Bruce Stakes Claim In Indo, Wins Cool Gold Crown
All that glitters may not always be gold, but these days the head gear Bruce Irons is sporting certainly is. With a convincing win at the 2008 Rip Curl Search, held "somewhere in Indonesia" (that somewhere being the oh-so familiar island of Bali), Bruce not only won the first ASP world tour event of his career, but he'll also be trying to get through customs with a spiffy trophy he describes as "sick", and that killer cap you see him rocking to the left.
"One of my goals when I joined the Tour was to win an event," said Bruce in a post-win interview. Continuing on he more than alluded to the fact that he has plans other than the World Tour next year. "I wasn't sure if it was going to happen since I'll be stepping away after this season. But the waves pumped this event! This is what the Dream Tour should be like all the time. I'm definitely stepping away from the ASP Tour at the end of this year, but I'm not retiring. I'm still planning on competing at Pipeline and Teahupoo and at venues that I can get into."
"One of my goals when I joined the Tour was to win an event," said Bruce in a post-win interview. Continuing on he more than alluded to the fact that he has plans other than the World Tour next year. "I wasn't sure if it was going to happen since I'll be stepping away after this season. But the waves pumped this event! This is what the Dream Tour should be like all the time. I'm definitely stepping away from the ASP Tour at the end of this year, but I'm not retiring. I'm still planning on competing at Pipeline and Teahupoo and at venues that I can get into."
Yes, it will be sad to see Bruce leave the tour, but for such an unbelievable natural talent, now free from the confines of contest surfing, it's going to be a lot of fun to watch Bruce go on an absolute free-surf rampage. Hardly a swan song, plan to see many more mind-blowing things to come.
And no, Bruce wasn't the only success worth noting for the Red Bull Surfing family. In a contest that saw the top five surfers eliminated before the quarterfinals, how about Ben Dunn and Tiago Pires? Rocking a brilliant mustache, Tiago, not only took down the seemingly unbeatable Kelly Slater, but surfed his way all the way into 3rd place.
"This is the best result of my career and it takes the pressure off of me to get a 3rd at the halfway point this season," told Tiago later. "I don't know what it will do to the ratings, but it should help me and give me a better seed going into Lower Trestles. I have a pretty busy summer. I am doing all the ASP WQS events in Europe so it is a lot of surfing for me coming up."
For Mick and Andy, two previous event winners, they, like Adriano and most of the other top rated surfers in the world, fell victim to an onslaught of underdogs and unsung heroes. There's a one month break before the tour comes to California for the Boost Mobile Pro, and you can pretty much be sure that it's going to be another heated affair. Stay tuned...
And no, Bruce wasn't the only success worth noting for the Red Bull Surfing family. In a contest that saw the top five surfers eliminated before the quarterfinals, how about Ben Dunn and Tiago Pires? Rocking a brilliant mustache, Tiago, not only took down the seemingly unbeatable Kelly Slater, but surfed his way all the way into 3rd place.
"This is the best result of my career and it takes the pressure off of me to get a 3rd at the halfway point this season," told Tiago later. "I don't know what it will do to the ratings, but it should help me and give me a better seed going into Lower Trestles. I have a pretty busy summer. I am doing all the ASP WQS events in Europe so it is a lot of surfing for me coming up."
For Mick and Andy, two previous event winners, they, like Adriano and most of the other top rated surfers in the world, fell victim to an onslaught of underdogs and unsung heroes. There's a one month break before the tour comes to California for the Boost Mobile Pro, and you can pretty much be sure that it's going to be another heated affair. Stay tuned...
I want one of those hats. Think they have them at the mall?
That gold crown is amazing!
Bali would be sick!
This really makes me want to go to Bali.
Is that real gold?
Wow, that is an impressive piece of headwear!