Bede Durbidge and Jadson Andre prevail in Round 1 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing
2011 Nike US Open of Surfing’s round of 96 (Round 1) resumed with the 17th and 18th heat on at the Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, on Wednesday morning, August 3.
Australia’s Bede Durbidge won the opening heat of the day to make his way through to the next round. Finishing second in the four-man battle, Brazil’s Junior Faria extended his life in the event as well. Japanese Masatoshi Ohno and Australia’s Mitch Crews
failed to make the round of 48 (Round 2) cut after finishing in third and fourth place respectively.
The 18th heat saw Brazil’s Jadson Andre come up with a spectacular performance to secure a place for himself in the second round. Australia’s Yadin Nicol survived the heat as well after finishing in runner-up place. His compatriot Luke Stedman
and Hawaii’s Tonino Benson made an early exit from the event after rounding out the third and fourth position respectively.
As the 17th heat kicked off, the 28-year-old Durbidge went through a series of waves to eventually lock a juicy one and unload a combination of tricks to earn 6.67 points off it. He later collected an additional 6.70 points off his second business-wave,
climbing to a heat-total of 13.37.
Brazil’s Faria had no intention of letting his Australian rival take victory without putting up a tough fight. He came up with an impressive performance to keep Durbidge from relaxing, but eventually failed to get the necessary score and ended up settling
for runner-up place. He finished with a heat-total of 13.24 points, which included a 6.17 and 7.07-point wave.
Ohno and Crews failed to make a solid impact during the heat, finishing with a heat-total of 10.77 and 10.00 points respectively. As a result, both the surfers were eliminated from the competition.
The 21-year-old Andre dominated the 18th heat by putting up an exceptional performance. While looking rather unthreatening during the initial stage of the heat, he suddenly went on a rampage, throwing down his signature inverted, air-reverse on
a wave to earn 8.33 points, the highest single-wave score of the day. Immediately following it up with a 7.33-point wave, he finished with a heat-total of 15.66 points to take the win.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, Andre said, “I just love to come to Huntington. It’s one of my favorite places in the world and I feel really great out here. It was tough because the water is really cold so I was trying to catch as many waves as I
could to stay warm. Luckily I was able to get a couple of waves.”
Australia’s Nicol failed to come up with a decent response to Andre’s onslaught, but still managed to confirm his place in the next round by taking runner-up place with a heat-total of 12.10 points, which comprised of a 6.00 and 6.10-point wave.
Stedman earned a combined-total of 11.90 point to finish third, while Benson only managed to collect 2.63 and 3.37 points off his two best waves to finish last. Both the surfers were consequently removed from the competition.
For more updates on Round 1 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing, stay tuned to bettor.com
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