New World Tour Format

The 2009 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Snickers will bring the ASP Top 45 back to the iconic Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia from April 7 - 18, 2009, and this year’s event will provide the surfers and spectators will a dynamic new format, heightening the drama and enhancing the performances of the world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves. Event No. 2 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach will be the first event of the season to utilize the new format, where all heats will be elimination man-on-man, and no losers round will exist.
The Top 8 surfers from the 2008 season will be seeded directly into Round 2 all yearlong [lucky for Mick who finished 8th in 2008]. For the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, surfers who finished 9 - 16 in 2008 will also be seeded directly into Round 2 while the remaining surfers of this year’s ASP Top 45 will battle it out in Round 1 man-on-man elimination heats. Following the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, events that opt to run the new format will use the same seeding, only seeds 9 - 16 will be based off of this season’s seeding. In addition to providing heats of consequence throughout the entire event, the new format also cuts the run time down to three full days of competition, allowing for surfers to compete in the best possible conditions.
What’s Mick’s take on the new format? “I think it’s a positive step. I think it’s going to be fun to watch man-on-man heats from the outset and definitely exciting to think that there’s no second chances. The format also means we need one less day to complete the event. Bells can be a fickle break, we’ve been skunked there a few times over the years. So, with this format we’ll be able to make the most of the swell cycles that come our way during the event waiting period. It should be sweet and apparently more of the events will be run this way in the future.”
The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Snickers will begin its waiting period on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 running through Saturday, April 18, and you can catch it all live right here…

Bells Beach, where we'll see the ASP unviel its new World Tour format for the first time. © Getty Images

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