MOLHE LESTE, Peniche/Portugal (Thursday, October 22, 2009) – The Rip Curl Pro Search got underway today in clean two-to-three foot (1 metre) wedging righthanders at Molhe Leste, where the world’s best surfers carved, snapped and aired their way through the opening eight heats of Round 1.

Event No. 9 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Search operated at its third backup site today – the primary venue of Supertubes being destroyed by large surf and surging tides two nights ago and the backup sites of Lagido and Belgas buffeted by onshore winds today. Opting to run the new competition format, featuring man-on-man elimination heats from the outset, today’s Round 1 action saw no shortage of upsets, with five of the eight higher-seeded surfers eliminated from competition.

Marlon Lipke (DEU), 25, 2009 ASP World Tour rookie and current ASP World No. 44, scored a major victory today, defeating fellow rookie Michel Bourez (PYF), 23, utilizing an aggressive backhand approach to post the day’s highest heat total of a 14.66 out of a possible 20, and advance through to Round 2.

“I saw Michel (Bourez) free-surfing this morning and he surfed amazing,” Lipke said. “I thought to myself, ‘I just have to get the better waves’. Lucky, I did manage to get them. It feels so good, I forgot how good it feels to get through a heat as I haven’t got through one all year!”

Lipke, who was born in Germany but raised in Portugal, enjoyed throngs of local support today after the elimination of Tiago Pires (PRT), 29, in the third heat of the morning.

“My parents are German, I was born in Lisbon and a lot of my friends are Portuguese, they are all here supporting me,” Lipke said. “The local crowd is so supportive so it is great to get through here at home.”

Owen Wright (AUS), 19, wildcard into the Rip Curl Pro Search and current No. 3 on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), is no stranger to the elite level of competition, having attended the past two years’ worth of Rip Curl Pro Search events. One of the up-and-coming stars of the sport, Wright displayed his world-class talent today in eliminating former ASP World Junior Champion (2005) and current ASP World No. 17, Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), 24, in Round 1 of competition.

“I have been to the Rip Curl Search event in Chile and Bali and that was great,” Wright said. “The Search concept allows the guys to go somewhere different every time and they are the best surfers in the world so they can deal with anything. I am really stoked to be put alongside of these guys and be able to compete here in Portugal.”

Undefeated on the 2009 ASP Australasia Pro Junior Series, Wright has carried his preternatural momentum onto the grueling ASP WQS this season where he has already secured a spot on next year’s prestigious ASP World Tour.

“The game plan at the start of the year was to dabble in the ASP WQS but after the first contests, things started to change and take off,” Wright said. “I am pretty stoked to have made it to the Dream Tour, it is every competitive surfer’s dream.”

Joining Lipke and Wright in today’s upsets were Jihad Khodr (BRA), 25, Nathaniel Curran (USA), 25, and Patrick Gudauskas (USA), 23.

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 8am for a possible 8:30am start.

When competition resumes, up first will be Dean Morrison (AUS), 28, up against Justin Mujica (PRT), 32, in Heat 9 of Round 1.

Surfline, official forecasters for the 2009 Rip Curl Pro Search, are calling the current Northwest swell to maintain throughout the next couple of days before a WNW swell fills in for the weekend.

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Jihad Khodr (BRA) 13.10 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 10.84

Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.50 def. David Weare (ZAF) 4.10

Heat 3: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.00 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 9.67

Heat 4: Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.33 def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 11.67

Heat 5: Marlon Lipke (DEU) 14.66 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.77

Heat 6: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.84 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.17

Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.03 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 8.76

Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) 9.90 def. David Luis (PRT) 5.90

REMAINING RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Justin Mujica (PRT)

Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)

Heat 11: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)

Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)

Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)

Heat 14: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)

Heat 15: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)

Heat 16: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. TBA

Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 6: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 13: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 14: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. TBA

Heat 15: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. TBA

Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. TBA