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Kelly Slater and the East Coast team won the first X Games surf
contest, held today at Huntington Beach. More than 25,000 spectators
lined the beach to watch an all-star lineup of East and West Coast
surfers compete for coastal supremacy.
To kick off The Game, surfing's first team event, the teams lined up
in pre-game fashion for the playing of The National Anthem. The contest
itself was structured much like a basketball game, with coaches, four
quarters and a halftime.
In each quarter, four surfers from each team take to the water in
20-minute heats. The top two waves from each rider are added together
for a team score. Each wave is worth a maximum of 10 points, for a
total of 160 possible team points in each half.
At the end of nearly four hours of surfing, the first gold medals of
X Games IX were awarded to the East Coast team, which won 209.06 to
188.20.
Did you know that nine WCT pro surfers
put their careers on the line (not too mention jeopardizing the
validity of the ASP) for their perceived vision of the future of
professional surfing--which now involves ESPNs X Games. A gutsy move? Shortsighted? Let your voice be heard in our online poll. At the end of the first half, the East Coast team led 100 points to
the West's 92. Kelly Slater logged an 8.42, the highest score of the
first half. In the second half, Dane Reynolds of the West Coast rode
the best wave of the contest with a score of 9.7.
Surfing for the East Coast in the first and third quarters was Shea
Lopez, Aaron Cormican, Damien Hobgood and Ben Bougeious. In quarters
two and four, Kelly Slater, Shane Dorian, Taj Burrow and Cory Lopez
rode for the East.
The West Coast lineup included Shane Beschen, Taylor Knox, Bobby
Martinez and Dane Reynolds in the first and third quarters and Tim
Curran, Rob Machado, Pat O'Connell and Kalani Robb in the second and
fourth.
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