Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 1 ON, Women’s Round 2 on Standby

BELLS BEACH, Victoria/AUS (Friday, March 29, 2013) – The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford, the second stop on the 2013 ASP World Championship Tour, has called Round 1 on this morning, commencing at 7:45am in clean three-to-four foot (1.5 metre) waves at Bells Beach.

Matt Wilkinson (AUS), 24, will kick off the 2013 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach this morning.

“We have an increase in swell this morning and have called men’s competition on for 7:45am,” Rich Porta, ASP International Head Judge, said. “We anticipate a full day of competition so have placed men’s and women’s Round 2 heats on standby for a potential start this afternoon as well. Good luck to all our competitors today.”

Commencing men’s competition this morning will be Gabriel Medina (BRA), 19, Matt Wilkinson (AUS), 24, and Raoni Monteiro (BRA), 30, in Heat 1 of Round 1.

The 2013 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach will be webcast LIVE via www.live.ripcurl.com and broadcast live on Fuel TV in Australia and Portugal, ESPN in Brazil and MCS Extreme in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland and Africa. You can also watch the event live via the Rip Curl Pro iPhone app, available free in the iTunes App Store.

The Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach completed Round 1 yesterday and has placed Round 2 on standby for a possible start this afternoon.

When women’s competition resumes, up first will be Laura Enever (AUS), 21, and Malia Manuel (HAW), 19, in the opening heat of Round 2.

CoastalWatch, official forecasters for the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, have called for: A mid period SW swell maintains three foot surf at Bells on Friday and eases into Saturday. A stronger increase in long period SW groundswell arrives over the Easter long weekend. This is likely to be followed by another strong SSW groundswell around Wednesday 4 April.

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS), Kai Otton (AUS), Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS), Sebastian Zietz (HAW), Oney Anwar (IDN)
Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Brett Simpson (USA), Jack Perry (AUS)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA), Adam Melling (AUS), Jacob Wilcox (AUS)
Heat 7: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 8: Josh Kerr (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 9: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Travis Logie (ZAF), Nat Young (USA)
Heat 10: Michel Bourez (PYF), Bede Durbidge (AUS), Filipe Toledo (BRA)
Heat 11: Owen Wright (AUS), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Glenn Hall (IRL)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Kolohe Andino (USA)

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Laura Enever (AUS) vs. Malia Manuel (HAW)
Heat 2: Coco Ho (HAW) vs. Pauline Ado (FRA)
Heat 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Sofia Mulanovich (PER)
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Rebecca Woods (AUS)
Heat 5: Courtney Conlogue (USA) vs. Sage Erickson (USA)
Heat 6: Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) vs. Paige Hareb (NZL)

The Rip Curl Pro is presented by FORD with partners the Victorian Government, Momentum Energy, mophie, Tooheys Extra Dry, Jim Beam, Skullcandy, Red Bull, Telstra, Surf Coast Shire, Surfing Life Magazine, Fuel TV, Ozmosis, Nova, CO2 Australia, Coastalwatch Plus and co-managed by Surfing Victoria.

Source; ASP Media