Bobby Martinez outperforms Matt Wilkinson in second round of 2011 Billabong Rio Pro
America’s Bobby Martinez defeated Australia’s Matt Wilkinson in the sixth heat of the second round of men’s Billabong Rio Pro that went down at the epicentre of Rio de Janeiro’s surfing scene, Arpoador beach resort, on Wednesday, May 18th.
Met by difficult conditions, both Martinez and Wilkinson did not look too comfortable as they were waiting for a relatively good wave to come their way. Half way through the heat, they both had managed to lock down one wave each and earned a somewhat similar
score.
The Australian managed to locked his second wave and threw down some impressive manoeuvres to end the heat with a total score of 11.07. Martinez took his time to choose the second wave and when he did lock a wave, he managed to outperform his rival through
his innovation and style to end up with a final score of 12.77. The effort earned him victory over the Australian as well as a place in the next round of the event.
Wilkinson had managed to make a really good impression on the first day of the third round of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s World Tour, where he faced America’s Taylor Knox and Australia’s Joel Parkinson. Though he had not managed to walk
away victorious from the heat, he still did put up a commendable fight to make Knox work hard for the win. However, the same fiery passion was absent from the Australian on Wednesday when he went against Martinez. The sluggish performance came as a huge disappointment
for all those who expected more of him after his earlier performance.
Martinez, on the other hand, managed to redeem himself after looking really unthreatening in the first heat of the first round, ending with the lowest score of the heat. However, he had clearly managed to find his rhythm on the second day and the victory
over Wilkinson would definitely give him the much needed confidence as he makes his way to the third round to compete against the high-performers of round one and two.
Round three of Billabong Rio Pro is expected to run on Thursday at Barra Da Tijuca, though the final call will be made by the event organisers after convening at 7:00 am on Thursday morning to assess the conditions.
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