East Vs. West-the
East was won.
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Huntington Beach,
Calif. – The world’s top surfers convened in Huntington Beach
today to compete in “The Game” for the title of East coast
vs. West coast in front of a crowd of nearly 30,000 spectators. For a
second consecutive year, the East took the Gold on West coast turf in
chest to head high surf.
In the much talked
about surf event format based on the idea of team competition,
East coast athletes Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow (wildcard) and the Hobgood
brothers slapped down backside big airs and floaters and took an early
lead against the West coast that the West never managed to recover from.
West coast top surfers,
Rob Machado, Taylor Knox, Mike Losness and Shane Beschen, layed down huge
frontside snaps, aerials and cutback combos and in the second half the
West coast nearly took the lead.
“This is a repeat
of last year's disappointment for the West Coast Team. Even though this
is our home turf and we have the advantage, the waves just weren’t
coming”, said West Coast Taylor Knox.
Kelly Slater who helped
solidify the East Coasts fourth quarter dominance, said “I wasn’t
sure that we had the victory until the clock started winding down and
there were no sets coming for the West Cost team.”
“The Game”
format provided dramatic competition between the two rival teams. The
East Coast celebrated their 97.03 to 90.02 victory by dousing Asst. Coach
Wes Lane with a well-deserved bucket of ice-cold water.
Celebrating
its 10th anniversary this year, X Games X is the world’s premier
action sports competition featuring more than surf0 of the world’s
best athletes competing in: Aggressive In-line Skate, Bike Stunt, Moto
X, Skateboard, Surfing and Wakeboard.
The event is being
held August 5-8, 2004 in Los Angeles with live primetime daily coverage
on ESPN and ABC Sports. SportsCenter, ESPN’s flagship daily news
program, will also report LIVE from X Games X from August 5-7 for the
first time in X Games history.