Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Preview & Heat Matchups

Posted on April 18th, 2011 by JZ
rip curl pro bells beach 2011 610x189 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Preview & Heat Matchups

Today (in Australia) kicks off the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Most of the world’s top surfers have been in Torquay, Australia for some time now and everyone is pumped for the second stop on the ASP World Tour to start. The Bells event is always a memoriable one and with the current swell forecasts showing some pumping surf for later in the week, this year shouldn’t be any different.

The local time in Australia is right around 11am and they’ve officially called the first day a lay day. Tomorrow should see the start of the women’s heats and if the girls are surfing anywhere near the way they were at the Quiksilver Pro Snapper Rocks a few weeks back it will most definitely be worth tuning in to the live web cast and watching. The later rounds and the finals were some of the most exciting heats of the entire event at Snapper. We’ll see if 4x world champ and 3x Bell’s winner, Stephanie Gilmore can gain some momentum and lock up a win after her disappointing Quarterfinal loss at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast.  Steph knows she’s got some work to do and she’s siked for this event to start.

“I fell behind on the Gold Coast and I’ve got some work to do to catch-up,” Gilmore said. “I have always really enjoyed my time here at Bells Beach. I’ve had some great results here, but it’s going to be a hard task to get that Bell again. I’m just really excited because the forecast looks fantastic.”

The men on the other hand are competing once again without last year’s number four, Dane Reynolds. Dane officially withdrew from the contest last week as he is still rehabbing a knee injury suffered on the North Shore of Hawaii over the winter. This will be the second contest of the year that Dane will be sitting out as he also missed the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast. Dane hopes to be back in form for competition by May and get back in the swing of things by competing at the ASP Prime Nike Lowers Pro in May.

“Dane will not be attending Bells, but he is hoping his knee will be better by the time the PRIME event comes to Lowers in May,” confirmed Blair Marlin, Reynolds’ Manager.

Speaking of knee injuries, quietly absent from the men’s round one heat matchups is Hawaiian surfer Freddy Patacchia. After finishing 13th at the Gold Coast Pro, Freddy P injured his knee while free surfing at home after returning from Australia. There hasn’t been much press or updates about his injury but if you’ve been following him on twitter you’ll know that Patacchia went and saw Sunny Garcia’s doctor and is currently working hard rehabbing so he can get back on tour. Hopefully it’s sooner then later.

There are some great round one matchups and current world number one and 10x world champ, Kelly Slater is yet again going up against a local trials winner. This time around it’s 27 year old Victoria local Adam Robertson. Along with Robertson, KS10 will also have to do battle with Kai Otton in the first round. Kelly, who still froths about surfing at the Bell’s event, had this to say.

“As a kid in the States I saw a lot of film of this event,” Slater said. “I got an idea of what the wave was like and that it was like surfing in an arena. I thought of it like two gladiators battling with fans watching from the cliffs. I remember watching Tom Curren and Occy’s heats, and I couldn’t wait to come here.”

And if you’re wondering what Kelly’s status is for this year’s tour he cound’t have made it any more clear.

“If I wasn’t hungry to win an 11th ASP World Title, then I wouldn’t be here,” Slater said.

This event will for sure be an epic one and I can’t wait for the heats to get under way. For all the official updates, the live webcast, and much more, head on over to live.ripcurl.com.

Below are the round 1 heat matchups and the official trailer for the comp.

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS), Adam Melling (AUS), Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA), Bobby Martinez (USA)
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT), Gabriel Medina (BRA)
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Dusty Payne (HAW), Stu Kennedy (AUS)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA), Kai Otton (AUS), Adam Robertson (AUS)
Heat 7: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Taylor Knox (USA), Cory Lopez (USA)
Heat 8: Michel Bourez (PYF), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 10: Bede Durbidge (AUS), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Heat 11: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Chris Davidson (AUS), Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 12: Brett Simpson (USA), Jadson Andre (BRA), Patrick Gudauskas (USA)

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Chelsea Hedges (AUS), Sofia Mulanovich (PER), Rebecca Woods (AUS)
Heat 2: Silvana Lima (BRA), Laura Enever (AUS), Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)
Heat 3: Carissa Moore (HAW), Jacqueline Silva (BRA), Bethany Hamilton (HAW)
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Courtney Conlogue (USA), Alana Blanchard (HAW)
Heat 5: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Paige Hareb (NZL), Melanie Bartels (HAW)
Heat 6: Coco Ho (HAW), Tyler Wright (AUS), Pauline Ado (FRA)

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