Adriano De Souza and Owen Wright off to a perfect start at 2012 ASP World Tour – Suring News
Brazil’s Adriano De Souza and Australia’s Owen Wright could not have hoped for a better beginning to their campaign for the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title at Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast that got underway at Snapper Rocks in Queensland,
Australia, on Saturday, February 25.
De Souza took a comprehensive win in the very first heat of the non-elimination opening round of 2012 ASP World Championship Tour’s first event. The win directly carried him through into the third round. America’s Taylor Knox finished second while Australia’s
Kieren Perrow rounded out the third position. Both the surfers were forced to take a trip to the relegation round.
In the second heat, the young Australian sensation Wright managed to take an excellent come-from-behind victory over his fellow countrymen Bede Durbidge and Kai Otton. While he jumped into Round 3, Durbidge and Otton got relegated to Round 2 after finishing
in second and third place respectively.
With shifty three-to-four foot waves on offer at Snapper Rocks, the conditions could not have been more ideal for the opening day of the latest elite tour.
The formidable Brazilian talent De Souza took full advantage of the conditions through his skills and managed to put on an impressive show. While his first business-wave earned him a satisfactory 6.00, he soon backed it up with a solid 7.83-point wave to
take his heat-total to a winning score of 13.83 points.
Knox and Perrow did not have much luck with the waves and only managed to get to a heat-total of 10.66 and 7.70 points respectively. They still have a chance to bounce back from an early loss, though that would require them to step up their performance.
The second heat turned out to be a real thrilling affair as an all-Australian battle for the Round 3 spot went down.
Durbidge managed to take an early lead with a 7.17-point wave and later added a 5.17 to his account to solidify his chances of taking the win even more.
Wright had gotten off to a relatively shaky start and seemed to be struggling to detect good waves. Earning a 5.50 off his first business-wave, he was not in the most comfortable position to take the win. However, he caught a relatively juicy right-hander
in the dying minutes of the heat to add a 6.87 to his account and take his heat-total to 12.37 points. The last-minute effort enabled him to gain a 0.03-point lead over Durbidge, eventually sealing the fate of the contest in his favour.
“It was a really tough heat!” Wright said. “I was out of position for a while at the start, I tried to get a couple of quick scores but it didn’t really work out. Then in the last 15 minutes I decided to wait and be more selective, and I got that wave that
I got the score on and I was stoked because it had a nice wall on it. There were a couple of sections to do finners, so I thought I’d fin it to win it.”
Otton finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.37 points, which comprised of a 4.67 and 5.70-point wave.
The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast will continue the exciting ASP World Championship Tour action with the remaining heats of Round 1.
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