For Immediate Release:

ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONAL SURFING PUERTO RICO (APSPR) Event # 3 on the APSPR “Corona Extra Pro Surf Circuit” competition season.

Gabe Kling leads best field of Surfers ever into Corona Extra Pro

It is now only a week away from the commencement of the 2011 Corona Extra Pro at Middles Beach on the northwest coast of Puerto Rico. As a busy Caribbean storm season continues to send swells to the shores of the island, the local pros are bracing for the invasion of the strongest field of Mainland and overseas surfers that the APSPR circuit has ever seen.

“We have already confirmed the entries of top Mainland surfers Asher Nolan, Ben Bourgeois and Gabe Kling”, said APSPR President Werner Vega. “In addition, Magnum Martinez, the top-rated surfer ever from Venezuela, and Hawaiian Kekoa Bacalso will also be competing”

The appearance of Kling, 31, from St. Augustine, Florida will mark the first time that an ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) World Tour ranked surfer has entered a Corona Extra event. Kling is currently ranked number 35 in the race for the 2011 World Title with four events left to go. Only forty surfers travel the globe on that elite tour, so Kling usually spends his time competing against the likes of ten-time World Champ Kelly Slater. Puerto Rican surf fans that flocked to Middles last winter to see Slater clinch his tenth title at the Rip Curl Search event will remember watching Kling as well. Gabe advanced to round three of that event, where he lost to South African Jordy Smith. So far this season Kling has won $69,450 in prize money, so the $10,000 first prize offered by Corona Extra and the Puerto Rican Tourism Company would be a nice addition to his career earnings of $362,550

Kling recently spoke about his up and down year in 2010. “I had a several injuries and didn’t do that well until the Lowers 6.0 Pro, in California. I won that contest and from there everything started falling into place. The waves were really fun last year in France and Portugal and Puerto Rico”.

Another top surfer who will be returning to Puerto Rico, where he enjoyed previous success is Asher Nolan, 33, from Jacksonville, Florida. Nolan won the 2006 Domes event over Isabela local, Brian Toth. Most recently, Nolan earned a wildcard slot in the ASP New York Pro by winning the trials event there in September. That gave him a chance to compete against the eventual winner, Owen Wright, of Australia.

Ben Bourgeois, 33, of Wrightsville Beach, NC recently won the Outer Banks Pro in his home state. Bourgeois is the most successful surfer ever from North Carolina and also previously competed on the elite ASP World Tour.

“In the last few years there were three or four little series you could do in the U.S., but they’re all gone now. These circuits like the APSPR are giving some great surfers the opportunity to stay in surfing.”

Kekoa Bacalso, 26, from Hawaii is currently ranked # 103 on the World ratings and Magnum Martinez is the greatest surfer ever from Venezuela. Martinez recently placed second in the Open Men’s division of the 2011 ISA World Surfing Games, in Playa Venao, Panama. Magnum is a regular visitor to Puerto Rico where he likes to catch the big swells at Tres Palmas with his friend APSPR competitor Otto Flores.

All of these visiting pros know they will have their hands full competing with the top Puerto Ricans at the challenging reef at Middles, where local knowledge is a big advantage. The local who may have the most to prove is Dylan Graves. The last time that Graves, 25, competed in a heat at Middles was against current World Champion Kelly Slater, almost exactly a year ago. Graves had won the local Trials and a wildcard into the main event of the Rip Curl Search. With thousands of local surf fans on the beach and millions more watching online, Graves gave the Champ a big scare, losing by only 1.43 points, which was the closest that any opponent came to defeating Slater that week, as he charged to his record-setting tenth World Title.

