![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/imagesnews\/slater-mexico.jpg\")
\nLive on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com\/searchwct<\/p>\n
Thursday 22 June, 2006
\nHuatulco, Mexico<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH WCT
\n(20 June to 1 July)<\/p>\n
\nLive on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com\/searchwct<\/p>\n
Defending Champion Fanning Eliminated<\/p>\n
Round three of the Rip Curl Pro Search WCT, located \u0093somewhere in Mexico\u0094, scored amazing waves yet again today. <\/p>\n
Pumping in at around the two metre (six foot) mark, La Jolla fired all day with competitors putting on some extra special performances. <\/p>\n
Among the best were seven-time Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour champion Kelly Slater (USA) who is showing excellent form after returning from a nasty rib injury, and Taj Burrow who scored what was arguably the longest tube ever seen in competition.Slater, although indicating that he is still not 100 percent showed complete control in his matchup against event wildcard and ASP World Junior Champion Kekoa Bacalso and will be hard to pin down as his fitness returns throughout the event. <\/p>\n
Like everyone else who has sampled the La Jolla goodness, Slater loves the wave and it showed on his face when he emerged from a barrel that extended for almost 50 metres and awarded him a 9.67.<\/p>\n
“It\u0092s kind of like all just one tube ride,\u0094 said Slater. \u0093I think I got about three barrels on the 9.67 maybe. I just stayed in the barrel for a really long time. Every wave, you\u0092re getting the tube, and if you get a couple of maneuvers, it\u0092s just a bonus.<\/p>\n
“This place is better than Jeffrey\u0092s. It\u0092s better than the Gold Coast and those are two of the best waves in the world.”<\/p>\n
Speaking on his fitness Slater revealed that at present he\u0092s happy to ride barrels as they are not as testing on his body.<\/p>\n
“I feel pretty good,\u0094 said Slater. \u0093I\u0092m definitely not at 100 percent, but when it just barrels, it\u0092s a little easier to get those scores. I\u0092m not quite up to full strength yet because I haven\u0092t been in the water a lot. You need that time in the water to get that muscle memory back. It\u0092s not a huge difference in my surfing, but there are a lot of small details. I would probably fall less, and definitely put more power into my turns.”<\/p>\n
Slater will face Phil Macdonald (AUS), who beat veteran Mark Occhilupo (AUS) in round four in a rematch of their controversial final in last year\u0092s Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour event at Trestles in California. <\/p>\n
Macdonald who was beaten by Slater back then, will be looking to get revenge and is eager to get a solid result after an indifferent start to the season. <\/p>\n
Surfing with a rubber glove strapped over his hand and wrist after having surgery on his little finger to reconnect severed tendons less than 10 days ago, Macdonald is thankful just to be surfing at all. <\/p>\n
“About one week ago, I was cut up coming in on the rocks at home in Sydney,\u0094 said Macdonald. I had to have surgery on it about six days ago. It\u0092s not perfect. It\u0092s a bit tricky to paddle with, and it\u0092s quite difficult to get up sometimes, but I came here with a fair mind just to see what happens, and if I get through a few heats, it\u0092s a bonus.” <\/p>\n
Talking on coming up against Slater next, the solid built natural footer and last year\u0092s world number five indicated he would not be thinking about his foe in Slater.<\/p>\n
“I\u0092m not really thinking about him,\u0094 said Macdonald. \u0093I\u0092m just going to go out there and do my thing. It\u0092s a pretty hollow wave, and I can ride the barrel. I\u0092ve gone out there and rattled him before, and I\u0092ll go out there and rattle him again. I\u0092m just taking it heat by and heat, and trying to get my hand better.”<\/p>\n
Just edging out Slater for the highest heat score of the day was 2001 Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour champion CJ Hobgood (USA). <\/p>\n
ASP International Head Judge Perry Hatchett labelled Hobgood\u0092s performance \u0093as one of the most beautifully complete backside surfing performances ever.\u0094<\/p>\n
Hobgood screamed through one barrel, which ran for over eight seconds plus, without grabbing his rail and showing extreme confidence. <\/p>\n
“That wave was just amazing,\u0094 said Hobgood. \u0093I just dropped in and the thing started barreling. We go to Tahiti and Fiji, and we watch those guys get backside barrels all day long. And you want to give it a go sometimes, and the way the waves are out here, you can. This wave and this event will be voted as best of the year by the surfers for sure.”<\/p>\n
After riding what was arguably the longest tube ever seen in pro surfing competition, Taj Burrow emerged from the water beaming at the finish of his heat. <\/p>\n
