Adriano de Souza and Taj Burrow off to a perfect start at 2012 Hurley Pro
Brazilian powerhouse Adriano de Souza and Australian star Taj Burrow kicked-off the 2012 Hurley Pro, sixth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, with excellent performances in their respective Round
1 heats that took place at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, on Sunday, September 16.
While De Souza claimed top honours in the opening heat to advance straight into the third round, his compatriot Jadson Andre and America’s Brett Simpson were forced to settle for second and third place respectively, consequently getting relegated to Round
2.
The second heat saw Burrow jump into the third round, whereas America’s Patrick Gudauskas and Brazil’s Alejo Muniz rounding out the second and third place respectively, getting forced to take a trip to the relegation round as a result.
The two-to-four foot waves breaking at the iconic beach-break of Lower Trestles presented a great opportunity for the surfers to put on their most exquisite tricks on display while searching for big scores.
Pitted against Andre and Simpson in the first heat of the day, De Souza wasted absolutely no time in showing everyone in attendance, including his rivals that he meant business. After going through a series of average wave-scores, he locked his first business-wave
to post a 6.70 on the score-board and went on to add an additional 7.60 points to his account, thus reaching a heat-total of 14.30 points.
Andre opened his account with a 4.83-point ride and went on to back it up with a 6.27-point ride, thus finishing with a heat-total of 11.10 points.
Simpson scored 4.27 and 3.67 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 7.94 points, thus having to settle for third place.
The second heat saw Burrow, current No. 5 on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour rankings, put on a superb performance to get the better of Gudauskas and Muniz.
The Australian surfer locked his first business-wave halfway through the heat to post a 6.83 on the score-board and immediately followed it up with an excellent 9.17-point ride, thus finishing with a heat-total of 16.00 points.
Gudauskas scored a 7.50 and 5.07 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 12.57, which put him in second position.
Muniz finished third after earning a 1.87 and 5.50 off his best-two waves, thus finishing with a resultant heat-total of 7.37 points.
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