Knox’s Good Times Tempered by Loss of Friend

Taylor Knox rode a wave of momentum into this week’s Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour event in Huntington Beach, the Bluetorch Pro.

He won an ASP World Qualifying Series event last week in South Africa, raised his WQS ranking to 18th and continued his hot surfing with a comfortable victory over Australia’s Richard Lovett in Thursday’s Round 2.

Knox’s face brightened when he recounted Thursday’s events, which included his high-scoring ride of 8.75, the day’s top mark. Knox’s heat score of 23.25 was the day’s second best, trailing only Brazil’s Guilherme Herdy, who had a 23.75.

“Winning that [WQS] event last week was a big turning point for me,” Knox said.

But his grin quickly faded when his thoughts turned to Banning Capps, a fellow surfer from Carlsbad who died early Wednesday. Capps, 25, died after falling from an eighth-floor balcony at a hotel in West Hollywood.

“I can’t even believe it,” Knox said. “This has rocked the whole community in Carlsbad. It’s a very sad place right now. He was well-liked and he was one of the most humble guys I knew.

“This pain is not going away any time soon. It was really hard [Wednesday] to get ready for an event that seemed like it really didn’t matter.

“He’s a good friend. I’ll be surfing and dedicating this week to him.”

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Laguna Beach’s Pat O’Connell suffered Thursday’s narrowest defeat and was eliminated, falling to Brazil’s Peterson Rosa, 17.75-17.50.

With five minutes remaining in the heat, Rosa posted a score of 5.75. O’Connell got one final wave with a minute remaining, and posted a 5.50.

“At least I had an opportunity,” O’Connell said.

And O’Connell certainly wasn’t satisfied with his 33rd-place finish.

“I’m grumpy because I saw the videotape of my heat and I don’t agree with the scoring,” O’Connell said. “I could have surfed better, but it’s also about catching the right waves.

“I’ve lost a lot of close heats and it seems like one break here or there and you could win a contest. Maybe it’s just dumb luck, unluck or whatever. I just have to keep going at it and sooner or later, something’s gotta give, right?”

*

The San Clemente trio of Cory Lopez, No. 4 in the WCT rankings, his brother Shea and Shane Beschen advanced to today’s Round 3 with victories in their heats.

Beschen had to sweat out a two-point victory in the small, uneven surf, needing a score of 5.00 on his final wave--which came in the final minute of the heat--to beat Brazil’s Renan Rocha, who had a 3.25 on his final ride with 30 seconds remaining.

Shea Lopez had an 8.50 to help him defeat Australia’s Glyndyn Ringrose, 22.00-15.40, and Cory Lopez defeated Great Britain’s Russell Winter, 18.10-16.85.

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Although men’s defending world champion Mark Occhilupo was eliminated Thursday, the women’s defending world champ--Australia’s Layne Beachley--and the current top-ranked surfer--Hawaii’s Megan Abubo--both escaped elimination.

Beachley and Abubo finished second in their Round 1 heats so they had to surf in Round 2 Thursday. Beachley responded with one of the day’s best heats, scoring 21.35 points to easily defeat Australia’s Belinda Godfrey by nearly 9 1/2 points.

Hawaii’s Rochelle Ballard, who posted the day’s best mark of 8.75 on her final wave, and Lisa Andersen, from Ormond Beach, Fla., also advanced to today’s Round 3.

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Pro Surfing

* What: Bluetorch Pro, $168,100 World Championship Tour professional surfing event, featuring 48 of the best male and 15 of the top female surfers in the world.

* Where: South side of Huntington Beach Pier

* When: Today through Sunday. Women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (2:15 p.m.) on Saturday; men’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (12:40 p.m.) on Sunday.

* Today’s schedule: 8 a.m.-11:20--pro men’s Round 3 (Heats 1-8); 11:20-1 p.m.--pro women’s Round 3 (Heats 1-4); 1-4:20 p.m.--pro men’s Round 3 (Heats 9-16).

* Admission: Free.

* Parking: Available at city structure on corner of Main and Olive streets.

* Webcast: Live on www.bluetorch.com

* Information: (949) 215-8000