The defending APSPR champ at Middles, Brian Toth has also confirmed his entry for next week’s event. Toth, 26, from Isabela is leading the current Corona Extra season rankings. However, the ranking points on offer for the upcoming event means that the title race is far from over. “Because Corona and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company have more than doubled the prize money for this event”, said Mr. Vega, “the APSPR will be awarding increased rating points of 150%. This means that the winners at Middles next month will receive 1500 rating points, rather than 1000. So, while Brian Toth holds a substantial lead over the Bursian brothers, Tommy and Leslie, going into the event, a victory by anyone in the top ten, coupled by a bad result from Toth, could leave the Title race wide open”.

In addition, Coppertone Skincare has also doubled their popular “Best Performance” awards to $1000 each, to one of the Men and one of the Women. In March at Domes, Quincy Davis and Toth each won the Coppertone “Best Performance” for their top heat scores.

Surfing fans who are unable to attend in person at Middles will once again have the opportunity to follow the action online with the popular “Heats on Demand” feature. At the completion of each day of competition they will have access to every scoring ride of the event. On our website < www.apspr.net > you can scan the draw, and select which heat you would like to view and much more. Each scoring ride is shown, along with the points earned for that wave, through the technology of the Beach Byte computer scoring system. Each of the five judges enters their scores for each surfer’s rides into the computer, which tallies the points and decides the winners. All of that scoring information is then available on the APSPR website to anyone with access to a modem.

“Entries closed Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 4:00pm, announced APSPR Executive Director, Vivianee Vega. For more information visit our website < www.apspr.net >, or call: (787) 872-2490 between the hours of 10:AM and 5:PM, Tuesday through Sunday”.

In addition to both days of surfing competition, Corona Extra will feature nighttime entertainment at several locations throughout the host town of Isabela, ensuring that the fun will continue around the clock all weekend.

Media Information:

Visit the media center on www.apspr.net for images, surfer quotes, archived press releases and athlete profiles. Downloadable audio clips and TV news feed are also available.

Our generous sponsors are: Corona Extra, Corona Light, Puerto Rico Tourism Company, Coppertone Sport, Wapa TV, Hang Loose Surf Shop, Werner Vega Surfboards, Alfa Rock, n-punto, Jose Cuervo, and El Nuevo Día

For Immediate Release:

ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONAL SURFING PUERTO RICO (APSPR) Event # 3 on the APSPR “Corona Extra Pro Surf Circuit” competition season.

Gabe Kling leads best field of Surfers ever into Corona Extra Pro

It is now only a week away from the commencement of the 2011 Corona Extra Pro at Middles Beach on the northwest coast of Puerto Rico. As a busy Caribbean storm season continues to send swells to the shores of the island, the local pros are bracing for the invasion of the strongest field of Mainland and overseas surfers that the APSPR circuit has ever seen.

“We have already confirmed the entries of top Mainland surfers Asher Nolan, Ben Bourgeois and Gabe Kling”, said APSPR President Werner Vega. “In addition, Magnum Martinez, the top-rated surfer ever from Venezuela, and Hawaiian Kekoa Bacalso will also be competing”

The appearance of Kling, 31, from St. Augustine, Florida will mark the first time that an ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) World Tour ranked surfer has entered a Corona Extra event. Kling is currently ranked number 35 in the race for the 2011 World Title with four events left to go. Only forty surfers travel the globe on that elite tour, so Kling usually spends his time competing against the likes of ten-time World Champ Kelly Slater. Puerto Rican surf fans that flocked to Middles last winter to see Slater clinch his tenth title at the Rip Curl Search event will remember watching Kling as well. Gabe advanced to round three of that event, where he lost to South African Jordy Smith. So far this season Kling has won $69,450 in prize money, so the $10,000 first prize offered by Corona Extra and the Puerto Rican Tourism Company would be a nice addition to his career earnings of $362,550

Kling recently spoke about his up and down year in 2010. “I had a several injuries and didn’t do that well until the Lowers 6.0 Pro, in California. I won that contest and from there everything started falling into place. The waves were really fun last year in France and Portugal and Puerto Rico”.

