The World Tour went back into action on Tuesday in Victoria, Australia at the world famous Bells Beach. Making history, the event kicked off the new ASP World Tour contest format, employing single elimination, man-on-man heats from the first round of competition. This format change made every heat in the first round count more than ever, and saw a few surprise early eliminations.
The most notable early exit goes to California’s Dane Reynolds, who many on tour, including King Kelly Slater himself, have told us is the most talented surfer in the world. Surfing on his backhand, Aussie wildcard, Owen Wright destroyed the right-hand bowls that snuck through, leaving Dane needing an easily attainable (for him) 6.68 to advance. Dane couldn’t seem to find his groove, falling on a few waves in a relatively wave starved heat, and then missing his chance to make up the difference with a big set arriving just after the final buzzer.
Following on the heels of Dane’s ouster, fellow much hyped tour sophomore, South Africa’s Jordy Smith dominated his opening round heat, obliterating Aussie wildcard, Matt Wilkinson with a heat total of 18.70 out of 20. In comboing Wilkinson, Jordy set the highest heat score of the event and the highest single wave score of the event. If Jordy can back up his early performance in his subsequent heats, he will truly be a force to be reckoned with in this event.
Along with Owen Wright and Jordy Smith, advancing through to Round 2 were David Weare (ZAF), Michel Bourez (PFY), Jay Thompson (AUS), Taylor Knox (USA), Dayyan Neve (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Jihad Khodr (BRA), Adam Robertson (AUS), Mick Campbell (AUS), Dean Morrison (AUS), Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), Drew Courtney (AUS), Tim Boal (FRA) and Tiago Pires (PRT).
Joining Dane Reynolds and Matt Wilkinson on the early flight home were Nathaniel Curran (USA), Roy Powers (HAW), Heitor Alves (BRA), Phillip MacDonald (AUS), Marlon Lipke (DEU), Aritz Aranburu (EUK), Patrick Gudauskas (USA), Chris Davidson (AUS), Josh Kerr (AUS), Nic Muscroft (AUS), Ben Dunn (AUS), Greg Emslie (ZAF), Miky Picon (FRA) and Dustin Barca (HAW).
Round 2 will kick off when the event resumes, pitting the winners of Round 1 against last year’s top 16. Reigning World Champ, Kelly Slater will face off against Owen Wilson, while current number 1, Joel Parkinson will have to fight off Michel Bourez.
Log on to the event website for news, updates, photos, videos and all the live action.
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