His barrel ride extended for over 70 metres and at an early stage on the wave it looked as though he was gone for all money. <\/p>\n
With everyone looking away from wave, figuring he was knocked off, 10 seconds later the crowd went wild as he emerged right down around the point. <\/p>\n
While he wasn\u0092t awarded a perfect 10 as everyone expected (due to it being the first ride of the day), the wave will be remembered for forever and a day. <\/p>\n
“It was the best wave I\u0092ve ever had,\u0094 said Burrow. “It was amazing! In and out of four big slabs, and then the end… I just kept going and going and it was lifting my board up. I was going so fast, I knew I was coming out. There was one little window where the wave slowed up, and I shot out. It felt unbelievable.\u0094<\/p>\n
Suffering an upset at the hands of Chris Ward (USA), defending Rip Curl Pro Search WCT champion Mick Fanning was ousted from the event in a close result. <\/p>\n
Fanning was left in the dying stages wanting a score of 9.17 to win and as a last-minute wave approached the crowd went silent. <\/p>\n
Fanning did everything he could on the wave but unfortunately fell short with an 8.27, handing the win to a deserved Ward who is showing his finest form for 18 months. <\/p>\n
\u0093That was the second time I surfed against Mick,\u0094 said Ward. \u0093And he beat me the first time. We\u0092re one each now and we\u0092ll probably be surfing a lot against one another. It\u0092s great surfing against one of the guys who you look up to in surfing. I love Mick\u0092s surfing, and he\u0092s one of my favorites to watch.\u0094<\/p>\n
Organisers of the Rip Curl Search Pro WCT will assess conditions at first light tomorrow morning and will make a call at 7am local time. <\/p>\n
With only one full day needed to complete the event and with the waiting period estending until July 1, organisers have the luxury of waiting for a bigger swell. <\/p>\n
Swell predictions indicate that the waves will drop slightly overnight but will increase the following day. <\/p>\n
Stay tuned to www.ripcurl.com\/searchwct or www.aspworldtour.com for all the updates. <\/p>\n
Heat by heat notes can be viewed in the news sections while athlete quotes and audio downloads are available in the media centre. <\/p>\n
Round Three Results:
\nHeat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.64 def. Peterson Rosa (BRA) 15.67
\nHeat 2: Cory Lopez (USA) 15.50 def. Troy Brooks (AUS) 13.26
\nHeat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.50 def. Danny Wills (AUS) 13.33
\nHeat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) 17.27 def. David Weare (ZAF) 11.33
\nHeat 5: Taylor Knox (USA) 12.00 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 7.13
\nHeat 6: CJ Hobgood (USA) 18.30 def. Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 15.00
\nHeat 7: Phil Macdonald (AUS) 14.33 def. Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 7.00
\nHeat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.17 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 15.30
\nHeat 9: Andy Irons (HAW) 14.74 def. Jihad Khodr 5.00
\nHeat 10: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 15.50 def. Greg Emslie (ZAF) 9.33
\nHeat 11: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.67 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.00
\nHeat 12: Bruce Irons (HAW) 16.40 def. Mick Lowe (AUS) 2.80
\nHeat 13: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.73 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.33
\nHeat 14: Tim Reyes (USA) 15.17 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 13.17
\nHeat 15: Chris Ward (USA) 18.33 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.44
\nHeat 16: Dean Morrison (AUS) 16.97 def. Jake Paterson (AUS) 12.67<\/p>\n
Round Four Heat Draw:
\nHeat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Cory Lopez (USA)
\nHeat 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Bobby Martinez (USA)
\nHeat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. CJ Hobgood (USA)
\nHeat 4: Phil Macdonald (AUS) vs. Kelly Slater (USA)
\nHeat 5: Andy Irons (HAW) vs. Tom Whitaker (AUS)
\nHeat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Bruce Irons (HAW)
\nHeat 7: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Tim Reyes (USA)
\nHeat 8: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday 22 June, 2006 Huatulco, Mexico RIP CURL PRO SEARCH WCT (20 June to 1 July) Live on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com\/searchwct Defending Champion Fanning Eliminated Round three of the Rip Curl Pro Search WCT, located \u0093somewhere in Mexico\u0094, scored amazing waves yet again today. Pumping in at around the two metre (six foot) mark, La … Continue reading “SLATER RETURNS TO FORM AT RIP CURL PRO SEARCH WCT”<\/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-13483","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\/13483","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=13483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}