Kaua'i's Irons wins surf meet in Spain
Advertiser Staff
Kaua'i's Andy Irons continued to march toward his first professional world surfing championship by winning the Billabong Pro Mundaka yesterday.
Pierre Tostee • Association of Surfing Professionals
Irons defeated Brazil's Neco Padaratz in 2- to 3-foot waves at Bakio Beach, Spain, in the one-on-one final.
Andy Irons has won three of nine events on the World Championship Tour this season.
"I'm just on top of the world right now," said Irons, 24. "I know in these kinds of waves Neco's such a tough competitor to beat, so I had to wait for the better waves and just try to link my ones all the way through and get the bigger turns off."
Irons received a score of 8.75 (out of 10) on his second wave of the heat to give him a lead he would never relinquish. A late charge by Padaratz made the final score close, 22.75-22.0.
Only 10 days ago, Padaratz beat Irons in the final of the Quiksilver Pro France. "So payback is good," Irons said.
Earlier in the day, Irons defeated Flavio Padaratz (Neco's older brother) in the quarterfinals, and then Australian Taj Burrow in the semifinals.
Irons earned $30,000 for the victory. He has won three of the nine events on this year's World Championship Tour. No other surfer has won more than once.
Through nine of 12 events on the tour, Irons has 7,052 points. Australian Luke Egan is No. 2 with 6,066.
"I'm not going to count any chickens before they hatch," Irons said. "I'm going to wait until Pipeline for the last heat and just hope it all keeps going well."
Kalani Robb of O'ahu's North Shore tied for ninth in the contest and is No. 8 overall on the tour.
The next event, the Coca-Cola Surf International, is scheduled to begin next Wednesday at Saquarema, Brazil.
The final two contests of the tour will be staged on O'ahu's North Shore: Rip Curl Cup at Sunset Beach, Nov. 24-Dec. 7, then the Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters, Dec. 8-20.
