Powell and Dunton to take on world’s best at Bells

ANGLESEA’s Molly Powell and the Mornington Peninsula’s Sam Dunton have been crowned the Open Women’s and Open Men’s 2023 Victorian Longboard Titles champions and will make history as the inaugural local wildcards at the WSL Bells Beach Longboard Classic this August.

More than 60 competitors were greeted with near-perfect conditions for Round 2 of the Victorian Longboard Titles at Point Impossible, putting it all on the line to clinch the elusive wildcard and vital ranking points for a spot in the Victorian State Team.

After taking home Round 1 of the event series at Phillip Island, a second-place finish in the Open Women’s division at Point Impossible was enough for Powell to claim the women’s wildcard for the WSL event.

Powell scored the second highest score of the women’s final (a 6.60), however was beaten to the finish line by Emma Webb (Torquay) who capitalised on the big sections on offer to seal the Round 2 victory with a huge 8.33-point ride.

After taking several years off from competition, Powell said she was absolutely thrilled to take out the wildcard and be headed for her first WSL event.

“It was pretty much a dream to have these conditions and have fun surf with the other girls out there,” Powell said.”I came into the competition with no expectations really, but I thought I’d have a crack and didn’t set my expectations too high so I’m a little bit shocked.”

Finishing in third place was Angela King (Torquay) and fourth went to Asha Reeves (Carlton North).

On the men’s side of the draw, it was a two-horse race for the majority of the heat with Mornington Peninsula brother duo Tasman and Sam Dunton fighting it out for the wildcard honour.

While Will Cousins (Torquay) and Bailey German (Tootgarook) got the ball rolling early, the Dunton brothers both put up strong scores to give them the advantage heading into the dying stages.

Sitting in second with one minute to go, Sam Dunton pulled off some clutch heroics, scoring an 8.43 for two searing forehand turns and a stylish hang five.

With the crowd erupting and everyone on the edge of their toes, scores were revealed with Sam making the jump over his brother and defeating him by 0.13 of a point.

Sam Dunton said it was one of the biggest milestones of his career.

“It’s been a dream weekend with the weather and the swell, the stoke among everyone was high.

“Tas and I are pretty competitive so this event was a great tune up for next week going into the ISA World Longboard Championship.

“It’s really the icing on the cake to get the chance to surf against the world’s best at the WSL Bells Beach Longboard Classic.”

Tasman Dunton finished in second, while Cousins and German finished in third and fourth respectively.