Irons wins 2007 Pro Search

It was a hard fought final at Ex Isla Alacran, Chile, against Damien Hobgood but Andy Irons scored a late 9.17 to take the Rip Curl Pro Search for a second year in succession, moving him to 3rd in the rankings behind Damien, who jumps to the number two slot.

Despite losing to Andy Irons in the semi-finals, Mick Fanning consolidates his position at the top of the rankings, however Andy is actually in quite a strong position because when calculating the year's final points total, he will be allowed to drop his last place finish in the first ASP World Tour event of the year.

The top five ASP World Tour rankings are currently:

1. Mick Fanning (AUS)


2. Damien Hobgood (USA)


3. Andy Irons (HAW)


4. Taj Burrow (AUS)


5. Joel Parkinson (AUS)

Kelly Slater (USA) comes in at number six, having had a disappointing start to the year and only securing one semi-final place.

The Men's ASP World Tour now heads to JBay, South Africa, for event 5.

Rip Curl Pro Search Chile

It's half way through the 2007 Rip Curl Pro Search Chile waiting period at Arica, event 4 on the ASP world tour. And a dramatic day of competition (Monday) saw the elimination of current world No. 2 Taj Burrow (AUS). Three times World Champion Andy Irons (HAW) put in a a scorching performance to take him through to the next round, before retiring half way through his heat with a broken board, and Fred Patacchia (HAW) turned in a perfect 10-point ride.

A couple of days into the event, the Arica break got a little too wild, forcing organizers to put it on hold in order to ensure the surfer's safety but good 2m (6ft) waves have since allowed all but two heats from round three to be completed.

Next competition call is 7am local time, Tuesday