04.09.01
ASPworldtour.com

Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia - Six-time world champion Kelly Slater (USA) and Zane Harrison (Aus) today survived a 16-man field contesting the Reef Trials at Bells Beach to advance into the 29th annual Rip Curl Pro. They now face the world's top-45 ranked surfers and event wildcard Mick Fanning (Aus) in the first World Championship Tour (WCT) of the season, boasting US$250,000 in prize money.

The Reef Trials saw a round-robin format where all 16 competitors surfed at least three four-man rounds and were allotted points for their respective placing. Slater and Harrison, as well as local surfer Nic Muscroft and Darren O'Rafferty (both Australian) then paddled out for the final 25-minute decider in somewhat tricky four-foot (1.3m) conditions at Bells.

Slater, 29, who retired from full-time competition after winning his unprecedented sixth crown at the end of 1998, won all three rounds leading up to the Reef Trials final and was clearly the odds-on favorite. Despite a slow start and evident confusion over the best location for picking off his winning waves, the most successful surfer of all-time eventually clinched the match within the last minute by pulling an aerial out of his bag of tricks to score 6.9 points.

"I don't like surfing trials," said an out-of-breath Slater afterward. "But that was fun. I knew I had to do something at the end there. I went for an air (aerial maneuver) and landed it, and they've (the judges) been scoring the big moves, so it worked out for me.

"Seriously, I've had trouble here," he explained when asked about his track record at Bells. "It's been one of my worst events on tour for some reason. The wave is a lot like Makaha (Haw) and I think that's why Sunny (Garcia) does so well out here. It's always been a little tricky for me and I don't think I've ever had quite the right equipment for it. I think I do this year, but we'll have to see. It's a tough wave to surf.

"They seemed to be aggressive and surfing really well," offered Slater when asked about his competition today. "I find sometimes when I surf against trialists they aren't quite as aggressive with me, but these guys definitely were. I felt like it was three-on-one out there and they all definitely wanted to see me lose and two of them get through. I got lucky just to squeak a few in, but they were being aggressive and paddling me deep (inside the take-off zone). It was a little frustrating, but you don't want to show that out in the water. You don't want to let the other guy know they've gotten in your head. They definitely rattled me a little bit 'cause it's just been so long since I've really surfed contests intensely.

"Obviously, the world tour and the way heats are run is a system I'm really used to surfing and am comfortable with even after time off," he continued, in regard to the upcoming main event. "Surfing against one guy is a lot easier than surfing against four in some ways, however the competition is going to be better. The guys in the (top) 45 are going to be better surfers.

Six-time ASP world champion Kelly Slater carving the waves at Bells Beach.

"It's lucky for me that Sunny's injured," conceded Slater, when asked about his looming heat against the current world champion. "I definitely don't think he'll be 100 percent. But Sunny at 90 percent, or even Sunny at 80 percent... he can be 50 percent and still be a tough heat. And plus, he's won here so many times, three Bells and I've only won a single one and had a lot of ninths and 17ths. His track record speaks for itself."

Harrison, 20, also put on a fantastic performance today, similarly winning each of his three heats leading up to the final with Slater. Having just arrived in Victoria this morning after flying through the night from Western Australia, he was notably tired from his four sessions, but more so relieved by the outcome.

"I'm pretty stuffed actually," admitted the Australian. "I've been awake for a couple of days now. The surf was fun out there, though, so I'm just happy to get through. I haven't had much good luck lately, so I'm pretty stoked. I haven't surfed against Kelly in small waves before, but he's good all-round, and showed us up easily."

Current world champion Sunny Garcia (Haw) was present at the official media conference for the Rip Curl Pro at Melbourne's Aquarium. Garcia, 31, said he's prepared to push through the pain barrier of his recent knee injury to defend his Rip Curl Pro title. He strained the medial ligament in his right knee while surfing at Newcastle (Aus) earlier this month, but doesn't want this to stop his quest for a fourth coveted Bells' trophy. He first won the title in 1995, then repeated the result the following year, before last year's victory propelled the powerful natural-footer to a maiden world title.

"I'm pretty hopeful that I will be able to surf," said the world champ. "My knee is not as tender as it was last week. Hopefully I will be able to surf and make it a little harder for someone to take my (world) title.

"It's a great contest," he continued. "For me it (Bells) is just like my home break of Makaha (Haw), just a little colder."

Official results from the Reef Trials 2001

Final
1st Kelly Slater (USA) 21.80
2nd Zane Harrison (Aus) 21.23
3rd Nic Muscroft (Aus) 21.20
Darren O'Rafferty (Aus) 18.80

Round Three
H1: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.01
Simon McShane (Aus) 18.76
Travis Lynch (Aus) 17.75
Raoni Monteiro (Brz) 15.03

H2: Nic Muscroft (Aus) 21.07
Pancho Sullivan (Haw) 17.43
James Noble (Aus) 14.60
Gabe Kling (USA) 14.10

H3: Darren O'Rafferty (Aus) 24.37
Glyndyn Ringrose (Aus) 21.30
Anthony Petruso (USA) 19.07
Simon Collier (Aus) 16.97

H4: Zane Harrison (Aus) 25.00
Tony Ray (Aus) 17.07
Damien Hardman (Aus) 14.20
Troy Brooks (Aus) 11.43

Round Two
H1: Pancho Sullivan (Haw) 18.60
Raoni Monteiro (Brz) 17.86
Glyndyn Ringrose (Aus) 17.10
Tony Ray (Aus) 11.83

H2: Zane Harrison (Aus) 23.73
Travis Lynch (Aus) 21.77
James Noble (Aus) 15.03
Simon Collier (Aus) 13.83

H3: Kelly Slater (USA) 25.04
Nic Muscroft (Aus) 17.77
Damien Hardman (Aus) 17.47
Anthony Petruso (USA) 15.44

H4: Troy Brooks (Aus) 22.59
Darren O'Rafferty (Aus) 22.44
Gabe Kling (USA) 18.21
Simon McShane (Aus) 15.57

Round One
H1: Zane Harrison (Aus) 19.17
Anthony Petruso (USA) 12.13
Gabe Kling (USA) 11.97
Raoni Monteiro (Brz) 11.74

H2: Damien Hardman (Aus) 23.80
Darren O'Rafferty (Aus) 21.34
Travis Lynch (Aus) 20.97
Pancho Sullivan (Haw) 12.67

H3: Kelly Slater (USA) 23.87
Glyndyn Ringrose (Aus) 18.77
Troy Brooks (Aus) 18.30
James Noble (Aus) 17.87

H4: Nic Muscroft (Aus) 20.93
Simon McShane (Aus) 18.91
Tony Ray (Aus) 18.17
Simon Collier (Aus) 9.30

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