ASP World Tour: August 2008 Archives
Words: Ben Mondy"Look, it usually takes about four years to make the jump from the WQS to the WCT, even for the best guys." ASP International Head Judge Perry Hatchet, is explaining just how hard it is to make the jump from the world qualifying series (WQS) onto the top tier of the professional surfing, the WCT.
Clint Kimmins, on his first full-time year on the qualifying series, knows that all to well. "Well, there are probably 300 surfers doing the WQS full-time and at the end of the year only the top 15 ranked surfers will go up to replace the 15 surfers who will be relegated from the top tier. So that just shows how difficult it is to crack the elite level."
Continue reading Red Bull Rising:The Twin Tours.
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."
Continue reading Bruce Stakes Claim In Indo, Wins Cool Gold Crown.
Yes folks, that's right, Portugal rookie and Red Bull family member Tiago Pires has eliminated Kelly Slater from the Rip Curl Search "somewhere in Indonesia." Kelly hasn't lost a heat to a surfer in the Top 45 all year long, but Tiago, being the rookie dark horse that he is, snuck past the eight-time world champ in absolutely throbbing conditions. "There were two waves at the end of that heat and he went on the first one and I took the second and it turned out to be a really good wave," described Tiago. "When I came out of the barrel and into the channel, everyone was screaming. This is the biggest win of my career. I have won a few ASP WQS events, but to beat Slater here in these conditions is amazing."
Held at Uluwatu on the island of Bali, the win meant almost as much to everybody else on tour as it did to Tiago. "When I came up through the cave it felt like I won the event," he would say later. "There were so many people screaming and cheering. It felt really good. I guess it's a big deal that no one else had beat him this year, but I've been training hard and I hope to be going much further in this event."
