Smith Sizzles as Owen Upsets on Dramatic Day at Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach<\/p>\n
\nBELLS BEACH, Victoria (Tuesday, April 7, 2009) \u2013 Round 1 of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Snickers was completed today in three-to-four foot (1 metre) waves in the Bells Bowl, and the implementation of the new format, rendering the opening round an elimination man-on-man affair, saw surfers lifting their competitive game to survive a dramatic day of action. <\/p>\n
Event No. 2 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach is a pivotal point in the season and today\u2019s action saw 16 of the world\u2019s best surfers sent packing after just one heat. Despite the criticalness of the format, some incredible performances were logged at the historic venue.Jordy Smith (ZAF), 21, stamped his authority on today\u2019s proceedings, eliminating highly-touted event wildcard Matt Wilkinson (AUS), 20, from Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach competition. The intercontinental clash was reminiscent of the two\u2019s famed battles during their junior careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am really good friends with Matt (Wilkinson) and it felt like an old times junior heat out here,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI surfed my first overseas contest out here and it was against him. I was lucky the tide was a bit lower and it was walling up nice on the inside today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s mastery of the Bells Bowl today saw the young natural-footer attain the day\u2019s highest heat total of an 18.70 out of a possible 20, securing two excellent-scoring rides for a blistering and fluid series of forehand maneuvers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy normal shortboard is 6\u20192 \u00bd\u201d and Bells is kind of a sloppier and longer face so I brought my 6\u20193 \u00bd\u201d and it tends to get through the flat spots a bit better,\u201d Smith said. I surfed earlier this morning on the higher tide and struggled a bit so I was thankful for the low tide out there this afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith will take on Damien Hobgood (USA), 29, in Round 2 when competition continues.<\/p>\n
Owen Wright (AUS), 19, wildcard at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, caused the upset of the day, defeating incendiary American Dane Reynolds, 23, in Round 1 of competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am really happy,\u201d Wright said. \u201cI went out there knowing that I needed to get a wave under my belt straight up and put the pressure on him. I did that and got the wave, surfed it all the way through and managed to get a little back up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wright\u2019s tenacity and solid game plan provided him with the win over his marquee opponent and the young goofy-footer will need to employ the same tact as he continues here at Bells Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cDane (Reynolds) is an excellent surfer,\u201d Wright said. \u201cI let him have what I thought was average wave and he got a 6.8. He is definitely a solid competitor and I am just stoked to get through the heat. I had been watching a lot of heats and I thought that those guys that get the bigger score early are the one going through. I really focused on getting that first wave and ended up getting it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wright will face reigning nine-time ASP World Champion and defending Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 37, in Round 2 when competition resumes.<\/p>\n
Dayyan Neve (AUS), 31, into his third full season on the ASP Dream Tour, survived a hard-fought Round 1 heat against 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie Marlon Lipke (DEU), 24. With the new event format in full swing, Neve was vocal about the heightened drama associated with the elimination man-on-man Round 1 format.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was stoked to make it through that heat,\u201d Neve said. \u201cI have been nervous for weeks. I am not a big fan of the new tem. For the sport, I think it would be better to have the extra round to get all the top seeds down like Kelly (Slater), Mick (Fanning) and Joel (Parkinson). Get all the crowd watching the top seeds as much as possible is good for the sport I think. So yes, I am not a big fan of it and I hope they change it soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neve will taken on fellow Sydney-sider Kai Otton (AUS), 29, in Round 2 when competition continues.<\/p>\n
Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am for a possible 7:30am start.<\/p>\n
The Rip Curl Women\u2019s Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford New Fiesta s its waiting period tomorrow and both events will be on call for a possible start.<\/p>\n
The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach pres. by Snickers will be web LIVE via www.live.ripcurl.com<\/p>\n
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 RESULTS:
\nHeat 1: David Weare (ZAF) 13.00 def. Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.16
\nHeat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.33 def. Roy Powers (HAW) 6.26
\nHeat 3: Jay Thompson (AUS) 14.66 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 6.60
\nHeat 4: Taylor Knox (USA) 15.84 def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 10.16
\nHeat 5: Dayyan Neve (AUS) 14.00 def. Marlon Lipke (DEU) 7.60
\nHeat 6: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.50 def. Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 12.23
\nHeat 7: Jihad Khodr (BRA) 10.83 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 8.50
\nHeat 8: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.50 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.50
\nHeat 9: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18.70 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 11.66
\nHeat 10: Adam Robertson (AUS) 9.56 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 9.00
\nHeat 11: Mick Campbell (AUS) 13.83 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 9.84
\nHeat 12: Dean Morrison (AUS) 13.10 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 10.17
\nHeat 13: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 12.83 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 11.77
\nHeat 14: Drew Courtney (AUS) 14.42 def. Greg Emslie (ZAF) 11.83
\nHeat 15: Tim Boal (FRA) 14.50 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 11.46
\nHeat 16: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.50 def. Dustin Barca (HAW) 11.17<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
\nHeat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Mick Campbell (AUS)
\nHeat 2: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
\nHeat 3: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
\nHeat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
\nHeat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
\nHeat 6: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Tim Boal (FRA)
\nHeat 7: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)
\nHeat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
\nHeat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Adam Robertson (AUS)
\nHeat 10: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Jihad Khodr (BRA)
\nHeat 11: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
\nHeat 12: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
\nHeat 13: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)
\nHeat 14: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
\nHeat 15: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
\nHeat 16: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. David Weare (ZAF)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Smith Sizzles as Owen Upsets on Dramatic Day at Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach BELLS BEACH, Victoria (Tuesday, April 7, 2009) \u2013 Round 1 of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Snickers was completed today in three-to-four foot (1 metre) waves in the Bells Bowl, and the implementation of the new format, rendering … Continue reading “Smith Sizzles as Owen Upsets on Dramatic Day at 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-13695","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\/13695","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=13695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}