BALLITO, KwaZulu-Natal (Sunday, July 5, 2009) - Just hours after celebrating both his 21st birthday and American Independence Day (both on 4 July), Tanner Gudauskas (California, USA) celebrated the biggest victory of his professional surfing career, taking out the ASP WQS 6-Star Mr Price Pro Ballito today.
Gudauskas defeated Australian James "Taipan" Wood (Aus), rocketing to World No. 6 on the ASP World Qualifying Series and pocketing R159 000 (US$20 000) as well as 2500 ASP WQS ratings points.
“I just can’t believe it, this is a personal best for me!” said Gudauskas. “Every night this week I’ve been going to bed dreaming about winning this contest and putting myself up there where Pat (Tanner’s brother and ASP WQS No. 10 Patrick Gudauskas) was at, and it came through today so I’m fired up!”
“I just got into this mindset that when the surf got worse, I was going to get better and as the tide came up and it got less consistent, I just got more fired up and more pissed off,” said Gudauskas. “It’s crazy because I can hardly remember half of it now, but my priority exchange worked out and it all came together and I’ m just super fired up!”
“When I came out of the water and saw my brothers and some of my friends all standing on the beach cheering for me I was almost in tears,” said Gudauskas. “We have a really strong crew from America right now and we’re all pushing as hard as we can to bust down the door and make the ASP World Tour and I think this year could be the year.”
Guduaskas is now the highest rated American surfer on the ASP WQS tour, surpassing both ASP WQS No. 7 Brett Simpson and his older brother ASP WQS No. 10 Patrick Gudauskas.
For more information log on to www.mrpricepro.com or tune into East Coast Radio for daily updates
