2005 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach

Woolamai Beach - Phillip Island

After an entertaining day of great surfing in completing round one of the Rip Curl Pro at Phillip Island‚s Woolamai Beach today, organisers pushed to make up for lost time by putting out the first six heats of round two late this afternoon. All six heats saw the higher seeds of the Foster‚s Men‚s World Tour pushed all the way to the final hooter.

The first exchange was a cliff hanger with reigning World Champion Andy Irons given a solid shove by Rip Curl wildcard Ben Dunn, who scored the highest wave score of their heat after a solidly working a walling left from top to bottom for a nine pointer.

Unfortunately for the dreams and aspirations of young Dunn, his 9.0 was at the halfway mark of the 25 minute exchange. You obviously don‚t give the world champion half a heat‚s start under any conditions.

Irons too was a little slow starting, not getting his heat high score of 8.67 until his third wave. Dunn then got his 9.0. Andy got a backup of 6.33 on a wave that failed to run all the way to shore, and Dunn was left out the back with priority.

As the cool-headed Dunn held priority and waited out a good set needing just 6.01, Andy admitted to more than a case of nerves.

„In the heat against Ben this afternoon, as well as my round one heat against Mick (Fanning) and Ben again, I was feeling quite shattered and nervous. I got up super early this morning and drove over here to Phillip Island way before dawn, and I just wasn‚t myself,‰ said Andy.

Dunn‚s chance at the score he needed came about three-quarters of the way into the heat when he started working down the line on another left, but he fell on the inside and forfeited the opportunity.

„The grommet nearly got me! I was so nervous while he had priority needing only that low score. I‚m glad the heat is over,‰ said a relieved Irons who now moves on to round three to take on wildcard and fellow-Hawaiian Jamie O'Brien.

O'Brien came through in the third heat of round two after his adversary Nathan Hedge (AUS) was unanimously marked for interference, and thereby lost the second highest scoring wave from his tally.

Holding priority, Hedge paddled for quite a distance trying to scrape onto a wave he wanted, but he never pulled on to it. The goofy footer from North Narrabeen paddled straight back into the line-up assuming he still had priority because he hadn‚t caught the wave, but he erred.

Priority had swung to O'Brien, and so when Hedge took off outside O'Brien on the next set, his campaign was as good as over. O'Brien had started the heat with a strong ride featuring a small pit and big alley-oop aerial to score 8.50, but Hedge was pegging him back.

Hedge charged hard after his interference call, yielding an 8.00 and a 6.17, but it was too late with just one scorer being counted. He would have otherwise won the heat.

Brazilian wildcard Jean Da Silva had earlier pushed Aussie power broker Luke Egan all the way, the elder goofy‚ needing 7.2 on his final wave, and banking a 7.43 with less than a minute remaining in the heat.

Brazilian natural footer Peterson Rosa was also lucky to survive a charge that included several aerials from rookie Kirk Flintoff. Renan Rocha lost to Sunny Garcia needing just 6.85.

„We keep trying us Brazilians. We train hard and try to do our best. Today was a hard day for us. We should have done better in these beach breaks which Rip Curl did well to bring us to, but it hasn‚t worked out that way so far. We keep knocking on the door,‰ concluded Rosa.

In the final heat of the day, Mark Occhilupo handed Californian rookie Tim Reyes his second consecutive 33rd placing. Reyes only needed 6.61, but the waves dropped to 2-3' with the light and Occhilupo‚s wave choice was superior.

Surfers will meet in the Woolamai carpark at 6.30am tomorrow morning for an anticipated 7am start to heat 7 of round two.

RESULTS:

Round Two heats surfed this afternoon: (1st>Rnd3; 2nd=33rdUSD$3600/225 points)

H1: Andy Irons (HAW) 15.00 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 11.07
H2: Luke Egan (AUS) 13.00 def. Jean Da Silva (BRZ) 12.84
H3: Jamie O‚Brien (HAW) 13.33 def. Nathan Hedge (AUS) 8.00
H4: Sunny Garcia (HAW) 13.67 def. Renan Rocha (BRZ) 13.33
H5: Peterson Rosa (BRZ) 14.53 def. Kirk Flintoff (AUS) 14.34
H6: Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 13.40 def. Tim Reyes (USA) 12.40

Get online at www.ripcurl.com to keep up to date with the latest developments in the Rip Curl Pro. ___________________________________________ ROUND ONE NEWS/PRESS/RESULTS: FANNING SHUNTS IRONS INTO ROUND TWO OF THE RIP CURL PRO

IT was a great day for surfing giant Rip Curl today. Besides taking the Rip Curl Pro on the road without surfing a single heat of the event at Bells Beach for the first time in 33 years, and finally starting the event in good waves at Phillip Island’s Woolamai Beach, their number one team rider Mick Fanning relegated reigning world champion Andy Irons to the elimination second round today. They could not have asked for more, but then the ocean certainly owed them after a frustrating week of waiting for waves

Currently rated number one on the Foster’s Men’s World Tour after his stunning comeback victory in the first WCT of the season on the Gold Coast, it was the second time in as many encounters that Fanning has defeated Andy Irons, the previous time being in their man-on-man quarterfinal of that same opening event.

