SURFERMAG.COM PRO TOUR UPDATES
Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) www.aspworldtour.com 2003 World Championship Tour (WCT)
Official Competition Postponed - Parkinson Wins Tooheys Extra Dry Expression Session April 18, 2003 (Bells Beach, VIC, Australia) Official competition at the 2003 Rip Curl Pro was postponed again today following continued unfavourable conditions at Bells Beach.
Wind blown onshore 2-3ft (1.3m) surf was on offer at Bells Beach, with 15-20 knot east-southeast winds creating bumpy wave faces and a messy lineup.
Despite meeting several times throughout the morning event organisers officially postponed Round 2 WCT competition at 11.00am.
With a reasonable Easter Friday crowd on hand, organisers ran junior Rip Curl Search Sessions heats, followed by the inaugural Tooheys Extra Dry Expression Session.
A new component to the Rip Curl Pro this year, the Tooheys Extra Dry Expression Session saw 20 of the Top 45 WCT surfers take to the water and put on a dynamic display of radical freestyle surfing. Spectators watched in awe as the likes of Andy Irons, Jake Patterson, Cory Lopez, and Sunny Garcia blew up in the tricky conditions.
After 60 mins of inspiring maneouvre based surfing world #2 Joel Parkinson from the Gold Coast took the prize after landing a successful air reverse.
"It was just a simple air-reverse, but out there it was hard to find sections to do anything," explained Parkinson. "We had a great time though. Everyone was yelling at each other and frothing over every wave.
"Jake (Paterson) thought he was in the lead," added the world #2. "The judges buffed him for doing a little chop-hop on a single fin, but when they thought about who was doing the aerials they gave it to me (laughs). 'Snake' did a pretty sick air, but he's got enough money so it's good to share it among the young boys. Stoked for Tooheys. They're legends for doing it and I'm sure it will come in handy."
There will be two more Tooheys Extra Dry Expression Sessions during the course of the event.
Organisers and competitors have been buoyed by a forecast for a new swell due to arrive within the next 24 hours which should allow competition to resume on Saturday with the first elimination heats of the event.
When competition does re-start, the lineup of surfers facing man-on-man knockout heats includes America's six-time world champion Kelly Slater, his countryman 2001 world champion CJ Hobgood, plus Australians 2002 world number four Taj Burrow, and current world ratings leader Dean Morrison.
The 2003 Rip Curl Pro has a 12-day waiting period, yet only requires four days of competition to decide this year's champion. While the natural amphitheatre at Bells Beach and the epic waves of the 'Bowl' and inside 'Rincon' sections will be the main site, the event is fully mobile. If there is no contestable surf at Bells, competition can be moved to the adjacent break at Winki Pop, or to the magical beach breaks of Johanna about two hours drive west of Bells, or the similarly renowned Gunnamatta beach breaks, on the Mornington peninsula, east of Bells.
The Rip Curl Pro would not be possible without the combined efforts of the different groups involved in the event's staging - Surfing Victoria; The Victorian Government Department of Tourism, Sport & The Commonwealth Games; The Surf Coast Shire Council; and the Association of Surfing Professionals(ASP) - plus the supporting sponsorship of Lifesavers, Ansell, Coca-Cola, Vodka Cruiser, Falls Creek, Fudge & Tooheys Extra Dry.
Upcoming Rip Curl Pro Round Two Heats (1st>Rnd 3; 2nd finishes=33rd, receives US$3,000)
H1: Taj Burrow (Aus) vs. Nic Muscroft (Aus)
H2: Michael Lowe (Aus) vs. Adam Robertson (Aus)
H3: Kieran Perrow (Aus) vs. Jamie O'Brien (Haw)
H4: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Danilo Costa (Brz)
H5: Shea Lopez (USA) vs. Tim Curran (USA)
H6: Cory Lopez (USA) vs. Luke Stedman (Aus)
H7: Kalani Robb (Haw) vs. Toby Martin (Aus)
H8: CJ Hobgood (USA) vs. Tom Whitaker (Aus)
H9: Dean Morrison (Aus) vs. Chris Davidson (Aus)
H10: Pat O'Connell (USA) vs. Victor Ribas (Brz)
H11: Jake Paterson (Aus) vs. Flavio Padaratz (Brz)
H12: Michael Campbell (Aus) vs. Richie Lovett (Aus)
H13: Peterson Rosa (Brz) vs. Nathan Hedge (Aus)
H14: Shane Powell (Aus) vs. Lee Winkler (Aus)
H15: Nathan Webster (Aus) vs. Phil MacDonald (Aus)
H16: Trent Munro (Aus) vs. Paulo Moura (Brz)
For more information visit www.ripcurl.com
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