Beachley Classic 2011 - Day 1

DEE WHY, New South Wales/Australia (Tuesday, May 3, 2011) -- The world's elite female surfers raised the performance bar in the solid four-to-six foot (two-meter) dredging surf at Dee Why Point, Sydney for the opening day of competition at the ASP Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic, today.

Perfect scores, broken boards and dramatic wipeouts made for an awe-inspiring script that ran through three rounds of competition at the richest stop on the ASP Women's World Tour.

ASP World No. 2 Carissa Moore,18, (HAW) posted a close to perfect performance during round 3, unleashing a powerful series of on-the-rail carves across two enormous Dee Why walls, to score a 19.25 two-wave heat total out of 20.00.

"That heat definitely felt a lot better than this morning," Moore said. "The conditions have held all day and I wanted to go out there and really surf and have a good time and I'm glad that showed."

Advancing into the quarterfinals ahead of Paige Hareb (NZ) and Chelsea Hedges (AUS), Moore's result ensured she moved one step closer to regaining the World No. 1 position.

"It's really important to have a good result here but I'm trying not to think about the points or the prize-money, I think that adds more pressure. This year has definitely been a challenge, there is a lot of talent and all the girls are really excited and fired up, they want it and I think that makes for great competition."

Four times ASP World Champion Stephanie Gilmore, 23, (AUS) showed a devastating return to form during her round 3 'nail-bitter'. The current ASP World No. 5 asserting her dominance over ASP World Tour rookie Tyler Wright (AUS) and Melanie Bartels (HAW) with the day's highest scoring ride of the day a 9.8 (out of ten) for a combined 17.85 (out of 20.00) heat total.

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Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 12.25, Coco Ho (HAW) 8.40, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 3.65
Heat 2:Silvana Lima (BRA) 14.50, Courtney Conlogue (USA) 13.75, Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 10.25
Heat 3: Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 14.50, Laura Enever (AUS), 12.75
Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 11.20
Heat 4:Carissa Moore (HAW) 10.85, Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 6.90
Paige Hareb (NZL) 6.60
Heat 5:Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 12.75, Pauline Ado (FRA) 7.75, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 7.00
Heat 6:Tyler Wright (AUS) 17.90, Melanie Bartels (HAW) 15.25,
Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 14.25

Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic Round 2 Results:
Heat 1: Melanie Bartel (Haw) 13.65 Paulne Ado (FRA) 12.75
Heat 2: Coutney Conlogue (USA) 15.10 Rebecca Woods (Aus) 8.25
Heat 3: Sally Fitzgibbons (Aus) 18.25 Claire Bevilacqua (Aus) 13:00
Heat 4: Coco Ho (Haw) 14:00 Alana Blanchard (Haw) 9.60
Heat 5: Chelsea Hedges (Aus) 12.65 Jessi Miley-Dyer (Aus) 11.95
Heat 6: Paige Hareb (Aus) 15:00 Laura Enever (Aus) 13.75

Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Silvana Lima (BRZ) 16:25, Coco Ho (Haw) 13.50, Nikki Van Dijik (Aus) 5.30
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (Aus) 16:15, Coutney Conlogue (USA) 8.55, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 6.40
Heat 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) 19.25, Paige Hareb (NZL) 12.55, Chelsea Hedges (Aus) 9.00
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 17.85, Tyler Wright (AUS) 16.00, Melanie Bartels (HAW) 14.50