Fanning, Irons Brothers Not Coming to Spain
October 1, 2008 – 12:58 am PT by GregTags: Andy Irons, ASP, Billabong Pro, Bruce Irons, Mick Fanning —
The Billabong Pro Mundaka is expected to kick off today in Spain and Kelly Slater only needs to make it to the fourth round to secure his record ninth world title. It was only two years ago that Slater captured his eighth title at the very same venue after losing in the final heat to Bobby Martinez.
However, when the first round kicks off a few notable names will be missing and won’t be able to watch Slater’s inevitable march into history.
Defending world champion Mick Fanning is returning to Coolangatta, Australia, to rest after suffering a groin injury in South Africa at the J-Bay contest last July. The injury is expected to keep him sidelined through the Hang Loose contest in late October.
Also missing the event due to injury are Dean Morrison and Neco Padaratz.
Andy and Bruce Irons will also be skipping the event, though they are chalking it up to “personal reasons.” Bruce, who won the Rip Curl Pro Search contest in August, is retiring from the ASP World Tour this season and three-time world champ Andy is having an off-year, ranked 13th overall on the tour. Andy also skipped out on his second-round heat last month at the Quiksilver Pro France.
Find out more about the contest at the official site.
Here are the first round match-ups.
Billabong Pro Mundaka Round 1 Heat Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA), Aritz Aranburu (EUK)*
Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Mick Campbell (AUS), Ricky Basnett (ZAF)
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Pancho Sullivan (HAW), Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA), Roy Powers (HAW), Manoa Drollet (PYF)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA), Ben Dunn (AUS), Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 6: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Jordy Smith (ZAF), Tim Boal (FRA)
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Tim Reyes (USA), Mark Occhilupo (AUS)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA), Taylor Knox (USA), Reubyn Ash (GBR)
Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Marco San Segundo (EUK)*
Heat 10: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Tom Whitaker (AUS), Hodei Collazo (EUK)*
Heat 11: Luke Stedman (AUS), Jay Thompson (AUS), Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 12: Chris Ward (USA), Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA), Jihad Khodr (BRA)
Heat 13: Dayyan Neve (AUS), Mikael Picon (FRA), Leonardo Neves (BRA)
Heat 14: Dane Reynolds (USA), Tiago Pires (PRT), Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 15: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), Daniel Wills (AUS), Ben Bourgeois (USA)
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS), Royden Bryson (ZAF), Luke Munro (AUS)
One Response to “Fanning, Irons Brothers Not Coming to Spain”
Yeah, it sucks a lot of the big guys skipped this one. i think people are burnt on this because kelly has such a commanding lead and could clinch it tomorrow.
http://firststoke.com/videos/3619-billabong-pro-mundaka-round-1-highlights/
By Mundaka on Oct 1, 2008