Brent Dorrington and Kieren Perrow prevail in Round 1 of 2012 Telstra Drug Award Pro – Surfing News
Australia’s Brent Dorrington and his fellow countryman Kieren Perrow took top honours in their respective Round 1 (Round of 96) heats at the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro that continued at Margaret River in Australia on Tuesday, March 20.
Both Dorrington and Perrow got their place in the second round (Round of 48) confirmed through their success in the first round. Australia’s Adam Melling and Hawaii’s Granger Larsen also advanced through into the next round, courtesy of their second-place
finish in the 15th and 16th heat respectively.
With the world’s best surfers gathered at Margaret River for the second Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated event of the year, the crowd expected to witness a series of enthralling battles and that is exactly what was delivered to them
during the first round of the event that took off in big six-to-eight foot waves.
Facing Melling, Brazil’s Halley Batista and America’s Cory Lopez in the 15th heat, Dorrington shifted into an attacking mode in the opening minutes of the battle to post a 7.33 on the score-board. After a short search, he added another 6.13 points
to his account to finish with a heat-total of 13.46 points. The score held up until the end to earn him victory.
Melling also made it into the next round after securing runner-up place with his two-wave total of 12.67 points, which included a 6.00 and 6.67-point wave.
Batista finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.66 point, while Lopez rounded out the fourth position with a heat-total of 9.87 points. Both the surfers were consequently eliminated from the contention for the event title.
The 16th heat pitted Perrow against his compatriots Stu Kennedy, Matt Banting, with Hawaii’s Larsen also part of the four-man battle.
Perrow drew first blood with an 8.00 off his first business-wave and after a lengthy hunt, managed to add an additional 6.33 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 14.33 points, which eventually served to seal the fate of the battle in his
favour.
Larsen also advanced through into Round 2 after making a late charge to post a 5.93 and 7.40 on the score-board for a heat-total of 13.33 points.
Kennedy and Banting were surprisingly eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 10.74 and 9.83 points respectively.
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