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Sunsmart
Women’s Classic – The Final ASP INT'L, QLD, AUSTRALIA (April 20, 2002) Last year’s top two ranked World Championship Tour (WCT) surfers – Australians Layne Beachley and Melanie Redman-Carr, dominated the Final of the SunSmart Women’s Classic at Margaret River this afternoon. Held in light onshore surf that ranged between 2 and 3 metres, Redman’s cool, calm approach gave her a third successive title from five consecutive Finals. Her wave selection and positioning in the line up throughout the thirty minute Final gave her enough of an edge to defeat Beachley, 19.64 points to 18.84. For South African Heather Clark (11.66) and West Australian Holly Monkman (9.43), third and fourth respectively, it was almost deja vu. Clark was third in 1999 and Monkman, runner up last year, fourth in 1997. “I wasn’t thinking I was going to win when I was out there I just thought I’d get as many good waves as I could. I had a pretty hard final. Heather, Layne and Holly surfed really well in all the earlier rounds so I was just trying to get some good waves and do my best,” said Redman. For Beachley, it was close but not close enough after dominating her two earlier heats. “I sat too long and waited too long to catch a wave. That put me in a really bad rhythm, letting waves go that I should have taken and taking waves that I knew I shouldn’t have,” said Beachley. Clark worked hard in her semi final earlier but just couldn’t find the waves that she needed. “It was a little bit choppy out there but I wouldn’t say that was the reason I kept falling off so much,” she said. “I love coming here. I stay with Mel and she takes me to plenty of breaks. I’ve been coming for four or five years. Its terrific.” Beachley stamped her class in the first semi final on her first wave with controlled aggression. She scored a heat high 8.5 courtesy of great bottom hand turns and precision placement either under the lip or on the face of a 2.5 metre left-hander. Backed up with a 7.17 and it was virtually all over after seven minutes. Monkman was solid with a 5.15 and 4.67 wave count for her best two waves while Claire Bevilacqua’s (Aus) strategy of sitting on the rights didn’t quite pay off. Tracey Browne (Aus) showed that she has the potential to be a quality WQS surfer but didn’t get the waves she needed. Clark lay down the challenge to Redman-Carr when she fought back mid-way through the second semi final after the defending champion opened with an eight-point ride on a right. The South African charged the left-handers and worked hard catching seven waves. Laurina McGrath (Aus), who only caught two waves, got into second position with just under ten minutes only to see Redman-Carr catch her backup wave and move into her fifth consecutive Final at Margaret River. Brooke Farris (Aus) also worked hard but just couldn’t find the two necessary to get past the two WCT surfers. Final 1st Melanie Redman-Carr (19.64 points) Semi Final 1Layne Beachley, Holly Monkman,
Claire Bevilacqua, Tracey Browne Television Footage: Media Contact Details: For further Salomon information
please contact: [Source: Jesse Faen, Media Director, ASP Int'l, jesse@aspworldtour.com, www.aspworldtour.com, Mobile (Aus): +61-(0)-407-189-289, ASP Office (Aus): +61-(0)-755-991-550]
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