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COURTESY WORLD SURF LEAGUE
Hawaii’s Carissa Moore got a long tube ride en route to her victory in LeMoore, Calif., on Sunday.
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LEMOORE, Calif. >> Hawaii’s Carissa Moore won the inaugural Surf Ranch Pro on Sunday.
It’s the first victory of the season for Moore, who is a three-time world champion and is currently slotted in fourth in the World Surf League rankings with two events remaining.
“I’m ecstatic to walk away with a win at the Surf Ranch Pro and this facility is such a new thing, so it’s such an honor to be a part of,” Moore said. “It’s been a crazy year so far. My biggest goal is just to finish the year off strong and requalify because I’m not in the title race. I just want to have a strong performance and gain some confidence hopefully for next year.”
Moore finished the final with a two-ride total of 17.80, ahead of Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore (16.70), Lakey Peterson (16.57) of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Caroline Marks (14.77) of Melbourne Beach, Fla.
Gilmore, a six-time world champ, is the front-runner in the race to the women’s title. Peterson is ranked second.
In the men’s final, Gabriel Medina (17.86) finished ahead of fellow Brazilian Filipe Toledo (17.03). Medina, No. 2 in the WSL rankings, tightened the gap on No. 1 Toledo. Both are former world champions.
Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater finished third in the men’s final, followed by Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi in fourth.
Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz took seventh out of eight men’s finalists.
The contest was the first championship tour event to be held inland on artificial waves since 1985 in Allentown, Pa.