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Stairmand and Christie On Fire At Burleigh Breaka Pro |
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Written by Ben Kennings
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Thursday, 07 February 2013 |
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| Richard Christie - Image Will Hayden Smith/ASP Aust |
Billy Stairmand and Richard Christie have commenced their 2013 ASP campaigns with scintillating performances at the Breaka Burleigh Pro (4 star) on the Gold Coast of Australia today (Thursday 7thFebruary).
Both surfers won their opening heats in the Round of 64 surfers. Billy scored 15.66 points out of a possible 20
to defeat 1999 World Champion Mark Occhilupo (Aus). Stairmand looked lethal early on surfing fast
and completing some big forehand turns.
His first wave netted him an 8.33 point ride with a second wave late in
the heat netting 7.33.
“This is the furthest I have made it at this event” said Stairmand of
progressing through to the Round of 32. “It
is good to be here for the first event of the year with all the CT guys and top
Aussies in the event and I am stoked to have a heat with Occy too, I was hoping
he was going to get some scores so we could both go through but it wasn’t to be”
he added.
Earlier, Richard Christie was in equally impressive form scoring 14.46 to win
his heat and progress to the next round alongside World Tour surfer Bede Burbidge
(Aus). Stairmand made mention that boht
he and Christie sat on the point all morning analysing conditions and noticed
the smaller, wider waves that were peeling down the point.
Christie’s battle was a closer contest that saw the lead switch several times,
Christie falling back as far as third at one stage. However it was the quick start that gave
Christie the confidence to push his limits and it was his last two waves of
6.53 and 7.93 that did the job and pushed him through to the next round.
The two surfers will next be in the water as early as tomorrow (Friday) when Stairmand
will take on Owen Wright (Aus), Davey Cathels (Aus) and Joan Duru (FRA). Christie will take on John Cummings (Aus),
Marco Fernandez (BRA) and Lincoln Taylor (Aus).
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| Sarah Mason - Image Will Hayden Smith/ASP Aust |
Earlier in the day Matt Hewitt (Mnt) missed out on progression placing third in
a high scoring heat to finish the event in 33rd place. Hewitt challenged for the lead on several
occasions, his best wave being a 7.33 and an eventual 13.16 point heat
total. However it was Australians Matt
Banting and Mitch Crews that moved through to the next round.
Tane Wallis (Piha) and Alex Dive (Mnt) also contested the event, the two
surfers placing 97th and 129th respectively.
In the six star women’s division, the two Kiwi girls Sarah Mason (Gold Coast) and
Paige Hareb (Tara) came head-to-head in Round 3 where they were both eliminated
placing third and fourth in their heat respectively to finish 13th
and 19th overall.
You can check all the action live on the Breaka Burleigh Pro
website.
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