Stephanie Gilmore claims the Dow AgroSciences Pro title at the TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival
Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore took out the blue ribbon event of the TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival, the Dow AgroSciences Pro, by defeating Hawaii’s Carissa Moore in the Final that went down at Fitzroy Beach in Taranaki, New Zealand, on Saturday, April 14.
The third of seven stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Title Series had played host to a large line-up of prestigious female surfers from around the globe. However, Gilmore, former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion
and current No.1 on the 2012 ASP Women’s World rankings, managed to hold her own in challenging heats to eventually walk away with the overall win.
The event had been nothing short of epic and came to a close with an equally thrilling final between the in-form Australian and Moore, reigning ASP Women’s World Champion.
The 19-year-old Hawaiian had been struggling to find consistency in her form at Taranaki, though the very fact that she had managed to reach the final was enough to convince anyone of her chances to walk away with the win. She had claimed top honours in
the event in 2010 and later backed it up with a runner-up place in 2011.
As the clash between the two ASP Women’s World Champions got underway, Moore got down to business right away, locking her first business-wave to post a 6.83 on the score-board. A few minutes into the heat, she caught a juicy wave to unload a string of impressive
tricks, earning an 8.23 for the effort and thus moving to a resultant heat-total of 15.06 points.
Gilmore did not let her guard down at any stage during the battle and ended up collecting an 8.33 and 7.43-point ride to finish with a heat-total of 15.76 point. The 0.70-point lead over Moore served to seal the fate of the competition in favour, serving
to cement her lead on top of the ranking table even further.
“This is by far the best start to a season I’ve had in my career,” Gilmore said. “To have three Finals straight off the bat, I’m kind of tripping out. It’s really cool. That was a really close Final, I’m sure it could have gone either way. I watched Carissa’s
[Moore] wave from behind and she did that huge first turn and then raced to the next section, but if she did another turn straight away, I’m sure she would have gotten the score. I’m glad it went my way though.”
With the conclusion of the TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival featuring the Dow AgroSciences Pro, the prestigious ASP female surfers will head back to Australia where the fourth stop of the 2012 ASP Women’s World Tour, Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic, is scheduled
to run from April 18 – 23.
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