Sunova Surfboards - News

Rainbows and Upsets at the 11th Whalebone Classic.

A large crowd were on hand to witness some of Australia’s leading longboard competitors strut their stuff in the small clean but inconsistent conditions that dominated day one of the 11th Whalebone Classic being held at Iso’s Reef Cottesloe West Australia.  The day started with a Rainbow pointing to the takeoff area at Iso’s that is the fabled pot of gold that all surfers look for.

Fresh from defending his title at the Hyundai Malfunction, Wollongong’s Dane Pioli showed a more traditional approach than normal as he won the opening heat with a score of 14.4, from former Australian Junior Champion Paul Scholten who chose to execute more powerful turns to score 13.83 to finish 2nd ahead of locals Lindsay Small and Dan Refeld.

In a major upset current West Australian Open Title Holder Rahn Goddard lead from the start as he confronted and eliminated 2006 World Champion Josh Constable. Goddard dominated heat 2 from the start to run out an easy winner with 13.93 from Ben Proudfoot 13.57 and Constable who couldn’t find a wave that Goddard wasn’t already on 3rd with 10.06 and Yallingup’s Daniel Corbett 4th.

Major upsets continued in heat 3 with defending Whalebone Champion Dane Wilson, Cronulla, beaten into 3rd. Eventual winner World Champion Tour leader Harley Ingleby, over came a slow start, waiting 12 minutes before opening his wave count to leap from last to first in two rides to defeat 2nd place getter Cottesloe’s Jock Bahen, Constable 3rd and Michael Corbett 4th.

Heat 4 winner Jared Neal expects his major competition to come from either Harley Ingleby or Dane Pioli tomorrow but can’t count out local contender Rahn Goddard. “It’s all going to come down to wave selection and length of ride in these conditions,” said Neal. “You have to make sure you don’t fall in these conditions”

Neal controlled his heat from his opening ride which saw Tim Fitzpatrick making a comeback to longboard surfing finish 2nd ahead of Yallingup shortboard professional Sam Tucker 3rd with Michael Cottier, Ramsgate NSW 4th.

Round 1 Results

Heat 1
1st Dane Pioli
2nd Paul Scholten 
3rd Lindsay Small
4th Dan Refeld

Heat 2
1st Rahn Goddard
2nd Ben Proudfoot
3rd Josh Constable
4th Daniel Corbett

Heat 3
1st Harley Ingleby
2nd Jock Bahen
3rd Dane Wilson
4th Michael Corbett

Heat 4
1st Jared Neal
2nd Tim Fitzpatrick
3rd Sam Tucker
4th Michael Cottier

Semi Final Match Ups
Semi 1
Dane Pioli
Paul Scholten
Rahn Goddard
Ben Proudfoot

Semi 2
Harley Ingleby
Jock Bahen
Jared Neal
Tim Fitzpatrick

 

 

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