GARCIA ELIMINATED BY AUSTRALIAN JAKE PATERSON

Lacanau, France (Saturday, Aug 19, 2000). Current rating's leader Sunny Garcia (Haw) was today eliminated from the TC Lacanau Pro by Australian Jake Paterson in their quarter-final. The Hawaiian lead for a god part of the heat, but an 8.25-point score by Paterson on his last wave swung the lead back to him and ultimately earned the semi-final berth.

Garcia, 30, still gained ground on his nearest rivals Luke Egan (Aus) and Cory Lopez (USA) during this tournament, though losing today was not part of the plan. He excited the water upon hearing he was trailing with a minute left, visibly frustrated he had let the win escape him.

"It was a close heat and we screwing around for waves," said Garcia once he had contained his fiery temper. "The heat before seemed to have a perfect little peak, but as soon as ours started the waves shifted around. Jake needed a score at the end of the heat and he got it.

"It's a little hard to swallow as I wanted to do good and increase the points lead that I have," he continued. "I mean, I have over Luke (Egan) and Jake's actually further behind, but he'll catch up quite a bit. Fifth isn't a bad result, but I'm never happy losing, so when it's all said and done, unless I'm winning I'm not a happy person."

Paterson, currently rated seventh, began his assault by executing an aerial on his opening ride to show Garcia he meant business. Making the difficult maneuver added to the Australian's confidence and helped him to avenge the defeat he suffered to Garcia in the final of the opening event this season. Assured of at least a third place finish, Paterson is sure to jump a few ratings' positions regardless of the outcome of his upcoming semi-final with American Rob Machado.

"I took a bit of a closeout at the start and tried boosting (the aerial) to rattle him a bit and let him know I was going to go all out in the heat," Paterson explained. "He's number-one in the world, he's got something to lose and I'm trying to catch him. I was just stoked to get a good wave at the end. I had rhythm at the start and he had nothing, then he found three sixes and took a good lead. I got an OK wave and then just waited for the really good one I knew I needed at the end and I just lucky he didn't better his score on the wave behind it.

"I got fifth here last year, so this is great," he continued. "I just hope the waves hold in there. Lacanau is renowned for flattening out after the swell, so hopefully it will hold for tomorrow. Rob (Machado, his opponent in the semi-finals) will be really tough to beat. He's brilliant in all sorts of waves. I'll just give him my all like I just did then."

Machado, currently rated 15th, defeated Brazilian Neco Padaratz this morning with the highest total heat score of the day to secure his best result to-date in 2000.

"It was kind of high tide this morning and I knew the only good waves would be the set waves, so I used that middle part of the heat to wait for a really good one," Machado said. "I'm stoked, this is my best result this year and I'm just kind of getting into the swing of things here in France. It feels good. My boards are good, I feel healthy. It's all good."

Brazilian Armando Daltro also advanced to the semi-finals, eliminating current world number-four Michael Campbell (Aus) in their clash today. Campbell won the last World Championship Tour (WCT) event three weeks ago in America, but Daltro put ended his hopes of a repeat performance in France.

"The waves are smaller and my best board is for these kinds of waves," explained the Brazilian afterward. "I have support from my wife and my parents who are here for the first time, too. It's so hard to win against guys like Campbell and Taj (Burrow, who he defeated in round three), but I did this in this competition, so I feel very good. I hope tomorrow to surf good again and make my first final on the WCT."

Official Results of TC Lacanau Pro Day Three

Heat 1: R Machado (USA) 21.75 def. N Padaratz (Brz) 16.00

Heat 2: J Paterson (Aus) 19.90 def. S Garcia (Haw) 19.55

Heat 3: S Lopez (USA) 19.50 def. R Williams (Haw) 18.85