Alana Blanchard will never forget November 19th. The ASP Women’s World Tour rookie has had a tough year in terms of results. However, pitted against superstars Sofia Mulanovich, Rebecca Woods, and fellow Rip Curl winglady Steph Gilmore, Alana nabbed the largest result of her career by scalping the 2009 Vans Hawaiian Pro, the first stop of the Triple Crown series.

The 19 year-old hailing from Kauai now leads the Triple Crown series, which boasts $25 G’s to the winner. “It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my career,” said Alana. “I haven’t won a lot and it’s special to win the in Hawaii because I live here and it’s part of the Triple Crown.”

Although the Vans Hawaiian Pro is an ASP Specialty event, which doesn’t provide ASP World Tour or WQS points, the win still catapulted some much-needed momentum for Alana heading into Sunset and Maui with full intentions of 2010 Dream Tour re-qualification.

Finishing a close 2nd place was reigning 2x ASP World Champ and teammate Steph Gilmore, who will also use this result as some positive momentum heading into the final 2 events, as she pursues her 3rd consecutive ASP World Title.

“The world title race is really tight at the moment and this is a good confidence booster heading into Sunset, which is a great event for the (WCT) girls. Its good to push ourselves,” Steph said.

CONGRAT’ ALANA!

Stay locked to ripcurl.com for more on Alana and Steph, as they’ll be bringing the noise to the next 2 events of the Vans Triple Crown