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28/10/2006:// American Bobby Martinez will be looking to secure a third win of his World Championship Tour season in South America.
Martinez, who has claimed both the Billabong Pro Tahiti and more recently the Billabong Pro Mundaka, is brimming with confidence and will be out for another solid result so as to round out what has been an incredible year.
The 25-year-old, from California, is sitting a mere five points behind 5th place Mick Fanning in the rankings going into the Nova Schin Festival at Santa Catarina, in Brazil.
The Santa Barbara surfer spent much of the early part of 2006 hot on the heels of eight-times world champion Kelly Slater, but after a string of indifferent results he slipped before raging back into the limelight with his recent win.
"It's been an amazing year for me that's for sure," said Martinez. "This year I came in just happy to be here after struggling on the World Qualifying Series for so long. And to finally get here in the big league…
"I just want to give it my all at every contest. But I don't want to get ahead of myself thinking I'm going to win. There are so many good guys on this tour so you can only do your best," he added.
In its fourth year, the Festival - the only top tour event to be held in South America - will move an hour south from its traditional home base of Florianopolis to take advantage of the more consistent break known as Imbituba, which previously had been the event's back-up venue.
And while Slater has the world champion's crown wedged firmly in his travel bag, there is still much anticipation surrounding his claim for the only record he has yet to break - the most number of tour victories currently held by American Tom Curren.
At present he is equal with Curren holding onto 33 career wins and with the world title pressure valve now being released it is expected that surfing's greatest ever exponent will lift another gear in the punchy beach breaks and go for broke.
"I'd really love to win the last two contests," said Slater. "I'd really love to win Pipe, so I'm going to really focus on that.
"It's true that people do surf better when there's no pressure. And you do surf your best when you're not thinking about those things, but if you don't have something pushing your surfing then it's hard to go forward. When you have an opportunity in a sport to achieve records then you have to grab onto them when you can. I love the idea of having challenges," he added.
Currently filling ratings spots two through to five going into the remaining two events are three-time Foster's ASP Men's World Tour champion Andy Irons (USA), 2004 Nova Schin Festival champion Taj Burrow (AUS), Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Fanning (AUS).
Defending Nova Schin Festival champion Damien Hobgood (USA) sits in 7th place on the rankings with Tom Whitaker (AUS), Taylor Knox (USA) and Dean Morrison (AUS) rounding out the Top 10.
Looking at the lower rankings there are many who are depending on an excellent result in the Brazilian beachbreaks so as to keep their top tour dreams alive - surfers ranked from 28 down face relegation to the ASP's second tier World Qualifying Series in 2007
And going into the remaining two tour events, only one Brazilian - rookie Adriano de Souza - is guaranteed a spot in next year's top 45.
[Carissa Moore (in yellow) receiving the winner's prize]
[The number of high-rated Australian surf competitions are set to increase]
[Pablo Gutierrez winner of the Superbock Pro]
Hawaiian Carissa Moore won the Roxy Pro Junior surfing in her first ever contest in France
ASP International has announce the inception of their fourth regional branch, ASP Australasia
Twenty-six-year-old Pablo Guitierrez took top honours in the Superbock Pro in Portugal after defeating fellow Portugeuse surfer Eduardo Fernandes in the final
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