Irons looked to be comfortably in control through the majority of today’s round one heat, methodically linking from outside and through to the Woolamai inside reforms. In typical form, he started strongly, opening with 7.33 and backing that up with a solid 8.17.

After falling on his first wave, and then waiting quite a while for his next opportunity, Fanning answered with his own 8.17.

Waiting patiently, well towards the end of the heat, Fanning then fielded a good right-hander which he worked solidly to earn 7.97, and took the lead in the three-man exchange leaving Irons in need of 7.17, and wildcard Dunn hunting a combination.

With just minutes left, the world champion then took another right, and executed a high flying re-entry, but then the wave closed down, leaving him no scoring options.

Paddling into a following wave from out the back, Fanning sealed the deal firing straight off the bottom out of a high speed floater and into a vertical re-entry which raised cheers from the crowd and an 8.43 from the judges. The final horn blew with Irons then in need an 8.44 ride.

“It was a generous score for just two manoeuvres, but I guess they liked it up there,” grinned Fanning after the heat.

Fanning already had the exchange wrapped before that wave after a heat of dogged commitment where he refused to be shaken by the early lead and confidence of our world champion. It was another display that marks him as a serious world title contender for 2005.

“It was a bit of a tricky one. I just waited trying to catch up with a couple of decent ones towards the end and it paid off, “said Fanning summarising his outlook on the win.

“Even though the heat was a little slow for waves, I definitely had fun. It was good just to go surfing again! It’s the first time I’ve come to Bells and not had a surf at Bells or Winkipop, so it was a little frustrating, but they’ve definitely done the right thing moving the Rip Curl Pro here to Phillip Island,” continued Fanning.

Conditions varied almost continually throughout the day at Woolamai, but both of Florida’s Hobgood brothers handled the heavy tidal influence on the break, and produced outstanding performances in a packed day of surfing action.

Both Damien and CJ Hobgood paddled extensively back and forth over the two banks which organisers allowed the surfers to select their waves from, despite the fact that they were several hundred metres apart.

Damien scored the top wave score of the day, a 9.50 for a long and clean right-hander that ran a wave face solidly overhead. The agile goofy footer worked it on his backhand for all it was worth. He also scored the highest heat score of the day with a back-up score of 9.0.

“My 9.5 was one of those rights that was really clean,” said Damien. “I was able to hook it three times, and every time I came out of my bottom turn and looked back up at it, the wall was still there and running. I just kept hitting it! I was stoked”

Not to be outdone by his ‘little’ brother who is about one minute younger than him, 2001 world champion CJ Hobgood produced two rides in the eight point range, as well as a 9.0 for his second last wave to come out on top of a closely fought tussle with Trent Munro, the duelling pair leaving Brazilian Renan Rocha distant and in need of a combination of rides.

“I’m so tired right now. Sitting around at Bells for nine days, has not helped my cardio,’” smiled CJ after his victory.

Western Australia’s Taj Burrow was another standout today, producing an 8.0 and an 8.37 after sitting patiently for the right waves in his 30-minute heat with Bruce Irons (HAW) and rookie Tim Reyes (USA).

The heat started with Burrow skilfully working one of the bigger waves of the morning, only to see the younger Irons pigdog off takeoff to pull in and produce an 8.33 on the following wave.

“We all know Bruce can pretty much make a pit of nothing,” commented Burrow with a smile after his win.

“That wave was pretty much a closeout, but I knew he’d squeak out of it somehow – and he got a big score. That’s okay! I just had to pick another good one. I was glad I showed some patience instead of trouncing on anything that moves,” said Burrow.

As the tide shifted throughout the day, various heats had to cope with some fattish conditions, especially during the middle of the draw, heats nine and 10 particularly plagued, but bearing in mind what we had just endured back at Bells, nobody was complaining.

Last season’s runner-up Joel Parkinson (AUS) won his heat against Tom Whitaker (AUS) and Brazilian wildcard Jean Da Silva with the heat score of 12.30, the lowest winning aggregate of the day.

“There was just no bottom turn possible off them, or anything to hit off the top either – but at least we had waves! I just hope I get a better tidal window in round three because heaps of the waves looked great today,” said Parkinson.

Former six-times world champion Kelly Slater finally turned up in Victoria today after staying at his adopted home of Avalon on Sydney’s northern beaches for the past week, and surfed in the heat after Parkinson.

While the rest of the Foster’s Men’s World Tour suffered the waiting game at Bells Beach, Slater has been surfing the great swells on the NSW coast, anywhere between Shellharbour in the south, and the Central Coast to the north. Being late worked for him again today.

“I had a quick warm up and paddled out with only about a minute to go,” said Slater. “The other guys were all the way out the back, and it broke wide of them. I caught it two-thirds of the way out. As it turned out it was actually the best wave that I caught in the heat.”

