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Piping Hot Surf Fest Pumps @ Bells

Piping Hot Surf Fest Pumps @ Bells

By Mark Humphrey

Day 2 of the Piping Hot Surfwear Surf Fest shifted to the famous Bells Beach surfing precinct for round 2 of the tournament.

In perfect off-shore conditions the bowl dished up its famous 5’ sets to challenge the big guns of the tournament. Both the open men’s and women’s divisions were contested today with the round of 16 for the women also completed.

First up was the men’s division which was a who’s who of grass roots surfing. Last year’s Rip Curl Pro Wingman Jack Perry was in the line-up along with some other familiar names such as Willcox, Ball, Hynd, Thompson, Archibald, Fowler and Bell- Warren. Actually you could go through the whole list such was the talent on display for the Surf Fest. The usual suspects made it through to the next round of the men’s division with some big heat scores recorded. Nathan Hedge and Mitch Parkinson both recorded the men’s highest heat score of 16.50 with Brent Dorrington recording a combination of 16.00. Parkinson recorded the highest men’s wave score with a classic 9.25. With the 1^st round now completed the action will get even hotter for the men from here on in.

In the open women’s section the field was made up by a majority of the pro junior girls who competed in the division yesterday demonstrating the future strength of women’s surfing in Australia. No doubt these girls will surely go on and represent Australia in pro women’s surfing for years to come.

With the round 1 eliminations out of the way the women followed up with the round of 16 heats to determine the quarter final combatants. After the dust had settled the quarter finals took shape with QF 1 to be decided between Keely Andrew & Bronte Macaulay. QF 2 will see Amiya Doyle and Laura Macaulay go head to head. Yesterday Doyle was knocked out of the Pro Junior Women’s section citing that she and Jan Juc just don’t like each other. It seems that Doyle feels more at home in the famous bowl as she comfortably finished in the top 2 in her heat. QF 3 will see Tayla Hanak and Stephanie Single go head to head with the remaining QF heat between Laura Poncini and Freya Prumm.

Surfing action is at Bells Beach again tomorrow with a scheduled 7.30am start. All divisions are on notice.