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British number one in last sixty four
by George Mojo
30/11/2007:// British number one Russell Winter showed touches of brilliance on his way to booking a place in the last 64 of the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing in Hawaii.
After finishing second in his first round heat, Winter went one better in round two defeating Australian Kirk Flintoff and Hawaiian's Kekoa Bacalso and Mason Ho at Sunset Beach.
The Newquay surfer has been rewarded with a third round clash against seeded Australian Joel Parkinson, Sunset specialist TJ Barron and WCT hopeful Dayyan Neve.
Winter currently lies in 81st place in the World Qualifying Series rankings going into the last event of the season. He is the only Briton competing in the six star competion.
Elsewhere, it has been a stellar event so far for 24-year-old Ross Jones who needs an excellent result to make his dream of qualifying for the Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour in 2008 a reality.
Pure power surfing was the order of the day with Jones proving he could effectively match the conditions and switch gears from tube-riding to top-to-bottom surf conditions.
Catching a total of five waves during the 30-minute heat, it was his first two that dealt the blow and ended the event for South African pair Ricky Basnett and Damien Fahrenfort - a near-perfect 9.7 and an 8.83.
"I'm feeling good and I was ready to surf some heats out here," said Jones. "For the waves to turn on and for me to position myself to do well out here feels unreal.. it all come together.
"I've always done well here, I've got off to a really good start, but just haven't put it together toward the end of the contest."
Marcus Hickman is almost the antithesis of Jones in this event; a Sunset Beach local who knows the break like the back of his hand, and whose only interest in the Qualifying Tour is generating enough points to simply get a start in this particular event.
Being such a coveted and highly rated 6-star event, entry is limited to the top ranked surfers on the World Qualifying Series tour.
"When it's bigger like this, it becomes more of a skate park compared to a half-pipe, which is what it can be like dealing with small waves around the world," said Hickman.
"Because there's so much ground out here and we have a half hour, it's not about tactics. You can't play tactics out there. When I have an opportunity to just surf and not bother with tactics, that's when I can really do my best.
"The feeling is good for this event. This is my eigth WQS event this year. I just try to do enough contests to be able to get into this one.
"My goal is totally to go out there and win every heat. I expect it from myself. I'll only lose if I beat myself - if I make mistakes."
When competition resumes it will be with the entrance of the top seeds in the round of 32.
[Sunset Beach at its barreling best. Photo: ASP/Covered Images]
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