Vans Triple Crown

PERU'S SOFIA MULANOVICH WINS ROXY PRO FOR CAREER BEST Hawaii's Melanie Bartels Wins Women's World Qualifying Series Title

Friday, November 21, 2003 - (Haleiwa, HAWAII) -- Twenty year-old Peruvian Sofia Mulanovich took first place in the women's Roxy Pro at Haleiwa Beach today to post the best result of her three year career. Her win the in this 6-star World Qualifying Series rated event earned her $6,000 and put her at the top of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing series ratings. The Roxy Pro is the first of three events that make up the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Series and drew a record crowd today of more than 3000 people.

Runner-up to Mulanovich was Hawaii's Melanie Bartels (Waianae - $3,000), whose result today earned her the 2003 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) title. Next year, Bartels will join the ASP elite World Championship Tour. Third place today was Brazilian Maria Tita Tavares ($2,300), and fourth was Australian Samantha Cornish ($1,700).

North-easterly winds remained strong today, but as the North Shore's most tucked away surf spot, conditions on offer were the best of any around. Waves continued in the 3-5 foot range and were highly contestable, even though not as large or smooth as competitors have enjoyed in recent years.

The final was not lacking in waves and every second ride seemed to have either Sophia or Melanie on top. Neither stopped moving for the duration of the 25 minute final, trading off high scores to shut out Tavares and Cornish. Mulanovich bolted out of the gates with two excellent scores - 7.0 and 8.0. Bartels started out a little slower but built to a peak by mid-heat. By the final horn, Bartels was still in need of an 8.67 score to catch Sofia, Tavares was in need of a near-perfect 9.0, and Cornish required a combination of rides for a total of 15.01 points.

"It's great to win in Hawaii," said Mulanovich. "Where I'm from it is a dream to surf in Hawaii and to win in a contest like this. It's such a good wave and the vibe is great. The most important thing about this contest is that it's one of the stops on the Triple Crown and it would be good to win the Triple Crown.

"I always seem to catch the bad waves in a contest and this time I was focusing on trying to do as many moves on the waves as I could. I didn't want to waste any wave. This is only my second ever (ASP) win and it's the biggest."

For Bartels, a single mother, performing well today was important on many levels: the opportunity to show her talents in front of a home crowd, to win the WQS ratings, and to keep the 'west side' flag flying high.

"I was just trying to have fun and represent Hawaii and the west side, and follow in Auntie Rell's footsteps," said Bartels, who grew up surfing with Makaha's Rell Sunn as her guiding light.

"It was anybody's ball game. There were a lot of great surfers in this event and it was an accomplishment for me to be in the final. I really want to do well (in the Vans Triple Crown championship). It's a really good goal for me and no Hawaii woman has won it."

Earlier, in the women's quarter finals, all eyes were on 11-year-old Carissa Moore (Kahala, Oahu), who won her way into the quarter finals two days ago. In the water, there was nothing about Carissa to indicate she was a pre-teen up-and-coming surfer. Her surfing and scores were well on-par with the seasoned professionals she shared the lineup with. She remained in contention throughout her heat, eventually losing to overall winner, Mulanovich. Pictures Plus, a supporting sponsor of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, made a special presentation to Carissa in recognition of her excellent performance in the event.

Round three of the men's Vans Hawaiian Pro was also run to completion today, marking the entrance of seeded surfers world champion Andy Irons and current world ratings leader Kelly Slater in back-to-back heats. Both put on a great show and had the crowd cheering. Irons won his heat against Love Hodel (Haw), Gavin Beschen (USA) and Todd Prestage (Aus). Slater led for much of his heat but finished a close second behind Californian Shane Beschen after Beschen took an excellent left hander that Slater opted to go right on. The top two surfers from each heat advanced.

"I think that's the first time Shane and I have surfed against each other in 6 years," said Slater. "He was on the tour when I retired and I was making a comeback when he was off the tour. I should have taken that last wave off him, I'd been waiting longer," he laughed.

"This is great. People are really excited and into it, they're clapping us as we come up the beach.

"It's a little tricky out there with four guys in these conditions. You keep pushing each other a little deeper and a little deeper, and a lot of the waves swing wide. But the ones from deep are pretty good.

"There haven't been many good waves lately and I was thinking about not even surfing here. I wanted to go outer island and find some good waves, but I'm here to try and do well in the triple crown. I'd like to try and win the Triple Crown and I've got to think about the big picture, the big goal here and that's one of them for sure.

"I'm not worried about the points for the WQS. If I don't make the heat it's not a big deal so I don't have too much pressure as far as that's concerned. My focus here is going to be going into Sunset and Pipe, but this event is a time be more creative and have a little fun."

Others to advance to men's round four included Brazilians Neco Padaratz, Armando Daltro and Victor Ribas; Australians Joel Parkinson, Shane Powell and Troy Brooks, American Tim Curran and Frenchman Eric Ribiere.

