A thrilling Finals day at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach today, saw Mick Fanning and Carissa Moore ring the Bell and claim victory at the historic event.
Now that stop number 3 and the opening Australian leg of the 2014 ASP World Championship Tour is done and dusted, it seems like the season is just zipping by but there was plenty of action in the water to talk about before the tour moves on to Rio de Janeiro.
The morning started with the Women’s comp and Carissa Moore claiming her second consecutive Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach event title with some sick surfing. Moore dispatched Sally Fitzgibbons in the Semis and went on to take out 2013 ASP WCT runner-up Tyler Wright in a rematch of the 2013 Final. Both surfers went blow-for-blow in the pumping conditions, with matching 7.50s to open their campaigns.
Carissa Moore slicing the top off the lip. Image ©Red Bull Content Pool.
Moore quickly added to her total with a series of powerful carves on the open face, adding on a sizable 8.73 to her total score. The high-scoring battle continued when Wright unleashed her forehand attack with critical snaps in the pocket, earning an 8.27 for her efforts. It was a great and closely fought heat but, in the end, it was Moore’s day as she showed incredible commitment on every turn and carve.
It looks like Carissa is in the ‘zone’ at the moment, especially considering she had to surf in every round, following defeats at the hands of Dimity Stoyle in round 1 and Coco Ho in round 3. After her victory at the Margaret River Pro, the other week, this win is going to give the Hawiian a big buffer going onto the next leg.
“I’m speechless right now,” Carissa Moore said. “That was an amazing Final! We were having such a blast, I just wanted to talk to Tyler (Wright) because the waves were so fun and it felt like we were having a fun free surf. I know she’s such an amazing surfer and will be in ASP World Title contention at the end of the year, so I knew I had to be at my best. It’s been a long Australian leg with three events in a row and it couldn’t have been much better for me, two wins and a quarterfinal and to finish by winning at Bells is so unique and special.”
After the drama of the Women’s Final, the competition moved to Winkipop for the Men’s Semis and Finals. Mick Fanning claimed his third Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach event title in an exciting back-and-forth heat over fellow tour veteran and Australian Taj Burrow. Both surfers posted excellent scores, using their contrasting styles to unleash powerful cracks and carves on the wave face. Both also made errors, falling off and missing some great waves.
Image ©Red Bull Content Pool.
While Burrow started the heat quickly with a few small scores, Fanning waited patiently for a quality set wave. When the wave did drive in, Fanning made the most of it and produced an excellent 8.83 score. After Mick added another high score of 8.00 to his scoreline, Burrow needed some big scores to catch up as they entered the back-half of the heat. Burrow blitzed a steep wall with tail-drifting turns for a near-perfect 9.63 to push his way back in to the heat. Fanning had found his momentum however, and was able to use priority to his advantage for the remainder of the heat, holding on to claim his third Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach title.
After Mick’s WCT win last season, getting an event win before leaving Australia is going to help him focus on this season going onto Rio.
“After that result (13th) in Margaret River I went home and worked really hard and I’m so pleased that the hard work paid off. Congratulations to Taj (Burrow), I’ve never been so nervous for nine minutes of my life, he surfed amazingly,” said Mick Fanning. “We got to surf everywhere at this event which was awesome, we got to surf the Bowl, Rincon and to finish at Winkipop. It’s always been my dream to surf a Heat at Winkipop. This is such a special event for me and I feel comfortable here. With the caliber of surfers on Tour at the moment there’s never an easy Heat and it keeps it so exciting.”
It was super fun to watch the event and I think I’m finally getting used to those Samsung Galaxy ads. We’ll check out the action in Rio in a few weeks time here at ADAPT sports.
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