![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/imagesnews\/burrows-bells.jpg\")
\nLive on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com<\/p>\n
Friday 14 April, 2006
\nBells Beach, Victoria, Australia<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO SURF AND MUSIC FESTIVAL
\n(11 April to 22 April)<\/p>\n
\nLive on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com<\/p>\n
West Australia\u0092s Taj Burrow was the man of the moment at the Rip Curl Pro after he put on a phenomenal performance at Bells Beach today. <\/p>\n
The second event on the Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour was held in spectacular one to two metre (three to six feet) waves at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia and Burrow had the huge crowd in attendance on their feet for the full 30 minutes of his heat.After an ankle injury hampered Burrow\u0092s end of season run in 2005, he has returned in 2006 with enthusiasm to burn. <\/p>\n
He began the year with a second placing to Kelly Slater (USA) in the first event of the tour and noted there that in 2006 he is extremely focussed and hungry for the world crown. <\/p>\n
His focus was highly evident when he entered the water in heat 11 as he shut the door on Chris Ward (USA) and posted the highest total score of the day \u0096 an 18.17 out of 20. <\/p>\n
Burrow likened the conditions to the time he finished runner-up to Joel Parkinson (AUS) in 2004.<\/p>\n
\u0093It\u0092s great to be at the Bells Beach Bowl,\u0094 said Burrow. \u0093I\u0092m loving it and I\u0092m stoked with that heat for sure. The waves are really similar to the ones I had in the final with Joel Parkinson a couple of years ago. The place gives everyone a plenty of chances to grab the ones they need and paint a clear picture for the judges.\u0094<\/p>\n
Burrow also indicated that he had shifted his mindset a little and is taking his heat strategy much more seriously.<\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092ve made some subtle changes to my mindset,\u0094 said Burrow. \u0093I\u0092m trying to surf more confident. I\u0092ve always tried to surf as if I\u0092m free surfing, but I feel like I can do that a little bit better now, I\u0092m just more relaxed.\u0094<\/p>\n
Following hot on the heels of Burrow was fellow Australian and good mate Mick Fanning (AUS) who logged in the second highest score of the day \u0096 a 17.96. <\/p>\n
Fanning was razor sharp through his lightening quick turns and having won the event five years ago, he looked extremely in tune with his equipment and the waves.<\/p>\n
“After the first event on the Gold Coast here in Australia, where I only got a couple of decent scores, I really wanted to work on my consistency,\u0094 said Fanning. \u0093And everything felt good out there today. I got the waves and did what I had to do.”<\/p>\n
Fanning was also inspired by the standard of surfing from his peers and the quality of the famed Bells Beach waves.<\/p>\n
“I got pretty excited watching Taj the other day,\u0094 said Fanning. \u0093And then he went mad again today. It\u0092s always good to have someone like that a couple of heats before you so you can get really psyched. Conditions haven\u0092t been this good since 2001 when I won so hopefully I can keep going and win the bell at the end!”<\/p>\n
Not far from the frontrunners were Andy Irons (HAW) and Kelly Slater (USA) who between the two of them have 10 Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour crowns. Slater, seven and Irons three. <\/p>\n
Both have won the Rip Curl Pro, with Irons claiming the win in 2003 and 2004. <\/p>\n
Slater meanwhile, has not won the event since 1994 and has been plagued by poor results in recent years. <\/p>\n
He looked to be enjoying himself on the walling rights as he defeated wildcard Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) although he was feeling the effects of fatigue as the waves are very long and Basalso was feeling the effects even more.<\/p>\n
\u0093You do a bunch of turns down the line and it takes all the oxygen out of your legs, so your legs are burning by the end,\u0094 said Slater. \u0093Kekoa is a great surfer. By the sound things he needs to work on his fitness a little bit. He said he was tired and had to sit down for 15 minutes after his heat yesterday, but he has all the surfing ability in the world and I think getting into this event will really get him going and we\u0092ll see some good things from him in the future.\u0094<\/p>\n
Irons meanwhile, will meet Bobby Martinez (USA) in round four and acknowledges that the young guns are always a threat, paying homage to his counterpart Dunn whom he has drawn in events on numerous occasions. <\/p>\n
“Ben Dunn had me on the ropes here last year,\u0094 said Irons. \u0093He got a 9.67 on the first wave of that heat so I wasn\u0092t going to take him lightly at all. He\u0092s a little ripper so I knew he was going to come at me with everything he had. I just got lucky out there today. I got in a rhythm with the wave and posted my scores early and I think he started stressing out which showed in his surfing.”<\/p>\n
After his win over fellow countryman Victor Ribas, Brazilian Paulo Moura also earned a berth in round four. <\/p>\n
He was ecstatic with his progression but felt for his good friend, Ribas. <\/p>\n
\u0093It\u0092s hard. Victor and I are here together,\u0094 said Moura. \u0093We\u0092re good friends and he\u0092s always been an idol for me. I\u0092ve watched him surf since I was a kid. But in the water we\u0092re there to do the best job we can and the result of the heat is a consequence of that.”<\/p>\n
Organisers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am and will be looking at a 7.30am start if quality conditions prevail.<\/p>\n
There are two heats still to be completed in round three. <\/p>\n
Results round three:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Luke Stedman (AUS) 15.24 def Phil MacDonald 14.84
\nHeat 2: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 17.17 def Fred Patacchia (HAW) 11.00
\nHeat 3: Paulo Moura (BRA) 12.84 def Victor Ribas (BRA) 10.83
\nHeat 4: Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 15.66 def Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.07
\nHeat 5: Bruce Irons (HAW) 15.17 def Tim Reyes (USA) 9.00
\nHeat 6: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.40 def CJ Hobgood (USA) 13.33
\nHeat 7: Taylor Knox 13.83 (USA) def Tom Whitaker 2.43 (Aus)
\nHeat 8: Kelly Slater 17.23 (USA) def Kekoa Bacalso 10.17 (Haw)
\nHeat 9: Andy Irons 17.77 (Haw) def Ben Dunn 9.50 (Aus)
\nHeat 10: Bobby Martinez 14.50 (USA) def Marcelo Nunes 2.60 (Bra)
\nHeat 11: Taj Burrow 18.17 (Aus) def Chris Ward 13.93 (USA)
\nHeat 12: Mark Occhilupo 16.10 (Aus) def Cory Lopez 13.33 (USA)
\nHeat 13: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.96 def Jarrad Howse (AUS) 11.67
\nHeat 14: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 15.50 def Dean Morrison (AUS) 12.16<\/p>\n
For all today\u0092s heat information and results head to www.aspworldtour.com or www.ripcurl.com\/ripcurlpro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday 14 April, 2006 Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia RIP CURL PRO SURF AND MUSIC FESTIVAL (11 April to 22 April) Live on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com West Australia\u0092s Taj Burrow was the man of the moment at the Rip Curl Pro after he put on a phenomenal performance at Bells Beach today. The second event on … Continue reading “BURROW STAKES CLAIM FOR RIP CURL PRO TITLE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-surfing-news-archive","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}