Another top surfer who will be returning to Puerto Rico, where he enjoyed previous success is Asher Nolan, 33, from Jacksonville, Florida. Nolan won the 2006 Domes event over Isabela local, Brian Toth. Most recently, Nolan earned a wildcard slot in the ASP New York Pro by winning the trials event there in September. That gave him a chance to compete against the eventual winner, Owen Wright, of Australia.

Ben Bourgeois, 33, of Wrightsville Beach, NC recently won the Outer Banks Pro in his home state. Bourgeois is the most successful surfer ever from North Carolina and also previously competed on the elite ASP World Tour.

“In the last few years there were three or four little series you could do in the U.S., but they’re all gone now. These circuits like the APSPR are giving some great surfers the opportunity to stay in surfing.”

Kekoa Bacalso, 26, from Hawaii is currently ranked # 103 on the World ratings and Magnum Martinez is the greatest surfer ever from Venezuela. Martinez recently placed second in the Open Men’s division of the 2011 ISA World Surfing Games, in Playa Venao, Panama. Magnum is a regular visitor to Puerto Rico where he likes to catch the big swells at Tres Palmas with his friend APSPR competitor Otto Flores.

All of these visiting pros know they will have their hands full competing with the top Puerto Ricans at the challenging reef at Middles, where local knowledge is a big advantage. The local who may have the most to prove is Dylan Graves. The last time that Graves, 25, competed in a heat at Middles was against current World Champion Kelly Slater, almost exactly a year ago. Graves had won the local Trials and a wildcard into the main event of the Rip Curl Search. With thousands of local surf fans on the beach and millions more watching online, Graves gave the Champ a big scare, losing by only 1.43 points, which was the closest that any opponent came to defeating Slater that week, as he charged to his record-setting tenth World Title.

The defending APSPR champ at Middles, Brian Toth has also confirmed his entry for next week’s event. Toth, 26, from Isabela is leading the current Corona Extra season rankings. However, the ranking points on offer for the upcoming event means that the title race is far from over. “Because Corona and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company have more than doubled the prize money for this event”, said Mr. Vega, “the APSPR will be awarding increased rating points of 150%. This means that the winners at Middles next month will receive 1500 rating points, rather than 1000. So, while Brian Toth holds a substantial lead over the Bursian brothers, Tommy and Leslie, going into the event, a victory by anyone in the top ten, coupled by a bad result from Toth, could leave the Title race wide open”.

In addition, Coppertone Skincare has also doubled their popular “Best Performance” awards to $1000 each, to one of the Men and one of the Women. In March at Domes, Quincy Davis and Toth each won the Coppertone “Best Performance” for their top heat scores.

Surfing fans who are unable to attend in person at Middles will once again have the opportunity to follow the action online with the popular “Heats on Demand” feature. At the completion of each day of competition they will have access to every scoring ride of the event. On our website < www.apspr.net > you can scan the draw, and select which heat you would like to view and much more. Each scoring ride is shown, along with the points earned for that wave, through the technology of the Beach Byte computer scoring system. Each of the five judges enters their scores for each surfer’s rides into the computer, which tallies the points and decides the winners. All of that scoring information is then available on the APSPR website to anyone with access to a modem.

“Entries closed Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 4:00pm, announced APSPR Executive Director, Vivianee Vega. For more information visit our website < www.apspr.net >, or call: (787) 560-0181 between the hours of 10:AM and 5:PM, Tuesday through Sunday”.

In addition to both days of surfing competition, Corona Extra will feature nighttime entertainment at several locations throughout the host town of Isabela, ensuring that the fun will continue around the clock all weekend.

Media Information:

Visit the media center on www.apspr.net for images, surfer quotes, archived press releases and athlete profiles. Downloadable audio clips and TV news feed are also available.

Our generous sponsors are: Corona Extra, Corona Light, Puerto Rico Tourism Company, Coppertone Sport, Wapa TV, Hang Loose Surf Shop, Werner Vega Surfboards, Alfa Rock, n-punto, Jose Cuervo, and El Nuevo Día