Friday 23 June, 2006
\nHuatulco, Mexico<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH WCT
\n(20 June to 1 July)<\/p>\n
Live on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com\/searchwct<\/p>\n
Former Three-Time World Champ Now In Box Seat To Challenge Slater For World Crown<\/p>\n
In a fantastic finish to a simply amazing event Andy Irons (HAW) has won the Rip Curl Pro Search WCT held \u0093somewhere in Mexico\u0094 in incredible one to two metre (three to six feet) waves. Held at the long and hollow wave known only as La Jolla, Irons was the form surfer of the day and was a well-deserved winner.With the wind coming up slightly for the final of the fifth event on the Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour, the focus shifted to big turns rather than big barrels and Irons stepped up to the task. <\/p>\n
After a slow start for waves the two competitors were sitting for a while before a set pushed through. <\/p>\n
Taylor Knox struck the first blow with a series of searing turns and locked in an 8.0. <\/p>\n
Then Irons struck back with a massive air, which saw him launch approximately three feet off the top of the wave. <\/p>\n
>From there on it was all Irons as he went to town on another solid wave to score a 7.93 and seal the win.<\/p>\n
Right from round one Irons was showing the form that has earned him three world championship titles and is now back in serious contention for yet another Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour title this year. <\/p>\n
\u0093I feel great!\u0094 said Irons. \u0093Just being in the final is amazing. I make a point of trying to make a few finals a year and to actually get a win is even better. Taylor is a good friend of mine, it\u0092s a great wave and we\u0092ve had such a good time here this week so this is a perfect ending. I couldn\u0092t have written it any better.\u0094<\/p>\n
Speaking about his amazing return to the podium, Irons indicated he is eager to go on with the job from here. <\/p>\n
\u0093That\u0092s it, game on!\u0094 said Irons. \u0093The momentum has begun and I know I need to capitalize on this win and carry it on into Jeffreys Bay at the next event and hopefully throughout the rest of the year.\u0094<\/p>\n
Irons is now back in the position he finished in last year, second behind Kelly Slater (USA).<\/p>\n
Runner-up Knox is in the best form of his 13-year top tour career, and with the second place finish he now sits in equal fourth place on the ratings. <\/p>\n
He has adopted a much more relaxed approach to competitive surfing in 2006 and his improvement has been out of sight. <\/p>\n
He was full of praise for his finals counterpart but felt he may have been able to perform a little better if his equipment was up to the task and he hadn\u0092t given Irons a wave in the heat that he should have rode.<\/p>\n
\u0093Andy surfed really well and he actually surfed really well all week,\u0094 said Knox. \u0093I felt like I could have won as well, but I gave him a good wave. I rode a broken board in every heat and since they are broken they are a little a heavier than I would have liked, so I was just lucky to get to this point.\u0094<\/p>\n
Speaking on his rating he was very pleased with how the year is panning out.<\/p>\n
\u0093This year is coming along really nicely,\u0094 said Knox. \u0093This is the best start I\u0092ve ever had because I really haven\u0092t been thinking too much about it. I\u0092ve been having a lot fun on the road and at home and really not getting ahead of myself.\u0094<\/p>\n
Finishing in equal third place was the ever-popular Taj Burrow (AUS) who narrowly went down to Knox in an extremely close affair. Burrow, along with Knox, now sits equal fourth on the ratings.<\/p>\n
With the lead swapping and changing throughout the semi, Taj threw everything he could into his waves but failed to link together enough turns on sufficient waves to close the door on Knox, plus he fell on what was probably the best wave of the heat. <\/p>\n
“It was good for turns out there,\u0094 said Burrow. \u0093But on my best wave I hit a big bump and it turned me into this walled-out floater, and I sacked it (fell). That was a really good wave and I was pretty upset that I blew it.\u0094<\/p>\n
Desperate for a win so as to keep his title hopes alive, Burrow was obviously upset not to make it through to the final. <\/p>\n
