Rip Curl MP Classic
Presented by Tracks Magazine

Gold Coast Queensland Australia
2 - 3 February 2008

Original ‘Cooly Kid’ Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew Pays Tribute To Kirra Surfing Legend

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 2 February, 2008 : - - The original ‘Cooly kid’ Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew proved he could still carve it up with surfing’s elite, donning a competition rash vest to pay tribute to legendary kirra surfer Michael ‘MP’ Peterson on the Gold Coast today.

Rabbit, who grew up around the fabled point breaks of Australia’s Gold Coast with Peterson as his sparring partner, traded his duties as the president of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) to take part in the seventh annual Rip Curl MP Classic in barreling 1.5-metre beach break waves at Duranbah.

“Most events that are held in someone’s honour are usually when they’ve gone, so I wanted to support the event when Michael’s (Michael Peterson) still with us,” said Bartholomew. “I really took part today to pay tribute to MP, his family and the time we spent together.”

Rabbit, 53, showed that he hadn’t lost any of his surfing talent, throwing out some big moves in his round one heat against former world tour competitor and Coolangatta local Josh Kerr and Avalon Beach surfer Alex Chacon. His revolutionary approach to tube riding, cultivated at the world-famous Kirra Point and surrounding southern Gold Coast beaches and later applied in Hawaii’s big surf, garnered him the world title in 1978.

Luke Dorrington : photo Jake White

“I haven’t surfed a comp for a while, and I found it pretty tough,” he said. “It was good for me to do that. I feel like I had a good workout. That’s all I could ask for.” Unfortunately for Bartholomew, he failed to progress today, succumbing to the incredible surfing repertoire of Kerr.

The exciting natural foot was in a league of his own; nabbing a set wave before weaving through the eye of a ‘D-Bah Beast’ in the opening seconds of the heat to net the morning’s highest wave score, an excellent scoring 8.75 out of a possible 10.

To back it up, Kerr jagged a second throaty barrel before exiting into a massive front side hack to collect a 7.00 from the judges and a two-wave combined total of a 15.50 to Chacon’s 13.75. Bartholomew finished third with a 6.65 score. “It was such buzz to surf with Rabbit… I was actually hooting him into waves,” said Kerr, who is a former world aerial champion.

“He’s done a lot for the sport and it was great that he could be apart of the event. I’m sure MP would love the fact that Rabbit was surfing today.” Meanwhile, Peterson, who was the greatest competitive surfer of the 1970’s and was labeled the 'King of Kirra', made a guest appearance at the tournament today.

“I’m really pleased that the waves came up for the event,” said Peterson. “Hopefully the swell will stick around and the event can be held at Kirra tomorrow.”  Defending champion Luke Dorrington (Coolangatta) survived a tide-affected heat, kicking off his campaign with a huge 8.6 ride to finish behind Byron Bay's Garret Parkes in their round two heat.

Dorrington's younger brother, Brent, was hot on his heels, snaring multiple long tube rides to book a spot in the third round. Other high-scoring winners today included Owen Wright (Culburra), Nick Vasicek (Coolangatta), Damien Chaudoy (Coolangatta) and Joe Schwarz (Maroochydore).

Now in its seventh year, the MP Classic is one of the highlights of the Gold Coast surfing calendar. With an easterly swell expected to pulse tomorrow, contest organisers are hopeful of running the final day of competition at Kirra Point. Competition is expected to commence at 8am sharp, with finals being completed by 2.00pm.

The main event site for the Rip Curl MP Classic will be Kirra Point, but the tournament does have the option of going mobile to the best surf on the southern end of the Gold Coast.

Previous reports:
# 1 : Rip Curl M.P. Classic set to crown the new king of Cooly
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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Jake White

Contests - Surfersvillage