Mick Has Joined The 300 Club

Here’s the wrap up on Mick’s 2009 Bells campaign. Mick’s past attacks on Bells have included a win nine years ago as a wildcard in 2001, which is the only time he has made the final at Bells. His nine results have captured him a 1st, 17th, 3rd, 5th, 9th, 5th, 3rd, 5th and another 5th in 2009.
This year saw the introduction of a new format with the 16 top seeded surfers seeded into round 2 to meet the 16 winners from round 1. In round 2, nine of the top 16 were knocked straight out of the event.
In round 2 Mick started his Bells campaign with a win over fellow Red Bull team mate Tiago Pires. Mick posted a win with a 17.16, his 5th score in a row this season over 17.00, to beat Tiago’s (15.27). It was a high-scoring, high-class heat. This was the highest combined total heat of the event with the boys scoring 32.42 out of 40 between them.
In round 3 Mick surfed in his 300th Dream Tour heat, winning against Bobby Martinez. Mick smoked Bobby with a 14.26 to 3.43 score line to progress into the final series for the 40th time in his 76 events to-date.In the Quarter Finals Mick met Jordy for the first time on tour in what was another high-scoring heat: Jordy 15.50 to Mick’s 15.17 = 30.66 (8 heats in the event went over the 30.00 in combo total, Mick surfed in 2, Jordy surfed in 3) Jordy took out Mick with a wave in the last couple of minutes, and then the ocean went flat and Mick went away with a 5th place. Bells was eventually won, for the second time, by Joel Parkinson.

Mick’s 71 event results joining the Dream Tour in 2002: 8 x 1st… 7 x 2nd…  10 x 3rd… 1 x 4th… 11 x 5th… 9 x 9th… 1 x 13th… 18 x 17th… 6 x 33rd.

300 CLUB; Mick’s Career Stats including his five wildcard entries: 76 events… 301 heats… 204 wins…  a 67.77% win ratio… 14.96 average career score.

Mick’s had 49 scores over 17.00 in his 240 two-wave scoring heats… (85 finals heats) = 41 quarter finals, 27 semi finals, 17 finals for 9 wins.

Other 300 Club members on tour in 2009: Slater 775…  Knox 498…  Burrow 462… Campbo 351… Parko 326… C.J 331.  The next surfers to join this club are – Damien Hobgood 293… Dingo 225… Greg Emslie 225.

Event 3 Milestones…
Californian surfer Taylor Knox will surf his 499th heat when he starts his Teahupoo campaign. Floridian C.J. Hobgood will surf in his 99th career event on the Dream Tour and twin bro Damien is just seven heats short of joining the 300 Club. Damo is also just two heats short of 50 finals heats surfed. Mick Fanning will be looking for his 50th score over 17.00 in the two-wave scoring era. Get more stats from the Tour section of this website. – Mike Newman, RAS Sports

Mick goes to work at Bells during his 300th World Tour heat. © Getty Images

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