\u0093It was just one of those things. I\u0092m pretty devastated, but a semifinal placing isn\u0092t too bad,\u0094 said Burrow. \u0093I was pretty excited to go a little further obviously, but I\u0092ll take it. It\u0092s definitely a result to keep, but if you\u0092re gunning for the world title, you have to get a lot of finals berths. That\u0092s what I was aiming for.”<\/p>\n
Also finishing in equal third was an ecstatic Tim Reyes (USA) who throughout the event had been one of the standouts, notching up the highest total score of the event \u0096 a 19.60 in round three. <\/p>\n
The diminutive youngster has equalled his career best result \u0096 he finished in equal third in Jeffreys Bay last year. <\/p>\n
“To get third is really good at this level,\u0094 said Reyes. \u0093I felt like I was surfing pretty good and right now, it\u0092s kind of like a dream that I\u0092m placing in the top 10 after this event. I thought I\u0092d be there, but never thought I\u0092d be there. Hopefully I could be top five or even top three by the end of the year. <\/p>\n
Despite going out of the event in the quarterfinals Kelly Slater (USA) maintains his number one ranking. <\/p>\n
His battle with his good friend Knox in that heat saw him make many uncharacteristic mistakes, in that he fell on quite a few occasions after maneuvers that weren\u0092t as critical as what is normal for him. <\/p>\n
\u0093I made a wave selection error that gave Taylor priority and that was the heat pretty much,\u0094 said Slater. \u0093But I\u0092m stoked for Taylor. He\u0092s really on a roll and it\u0092s great to see him get such a good result.\u0094<\/p>\n
Regarding the nature of Rip Curl\u0092s floating license which allows them to shift the event from year to year to new locations and the success of this extravaganza here \u0093somewhere in Mexico\u0094 he was full of praise.<\/p>\n
\u0093I have always thought that the tour needed something like this,\u0094 said Slater. \u0093This event has been great. This is one of the best waves in the world and the whole thing was great for surfing and great for the tour.\u0094<\/p>\n
While the Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour will now shift its focus to the next event, the Billabong Pro at Jeffreys Bay, South Africa there is already banter about next year\u0092s location.<\/p>\n
It will certainly be hard to top this year\u0092s Search and many of the competitors are eager to return to Mexico next year. <\/p>\n
In the meantime Rip Curl will begin to hunt for the next Search destination. <\/p>\n
FOSTER\u0092S ASP MEN\u0092S WORLD TOUR RATINGS AFTER EVENT #5 RIP CURL PRO SEARCH MEXICO<\/p>\n
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 4233 points
\n2. Andy Irons (HAW) 4140 points
\n3. Bobby Martinez (USA) 40008 points
\n4. Taj Burrow (AUS) 3650 points
\n4. Taylor Knox (USA) 3650 points
\n6. Damien Hobgood (USA) 3542 points
\n7. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 3052 points
\n8. CJ Hobgood (USA) 2896 points
\n9. Bruce Irons (HAW) 2884 points<\/p>\n
FINAL: Andy Irons (HAW) 16.86 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 11.33 <\/p>\n
SEMIFINAL ONE: Taylor Knox (USA) 15.00 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.50
\nSEMIFINAL TWO: Andy Irons (HAW) 17.20 def. Timmy Reyes (USA) 11.33 <\/p>\n
QUARTERFINAL ONE: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.17 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.83
\nQUARTERFINAL TWO: Taylor Knox (USA) 15.50 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 11.67
\nQUARTERFINAL THREE: Andy Irons (HAW) 18.10 def. Bruce Irons (HAW) 8.00
\nQUARTERFINAL FOUR: Timmy Reyes (USA) 12.53 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.33 <\/p>\n
For heat by heat rundowns visit the news section on www.ripcurl.com\/searchwct or www.aspworldtour.com and for athlete quotes and audio downloads visit the media centers on either site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday 23 June, 2006 Huatulco, Mexico RIP CURL PRO SEARCH WCT (20 June to 1 July) Live on www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurl.com\/searchwct Former Three-Time World Champ Now In Box Seat To Challenge Slater For World Crown In a fantastic finish to a simply amazing event Andy Irons (HAW) has won the Rip Curl Pro Search WCT … Continue reading “ANDY IRONS WINS 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":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13484","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=13484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}