Duru (FRA)
7. Pat Gudauskas (USA)
8. Travis Logie (ZAF)
9. Blake Thornton (AUS)
10. Marco Polo (BRA)