Lakey Peterson and Carissa Moore get off to an ideal start at Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach
America’s Lakey Peterson and Hawaii’s Carissa Moore walked away with top honours from their respective Round 1 heats of Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Fiesta that went down at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Tuesday, April 3.
Peterson took the win over Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore and Nikki Van Dijk in the third heat to confirm her place in the third round, sending both the Australians into the relegation Round 2 to surf another heat for a place in Round 3.
The fourth heat saw Moore get the better of France’s Pauline Ado and Justine Dupont to advance directly into Round 3 while forcing both her French rivals to take a trip to the relegation Round 2 where they were to battle for survival.
The clean three-to-four foot waves breaking at the primary event site on the opening minutes of the heat served to set up a great stage for the battles between the best female surfers from around the globe who were ready to resume their campaign for the
coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Title at Bells Beach.
Squaring off with the former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion and current No.1 on the 2012 ASP World Title Series rankings Gilmore as well as her compatriot Van Dijk in the third heat, Peterson managed to survive the showdown despite the odds not exactly
tipping in her favour.
The American surfer scored an 8.27 off her first business wave and followed it up with a 5.90-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.17 points. The score held up until the end to take her through into the third round.
“The conditions were pretty tricky out there for us with not a lot of waves coming through in that heat,” Peterson said. “Steph [Gilmore] is such a force out there and to advance ahead of her at a spot like Bells is great for confidence.”
The 24-year-old Gilmore finished with an identical score as Peterson, but was forced to concede victory to her rival due to a lower single-wave score of 8.17 against the American surfer’s 8.27.
Van Dijk rounded out the third position after scoring a heat-total of 12.90 points, which included a 5.67 and 7.23-point wave. Consequently both the surfers were relegated to the second round.
The fourth heat featured a superb performance by the reigning ASP Women’s World Champion Moore as she took down Ado and Dupont in the fourth heat.
The 19-year-old Hawaiian scored a 7.67 off her first business-wave and went on to back it up with an 8.83 off her second business-wave, finishing with a resultant heat-total of 16.50 points. The score proved to be a decisive one, sealing the fate of the
heat in her favour.
“The waves are really fun out there and it was great to get the first heat out of the way,” Moore said. “I’m very happy to be back at Bells and out in some fun waves. I didn’t get the result I wanted on the Gold Coast so I’m hoping to post a better one here.”
Ado was forced to settle for runner-up place after finishing with a heat-total of 10.43 points, which included a 5.33 and 5.10-point wave, whereas a late charge by Dupont allowed her to post a 4.87 and 4.63 on the scoreboard for a heat-total of 9.50 points
and thus third place. Both the French women were consequently relegated to the second round.
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