9/27/09: Mick Fanning beats Bede Durbidge in the final. At least it looks like the title race is on, which may excite things a little. Davo surfed solid and just needed one more wave to get through his round 3 heat. We're still wondering how Dane, Bobby and CJ lost????? After Ward's record setting round 2 heat, then Dane and CJ losing early, the contest was about as exciting as hearing Noodles talk about his heat with Guilherme Herdy. The most exciting part of the whole contest was Dane riding his fish in round 3. The board closely resembled an old Pistol Pete Mayhem model but apparently it was some Machado board. His backside roundhouse was f*cking unbelievable. Dane chose to ride the board that he thought he would have the most fun on. Different boards draw different lines. Chris Ward says he often rides different equipment (fish, rocket, etc...) because he wants to see if he can draw a different line in the tube or on the face of the wave. In 2007, following Chris Ward's defeat of Dean Morrison on a quad fin at Teahupoo, Mick Fanning told Ward, "Those quads are a gimmick". Fanning went on to beat Chris in the next round, win the world title that year and move one step closer to becoming the next Damien Hardman. Maybe it's Mick's abstinence from alternative equipment that's making him do the same turn over and over again? Maybe he'd rather be Damien Hardman instead of Martin Potter? Maybe Wardo should show up for his f*ckin heat?

After possibly setting an ASP record for missing two heats in one contest we've finally found out where Ward is. According to STABMAG.COM this is what he's been up to. "Wardo, who’s made a typically random cameo into the scene, has one ankle. I’m not sure whose got the other. The game involves standing on your head in a tub of ice water and seeing how long you can hold your breath. Wardo’s just been dunked in the tub himself, managing a creditable 23 seconds underwater before jumping to his feet and throwing fistfuls of ice into the crowd. It’s Friday night in France, and we’ve found plenty of company in the plaza outside the Rockfood, including a few guys still in the contest."

Even we can't f*ckin believe this one.
Ben Dunn (AUS), 23, current ASP World No. 26, surfed one of the strangest heats of the Quiksilver Pro France thus far. His opponent, Chris Ward (USA), 30, who had already missed his Round 1 heat due to scheduling confusion, overslept this morning and failed to show up until 15 minutes into the 30 minute heat.

“Well, it definitely plays with your head,” Dunn said. “Wardo missed his Round 1 heat and I thought he was going to show up for today’s heat because I saw him yesterday, but he said he overslept or something." - ASPWORLDTOUR.COM.

Where the f*ck is Wardo? I never saw him. Did you f*cking see him? Nobody saw him - the guy's like invisible. He comes here for three days and nobody sees him? I mean I'm at Hossogor all day, every day - ask Gabriel. I don't f*ckin work. I'm like, I'm there. All I do is sit on the beach, smoke pot and surf and play my f*ckin guitar. I mean I'm really easy to see and I don't see the guy. And... and this guys our top surfer? I mean 3 days he's here - what does he do? Every time we call his f*ckin house - what did they say? Chris is in the bathroom. Well, there you have it. Chris is in the bathroom... F*ck!

Oh yeah the monster Davo won his heat soundly by smashing Kieran Perrow and Aritz Aranburu..We watched the On Demand replay and Davo was on. It was a right sandbar and watch out when its righthanders....Davo has done well in France before so we are hoping for big things...

editor's sidenote: we've heard on the world wide web, Luke Steadman withdrew late notice and Ward got moved up to heat 1 from heat 11. So he went from cruising in the hotel, to hearing that he missed his heat. ASP rules have some things that need to be tweaked.....