Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach pres. by Snickers <\/p>\n
Event 2 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour <\/p>\n
Bells Beach, Torquay, Australia<\/p>\n
March 18-29, 2008<\/p>\n
Slater Steals the Show and Rings his Third Bell at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach <\/p>\n
\nPhoto: Slater earned an 8.83 and his third Rip Curl Pro Bell for this manuever.<\/p>\n
BELLS BEACH, Australia (Thursday, March 27, 2008) \u0096 Kelly Slater (USA) has further asserted that he is the best surfer on earth after winning the Rip Curl Pro pres. by Snickers today. Launching a huge air to earn a last minute score and beat Bede Durbidge (AUS)in the final, the 36-year old has claimed his 36th event win and rung the bell for the third time.\u0093It feels awesome; it feels really good, \u0094 Slater said. \u0093The Bell is arguably the best trophy you can win in surfing. I do have a couple, but to get there and have the chance and get a third one feels really good. I\u0092ve just joined my good friend Sunny (Garcia) with three, and I think MR (Mark Richards) and MP (Michael Peterson) have four or five \u0096 those guys are crazy.\u0094<\/p>\n
Slater trailed Durbidge for the first 27 minutes of the 30-minute affair. Surfing his fourth heat of the day, the 8X ASP World Champion was tired and had all but given up.<\/p>\n
\u0093I thought Bede had me,\u0094 Slater said. \u0093I wasn\u0092t trying to worry too much or stress \u0096 I was happy just to be in the Final \u0096 but before the heat I heard Rabbit (ASP President) say something about going up to Rincon so I thought I would sneak up there to see what I could find.\u0094<\/p>\n
What he found was a ramp from which to launch a daring double-grab aerial. He was awarded an 8.83 (out of 10.00) for the massive maneuver and took the lead.
\n\u0093I was really surprised Bede (Durbidge) let me paddle up to Ricon by myself,\u0094 Slater said. \u0093I thought that when I looked back, he would be 10 yards behind me, but when I looked back, he was still in the Bowl. Then that wave came that let me do that big air.\u0094<\/p>\n
Claiming victories in the first two events on the 2008 ASP World Tour, Slater has now replicated the 2006 season-start that eventuated in his 8th ASP World Title. He confirmed that\u0092s he\u0092s made plans to attend the next event in Tahiti and is thinking about No. 9.<\/p>\n
\u0093It\u0092d be silly to say it\u0092s not on the radar somewhere, but my whole approach and attitude at this point is just to have fun,\u0094 Slater said. \u0093There is a lot of hype with Dane (Reynolds) and Jordy (Smith), and don\u0092t think it\u0092s just hype \u0096 those guys are the real deal. I know it\u0092s got me excited to see what I can do on a wave and to push my equipment. The title thing is there to get, but at this point it\u0092s more about pushing my performance to see how much I can do on a wave.\u0094<\/p>\n
Slater retains the World No. 1 rating and fellow finalist Durbidge has moved to World No. 2 with the result.<\/p>\n
\u0093There are murmurs of Bede being a world title contender and I would say he\u0092s up to that challenge,\u0094 Slater said.<\/p>\n
Durbidge was disappointed with the loss but his performance at Bells Beach has positioned him as a clear contender.<\/p>\n
\u0093It\u0092s pretty frustrating, but he\u0092s the champ and freakish things happen to him,\u0094 Durbidge said of Slater. \u0093I saw him paddle up to Rincon and I just let him go. He just got one and went pretty freakish, did a big air, rode it all the way through and got the score.\u0094<\/p>\n
Durbidge\u0092s final berth today was the fourth of his four-year career. He finished World No. 5 last year after winning the last event of the year in Hawaii and started 2008 with a semifinal showing.<\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092ve just been getting through heats and I\u0092ve been going all the way to the end so it\u0092s been going pretty good for me,\u0094 Durbidge said.<\/p>\n
Durbidge eliminated California\u0092s Bobby Martinez (USA) in a one sided semifinal affair today.<\/p>\n
\u0093I would have liked to keep on going but Bede stopped me in my tracks, Martinez said. \u0093He deserved it he\u0092s surfing good. I kind of got wave starved and was never really in it. If you are not on the good waves you\u0092ve got a good chance of losing just because everyone surfs so good. Like I\u0092ve said over and over again, anyone can beat anybody.”<\/p>\n
Martinez has moved to World No. 8 after bettering his 17th place finish on the Gold Coast of Australia.<\/p>\n
\u0093It didn\u0092t start for me so good here, I\u0092m glad it ended alright,\u0094 Martinez said. \u0093It\u0092s a Catch 22, because you are so close to where you want to be but at the same time, you failed. You\u0092re happy but at the same time you are a little bummed out.\u0094<\/p>\n
Taj Burrow (AUS) was also bummed out after his semifinal loss to Slater.<\/p>\n
\u0093It was pretty frustrating to lose like that,\u0094 Burrow said. \u0093I just couldn\u0092t get a wave, it was really choppy out there. It was pretty hard to pick a wave, I don\u0092t even know if there were any decent ones out there. Kelly had the right approach taking a lot of waves and maybe one of them would form together but I was trying to wait for that one and I couldn\u0092t really find a clean face.\u0094<\/p>\n
Burrow was runner-up to the World Title in 2007 and hopes to be a contender this year too.<\/p>\n
\u0093Third is a keeper for sure,\u0094 Burrow said. \u0093I was hoping to make a bit more ground on the guys at the top but I am stoked to be there mixing it up with them. It\u0092s just all about the next one.\u0094<\/p>\n
Dane Reynolds (USA) fell to Burrow in the Quarterfinals but still leaves the event with his best result in an ASP World Tour event. Sitting equal 11th, Reynolds is the highest rated rookie on tour and his performance in the Rip Curl Pro did not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n
\u0093I think Dane might arguably the best surfer in the world right now,\u0094 Slater said. Just everything from barrels to airs to carves, he\u0092s really got the whole bag of tricks and power and everything. He\u0092s so well rounded, and I think that\u0092s got us all pretty fired up.\u0094<\/p>\n
The next event on ASP World Tour will take place in Teahupoo, Tahiti from May 8-18, 2008.<\/p>\n
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Final Results:
\nHeat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.63 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.16<\/p>\n
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Semifinal Results:
\nHeat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.50 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 4.50
\nHeat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 12.33 def. Taj Burrow (BRA) 7.96<\/p>\n
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Quarterfinal Results:
\nHeat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.00 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.33
\nHeat 2: Bobby Martinez (USA) 17.33 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.67
\nHeat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.33 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.67
\nHeat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.34 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 2.80<\/p>\n
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 4 Results:
\nHeat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.03 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.60
\nHeat 8: Andy Irons (HAW) 16.57 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.53<\/p>\n
Ratings after Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach – Event No. 2 on the ASP World Tour
\n1. Kelly Slater (USA) 2400 points
\n2. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 1908 points
\n3. Mick Fanning (AUS) 1764 points
\n4. Taj Burrow (AUS) 1476 points
\n4. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 1476 points
\n6. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 1464 points
\n6. Andy Irons (HAW) 1464 points
\n8. Bobby Martinez (USA) 1286 points
\n9. Kai Otton (AUS) 1200 points
\n9. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 1200 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach pres. by Snickers Event 2 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour Bells Beach, Torquay, Australia March 18-29, 2008 Slater Steals the Show and Rings his Third Bell at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Photo: Slater earned an 8.83 and his third Rip Curl Pro Bell for this … Continue reading “Slater Steals the Show and Rings his Third Bell at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach”<\/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-13643","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\/13643","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=13643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}