Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia (Saturday, March 11, 2000). Current
world surfing champion Mark Occhilupo (Aus) has been relegated to round two
of the Billabong Pro after being beaten by Hawaii’s Kalani Robb today. A
lucky last wave by Robb saw the 23-year-old post an excellent 8-point ride
to defeat 33-year-old Occhilupo by less than a point. Though Occhilupo
failed to advance straight into round three of the opening World
Championship Tour (WCT) event, as do the winners from the first round, no
real damage was done. He’ll now surf against wildcard entrant, Shaun
Cansdell (Aus), who was also beaten by Robb in their round one match-up.
‘It’s good to get an extra surf in,’ reasoned Occhilupo, about having to
compete in the second round of man-on-man heats now. ‘It was just a good
heat to kind of warm up. I didn’t feel real good, I had some good waves, but
I think I was trying a bit hard. I was having a bit of board problem too,
not really sure which to ride out of two I have down here, and I might have
chosen the wrong one. It’s the first WCT event in a couple of months, so I’m
just getting back into rhythm and I’ll see how I go.’
Occhilupo lead for the majority of the 30-minute heat, but world number 17
Robb made the most of the clean, 3-foot (1m) conditions, especially on his
last wave, where he raced through the barrel and executed some critical
turns with lightning speed, pushing ‘Occy’ back into second place.
‘I had a lot of trouble at the first part of the heat and wasn’t catching
anything,’ said Kalani. ‘Then that one came which was pretty lucky. I just
want to make it exciting for the judges and the crowd. That’s what I’m here
for, to make it interesting for everybody to watch.’
On taking out the world champion, Kalani added: ‘It feels really good.
Occy’s a great surfer and he was surfing good out there, I just got that
last one which came through. I’ve been practicing a lot out here and
thinking about it, but just wanted to go out there and rip and have fun.’
Defending Billabong Pro champion Beau Emerton (Aus), also failed to win his
first heat today, being beaten by America’s Shane Beschen. Beau opened with
a great ride, but the inconsistent waves eluded him.
‘I got a good first wave, but it’s just a little too inconsistent out there
and I didn’t have anything to back it up with,’ he explained. ‘It would have
been good to win my first heat and skip a round, but I’m still in there with
another chance. I feel good, pretty relaxed and all my boards are good, so
there’s no real pressure. It’s going to be a hard road, but hopefully Mother
Nature will co-operate and fingers crossed, I’ll get some good waves and
take it from there.’
Speaking after his win over Beau, Beschen, who has long been critical of the
ASP judges, had the following to say about the new ASP judging criteria
which was implemented as of today. A criteria revised to reward more
explosive, and critical surfing in competition.
‘The first step’s been taken and the ASP has to make sure they’re really
judging to the criteria they have revised. Hopefully they take away so much
emphasis on the number of turns being done, and focus more on quality,
radical manoeuvres. Guys should be able to start getting 8’s for like two
moves. I’m just going to try and settle in and do some gnarly shit.’
Runner up to Occhilupo last year, Australia’s Taj Burrow, started his
campaign on fire today, scoring 9.5 on his third wave, convincingly
advancing to round three.
‘I’m pretty happy about my heat,’ he said. ‘I was super nervous, so I’m
especially happy. I was just lucky to get one really good wave with a barrel
on it. I’m just starting to get back into rhythm and was really nervous, but
I’m sure everyone is. Finishing 2nd last year was great, but we’re all back
on equal footing now and I have to work hard, if not harder than everyone
else. I love Burleigh though, especially when the waves are like this.’
Sunny Garcia (Haw), who amassed the highest total heat score of the day,
looked very ominous and charged up, especially after winning US$50,000 last
week in a specialty surfing event in Hawaii. He also made of point of
acknowledging his frustration at finishing last year rated 4th, far behind
the position he wants.
‘I had a couple of months to sit and sulk about the fact that Occy won the
world title last year,’ Sunny admitted. ‘I had more than my fair share of
chances to take the lead and I didn’t capitalize on any of them, so… I’ve
trained hard and surfed a lot and we’ll see how I go this year.’
Chances are good the event will run again tomorrow, with conditions expected
to be similar, while great surf is forecasted for the beginning of next
week, thanks to the cyclones situated off the Queensland coastline beginning
to stir up more activity.
Further Information
Jesse Faen, ASP Media Director: 61-(0)-407-189-289; jesse@aspworldtour.com
Mandy McKinnon, Billabong Media: 61-(0)-417-079-941
Billabong Pro – Media Numbers:
Hotline#: 1-300-360-965 (Within Australia)
Phone: 617-5520-5088; Fax: 617-5520-6979.
Or visit us at: www.billabong.com or www.aspworldtour.com