The Wet Dreams Masters at Margaret River is one of the premier international surfing events on the world tour in 2001. It will be the only WQS event to offer surfers the highest WQS rating points. The event will be held over nine days.

The men´s event has now been upgraded from a five to a to a six star WQS tournament, and the women´s is a two star WQS event, offering over A$200,000 in total prize money. 360 of the planets top surfing professionals will be in Margaret River to take on the raw power of the Indian Ocean swells as they unload on the reef at Surfers Point.

West Australian Sheridan does it again.

The barnstorming run from Margaret River´s Andrew Sheridan continued today when he won the 8th heat of the seventh round. In doing that, not only did he exceed his wildest dreams but he will also set a West Australian record for the consecutive number of heats surfed at the event. (Dayyan Neve from Manly set the "All Comers" record when he surfed 10 times last year. Dave Macaulay set the previous WA record of seven).

"I´m so happy. I had a bad start to the heat but I put my head down and tail up. The more heats I get through the more confidence I get." With his parents on hand to witness their son´s finest surfing achievement, Sheridan´s dark horse status now looms as a serious threat to some of the world´s best surfers.

Round Six (128) - Heats 11 to 16

Strong onshores from the west, south-west and a chopped up swell, meant the morning heats of the Wet Dreams Masters had a completely different outlook from those near perfect conditions earlier in the week.

The completion of the 5th Round saw two more Brazilians join 14 compatriots in the Main Event with Fabio Gouviea and Christiano Spirro surviving the testing conditions. The Brazilian contingent in the 7th Round is that country´s best performance at Margaret River. They will, of course, be hoping that at least one of them can go one better than Flavio Padaratz who was second to Tom Carroll in the 1992 Final.

The international flavour of the event was enhanced with the progression this morning of Mikael Picon (France) provides the event with eight countries being represented at the business end of the event. Japanese surfers have been making the trip to Margaret River in increasing numbers over the last few years. Naohisa Ogawa is the first to make it to the final 64 since 1997.

Glenn Hall´s (Umina, NSW) terrific run came an abrupt end in Heat 15. Six heats in the event was an excellent effort from a young man who had obviously brought his Pro Junior form to the west.

Results for Round Seven (64) - Heats 1 to 8

Young Wet Dreams wildcard surfer Corey Ziems repaid the faith showed by the event´s major sponsor when he won his opening heat. The Kirra Boardriders surfer handled the bumpy conditions extremely well to snatch the lead from 1999 Masters champ Luke Egan with four minutes to go.

"I didn´t know I´d won until I was on the beach. The waves were coming from everywhere. It felt a bit weird the first couple of waves - I lost my footing - a bit bumpy. I got a couple of cleaner waves and that was alright." On the pressure of being the Wildcard at 17years of age in just his second WQS event? "My aim was to go out there, get a couple of waves and not waste the chance. I just wanted to put up a good showing in my first heat."

Yuri Sodre chased plenty of waves but couldn´t find enough walls to maintain the form shown earlier in the event while Fabio Silva also bowed out in the same heat. Neco Padaratz, the WCT number 27, bounced back for Brazil with a win in the second heat. His 19.77 point score came on the back of an excellent opening 8.0 point ride. Manly´s Richard Lovett also moved through.

Lee Winkler (Coffs Harbour, NSW) and Michael Lowe (Windang Is., NSW) put paid to Rique Smith´s chances of surfing again when the former NSW surfer was eliminated by just 0.57. The harsh realities of finishing equal 33rd don´t do Smith´s efforts any justice. He surfed seven times to make it this far. Michael Campbell, the 26 year-old, recently married winner from Newcastle, enjoyed what seemed to be unpleasant conditions on his way to winning Heat 7.

"Good waves out there. It´s a bit choppy but at least it´s not one foot. Still a bit of size - about five feet on the sets. Good to get the first heat out of the way and good to get through. I´m stoked."

Surfers to progress from the Seventh Round up to and including Heat 8.

Heat 1 Corey Ziems, Luke Egan
Heat 2 Neco Padaratz (Brazil), Richard Lovett
Heat 3 Lee Winkler, Michael Lowe
Heat 4 Nathan Webster, Bruce Irons (Hawaii)
Heat 5 Victor Ribas (Brazil), Paul Canning (South Africa)
Heat 6 Kieren Perrow, Phillip MacDonald
Heat 7 Michael Campbell, Darren O´Rafferty
Heat 8 Andrew Sheridan, Peterson Rosa (Brazil)

Event Contacts: Wetdreams Masters Media; (61) 08 9757 3340 or (61) 08 9757 3353, Brad Cecins, Mario "Marz" Vassallo, Mandi Vassallo.

Mandy McKinnon / Contests - Surfersvillage