Adrian Buchan and Patrick Gudauskas advance to ASP PRIME Nike Lowers Pro
Australia’s Adrian Buchan and America’s Patrick Gudauskas advanced through into the Quarter-finals of the Nike Lowers Pro, an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME event, after putting on an impressive performance in their respective Round 7 (Round
of 16) heats that went down at the fabled beach-break of Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, on Friday, May 4.
Australia’s Jay Thompson and Australia’s Mark Occhilupo failed to survive their latest heat despite looking in good form during the morning session, thus getting eliminated from the competition.
The surfing conditions prevailing at the primary event site on day 4 of the competition turned out to promising, sending a series of glassy two-to-four foot waves to give surfers plenty of potential scoring opportunities during their pursuit of the prestigious
event title, slice of prize purse and coveted ASP ranking points.
The seventh heat pitted Buchan against Thompson in a man-on-man battle for the Quarter-final spot. Both the surfers had been nothing short of spectacular during the earlier rounds of the competition and were determined to make it to the end.
However, Buchan brought the competition to a premature end for his compatriot by getting the better of him. Scoring an 8.17 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 6.77-point ride, Buchan finished with a heat-total of 14.94 points, whereas Thompson
finished with a two-wave total of 11.00 points, which included a 5.67 and 5.33-point wave.
The eighth heat saw Gudauskas and Occhilupo fight it off for survival. Both the surfers had plenty of experience to their name, though the latter had a slight edge of being a former ASP World Champion.
As the battle for the Quarter-final spot got underway, Occhilupo got off to an excellent start with an 8.70-point wave. He backed it up with a 7.60-point wave to get to a heat-total of 16.30 points.
Gudauskas utilised his local knowledge of the waves to find a couple of scores in the eight-point range, consequently finishing with a resultant heat-total of 16.40 points and thus walking away with the win. This took him through into the next round.
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