A fabulous performance earns Billy Stairmand success on day 1 of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime
New Zealand’s Billy Stairmand successfully secured his place in the second round (Round of 48) at the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola after claiming a comprehensive victory in the ninth heat of Round 1 (Round of 96) that went down at the
point-break of Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 22.
Peru’s Gabriel Villaran finished in second place at join Stairmand in the next round. South Africa’s Travis Logie and Brazil’s Robson Santos finished in third and fourth place respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
The fourth event on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME calendar saw 96 top surfers from around the globe travelling to Brazil to have a shot at a slice of the $US 250,000 prize purse and ASP ranking points that were up for grabs. With
six-to-eight foot waves on offer at the event site on the opening day of the competition, the large crowd in attendance at Itauna Beach expected to get treated to a huge dose of thrilling action.
The ninth heat of Round 1 pitted Stairmand against Villaran, Logie and Santos in a battle for the Round 2 spot.
Stairmand wasted very little time before stamping his authority in the four-man battle with an impressive 7.83-point ride. He immediately caught another left-hander to pull off another flurry of tricks and earning a 9.23 for the effort. The resultant heat-total
of 17.06 points held up until the end to earn him a convincing victory.
“I’m really happy, the waves are great and I caught one of the long lefts to win that heat,” said Stairmand. “The conditions are excellent and this place is fantastic, a point break with incredible lefts, it’s really good.”
Villaran extended his life in the event as well after scoring a 6.17 and 5.10 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 11.27 points, a score that proved sufficient to put him in runner-up place.
Logie collected a couple of scores in the five-point range to finish in third place with a heat-total of 11.04 points, while Santos was forced to settle for fourth place after only managing to get to heat-total of 10.67 points. They bottom-two finish led
to the elimination of both the surfers from the latest ASP Prime event of the year.
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