Men's competition will resume tomorrow at 8am. The final is schedule for 2:15pm.

The Roxy Pro and Vans Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa are the first stop of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Series. The women next move to the North Shore's only 5-star hotel, the Turtle Bay Resort, for the 4-star WQS Turtle Bay Resort Women's Pro (November 24-December 7). Following tomorrow's final, the men will move up to Sunset Beach for the Rip Curl Cup (Nov. 24-Dec.7). The third stop is Pipeline, for the Xbox Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters (Dec. 8-20) for the men, and Honolua Bay, Maui, for the women's Billabong Pro (Dec. 8-20)

The Vans Triple Crown Series features the world's top athletes competing in three championship events in each of the following sports: Skateboarding, Wakeboarding, Surfing, Snowboarding, BMX and Freestyle Motocross. The Series is made possible through the support of Vans, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Roxy, Rip Curl, The Turtle Bay Resort, Billabong, Mountain Dew, Ford Trucks, Right Guard Xtreme Sport, Fox Sports Net, Surfing Magazine, NBC Sports, Road Runner and Pictures Plus.

RESULTS: ROXY PRO WOMEN'S FINAL:

• 1st. Sophia Mulanovich (Peru) 15.0 - $6,000
• 2nd. Melanie Bartels (Hawaii) 12.1 - $3,000
• 3rd. Maria Tita Tavares (Brz) 10.43 - $2,300
• 4th. Samantha Cornish (Aus) 7.97 - $1,700

WOMEN'S WQS RATINGS AFTER THIS EVENT: (Top 20)

• 1. Melanie Bartels (Haw) 8383
• 2. Chelsea Georgeson (Aus) 7358
• 3. Sophia Mulanovich (Peru) 7355
• 4. Heather Clark (SAfr) 6930
• 5. Jacqueline Silva (Brz) 6515
• 6. Pauline Menczer (Aus) 6355
• 7. Melanie Redman-Carr (Aus) 6305
• 8. Rochelle Ballard (Haw) 6145
• 9. Prue Jeffries (Aus) 6018
• 10. Maria Tita Tavares (Brz) 6005
• 11. Lynette MacKenzie (Aus) 5930
• 12. Samantha Cornish (Aus) 5890
• 13. Megan Abubo (Haw) 5810
• 14. Laurina McGrath (Aus) 5703
• 15. Serena Brooke (Aus) 5688
• 16. Emanuelle Joly-Thomas (Fra) 5195
• 17. Caroline Sarran (Fra) 5150
• 18. Julia Christian (USA) 5125
• 19. Claire Bevilacqua (Aus) 4850
• 20. Rebecca Woods (Aus) 4750

VANS HAWAIIAN PRO MEN'S ROUND 3: 1st & 2nd to next round. 3rd=33rd, 4th=49th

H1: Neco Padaratz (Brz), Mick Fanning (Aus), Sean Moody (Haw), Dean Randazzo (USA)

H2: Jesse Merle-Jones (Haw), Glenn Hall (Aus), Darren O'Rafferty (Aus), Shane Dorian (Haw)

H3: Tim Curran (USA), Beau Emerton (Aus), Renan Rocha (Brz), Kalani Robb (Haw)

H4: Joel Parkinson (Aus), Mazz Quinn (Nz), Tiago Pires (Port), Jamie O'Brien (Haw)

H5: Armando Daltro (Brz), Fred Patacchia (Haw), Jihad Kohdr (Brz), Shea Lopez (USA)

H6: Steve Clements (Aus), Damien Hobgood (USA), Toby Martin (Aus), Eneko Acero (Spn)

H7: Shane Powell (Aus), Bruce Irons (Haw), Paulo Moura (Brz), Jarrad Howse (Aus)

H8: Andy Irons (Haw), Love Handle (Haw), Todd Prestage (Aus), Gavin Beschen (USA)

H9: Shane Beschen (USA), Kelly Slater (USA), Myles Padaca (Haw), Paul Canning (SAfr)

H10: Troy Brooks (Aus), Danillo Costa (Brz), Lee Winkler (Aus), Bobby Martinez (USA)

H11: Eric Ribiere (Fra), Peterson Rosa (Brz), Luke Stedman (Aus), Michael Lowe (Aus)

H12: Victor Ribas (Brz), Travis Logie (SAfr), Guilherme Herdy (Brz), Mark Occhilupo (Aus)

H13: Jake Paterson (Aus), Pancho Sullivan (Haw), Kieren Perrow (Aus), Bernardo Pigmeu (Brz)

H14: Richard Lovett (Aus), Joel Centeio (Haw), Matt Thompson (Aus), Luke Egan (Aus)

H15: Trent Munro (Aus), Tom Whittaker (Aus), Chris Ward (USA), Patrick Bevan (Aus)

H16: Phillip McDonald (Aus), Brian Pacheco (Haw), Nathan Carroll (Haw), Dayyan Neve (Aus)