Pro Surfing and Contests

Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach – Shocking upsets in Round 2 – WTF?

Bells Beach was pumping and thumping on Tuesday for the beginning of Round 2 at the 2009 Rip Curl Pro, ushering in amazing performances and shocking upsets.

Nine-time World Champ, Kelly Slater’s Round 2 loss to Aussie Wildcard, Owen Wright was by far and away the biggest upset of the day. The reigning champ went down in a close heat with the young wildcard, marking his second 17th place finish of the season, and his second consecutive early loss to a young wildcard. The message boards were buzzing during and after the heat, questioning Slater’s board selection, and what this loss means for his 2009 campaign.

Other major upsets included 2008 second in the world, Bede Durbidge (AUS), who fell to local wildcard, Adam Robertson in another close match-up; current World Tour number 2, Adriano de Souza (BRA), who fell to newcomer, Drew Courtney (AUS); and top Euro surfer, Jeremy Flores (FRA), who was knocked out by frothing Hawaiian rookie, Kekoa Bacalso. Fortunately for the remaining seeds, event organizers put the event on hold after the top Fronchie marked the fourth major upset of the day.

Aside from the giant killers, top performances of the day went to current world number 1, Joel Parkinson (AUS), who comboed Tahitian rookie, Michel Bourez; Mick Fanning (AUS), who posted the highest heat score of the day (17.16 out of 20) to take out Portugal’s Tiago Pires; Bobby Martinez (USA), who used his backhand to utterly thrash rookie Fronchie, Tim Boal; Taylor Knox, who comboed fellow Californian top performer, Chris Ward; CJ Hobgood (USA), who nearly comboed Mick Campbell (AUS); and Jordy Smith (ZAF), who continued to prove his value by ousting Damien Hobgood (USA) in a tightly fought heat.

When competition resumes, we’ll see Taj Burrow try to maintain his frontrunner status against fellow Aussie and event wildcard, Jay Thompson. Log on to the event website for a complete recap, photos, videos, heat sheets and all the live action.

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