“I hadn’t actually ridden my short board since the comp on the Gold Coast – I didn’t want to break it. It felt kind of strange on that wave, but I got a few sections that stood up. It was kind of mushy out there – you had to kind of fake it….just get up near the top of the wave and try and push the tail around,” he continued.

It was not a good day for the South American crew today, every one of the six seeded Brazilians, plus young trials wildcard Jean Da Silva, all relegated to round two.

“I love this place! Great beach breaks,” grinned Rio de Janeiro’s Victor Ribas returning up the beach from a free surf his morning.

As it happened, Ribas produced one of the highest wave scores of the day, an 8.67 for a long left hander that started working directly out front of the judges’ tower on the incoming mid-tide. He worked it impressively, rail to rail down the line.

Unfortunately for Ribas, he was drawn against Darren O’Rafferty (AUS) who produced a number of equally sound rides on the right-handers off the same peak. Mark Occhilupo finished third in the same heat.

South African rookie Travis Logie started fast and furious in the final heat of round one, producing an 8.83 for working a good right top-to-bottom. His East London elder Greg Emslie was drawn in the same heat, but Australia’s Daniel Wills ended up producing an awesome performance with three strong rides, including a 9.10 to outpoint the Springboks.

Rookie Bede Durbidge (AUS) continued his stunning opening form from the first event of the season on the Gold Coast, with a strong win round one win over Cory Lopez (USA) and Brazil’s Marcelo Nunes. He included a 9.00 and 8.73 in his tally.

California’s Taylor Knox scored the second highest wave score of the day, a 9.4 for a typically committed top to bottom display on a good right, but he was drawn in the highest heat score of the day, his adversaries Jake Paterson (AUS) and Lee Winkler (AUS) both counting rides in the eight point range.

After completing round one late this afternoon, organisers have pushed on with the first six heats of the second round. THERE WILL BE A FURTHER REPORT LATER TODAY WITH THE RESULTS OF ROUND TWO HEATS SURFED TODAY.

Round Two heats to be surfed this afternoon:
(1st>Rnd3; 2nd=33rdUSD$3600/225 points)
H1: Andy Irons (HAW) vs Ben Dunn (AUS)
H2: Luke Egan (AUS) vs Jean Da Silva (BRZ)
H3: Nathan Hedge (AUS) vs Jamie O’Brien (HAW)
H4: Sunny Garcia (HAW) vs Renan Rocha (BRZ)
H5: Peterson Rosa (BRZ) vs Kirk Flintoff (AUS)
H6: Mark Occhilupo (AUS) vs Tim Reyes (USA)

RESULTS

ROUND ONE HEATS:
(1st>Rnd3; 2nd & 3rd re-seeded into Rnd2)

H1: Dean Morrison (AUS) 13.50; Raoni Monteiro (BRZ) 11.74; Peterson Rosa (BRZ) 8.83.
H2: Damien Hobgood (USA) 18.50; Toby Martin (AUS) 10.83; Fred Patacchia Jnr (HAW) 7.47.
H3: Troy Brooks (AUS) 15.17; Sunny Garcia (HAW) 13.64; Shea Lopez (USA) 5.67.
H4: Richard Lovett (AUS) 16.66; Nathan Hedge (AUS) 13.20; Luke Stedman (AUS) 7.77
H5: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.37; Bruce Irons (HAW) 14.83; Tim Reyes (USA) 7.23
H6: Phillip Macdonald (AUS) 14.43; Kirk Flintoff (AUS) 13.83;Luke Egan (AUS) 11.53
H7: CJ Hobgood (USA) 17.67; Trent Munro (AUS) 15.60; Renan Rocha (BRZ) 10.00
H8: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.60; Andy Irons (HAW) 15.50; Ben Dunn (AUS) 11.66
H9: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.30; Tom Whitaker (AUS) 11.43; Jean Da Silva (BRZ) 10.07
H10: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.10; Jamie O’Brien (HAW) 9.10; Chris Ward (USA) 7.33
H11: Jake Paterson (AUS) 16.57; Taylor Knox (USA) 16.07; Lee Winkler (AUS) 14.93
H12: Darren O’Rafferty (AUS) 15.43; Victor Ribas (BRZ) 14.84; Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 10.50.
H13: Michael Lowe (AUS) 15.27; Neco Padaratz (BRZ) 14.27; Tim Curran (USA) 11.57
H14: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.73; Cory Lopez (USA) 16.00; Marcelo Nunes (BRZ) 15.17
H15: Shane Beschen (USA) 15.77; Kalani Robb (HAW) 15.60; Paulo Moura (BRZ) 11.60
H16: Daniel Wills (AUS) 17.43; Travis Logie (ZAF) 14.70; Greg Emslie (ZAF) 9.83

The Rip Curl Pro is Australia's longest running professional surfing event and holds a proud place in surfing folklore, stretching back to 1973. The Rip Curl Pro's status as one of six Victorian Government-designated Hallmark International Sporting Events each year, alongside the Melbourne Formula One and Phillip Island Motorcycle Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open, the Melbourne Cup and the AFL Grand Final, is an acknowledgment of its contribution to the state's rich sporting culture.