Brett Simpson off to a successful at the ASP PRIME Nike Lowers Pro – Surfing News
America’s Brett Simpson successfully made his way through into the fourth round (Round of 48) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME Nike Lowers Pro after claiming top honours in the 16th heat of Round 3 (Round of 96) that went down at the renowned beach-break of Lower Trestles on Wednesday, May 2.
Hawaii’s Granger Larsen was also successful in extending his life in the competition after managing to secure runner-up place despite putting on a pretty average performance.
Round 3, which could be considered Round 1 considering the first two rounds only comprised of the contenders for the event wild-card slots, had delivered plenty of thrilling action throughout the opening day of the latest ASP PRIME event and promised heaps of excitement on day 2 as well. With talented surfers, both local and international, taking each other on for the prestigious event title, the fans anticipated some pretty solid performances. The event top seeds had not disappointed them on Tuesday and the same was expected of them on Wednesday.
Clean two-to-four foot waves continued to grace the event site on the latest day of the competition, once again creating an ideal stage for the surfers to put their skills on display during the four-man bout for survival.
The 16 heat featured Simpson squaring off with his compatriot Luke Davis, Hawaii’s Larsen and Japan’s Masatoshi Ohno.
As the heat kicked-off, Simpson hardly wasted any time in asserting his dominance. Catching a relatively juicy wave that appeared in the opening minutes of the bout, the American surfer posted a 7.17 on the score-board. Searching hard for another big score, he found a 6.00-point wave in the dying minutes of the heat to finish with a heat-total of 13.17 points. The score was not as high as he would have liked, but it turned out to be just enough to see him through into the next round.
Larsen kept a pretty conservative approach during the course of the battle, not attacking too many waves. Off the three that he did lock, he scored a 5.83 and 5.23 off the two of them to finish with a heat-total of 11.06 points, consequently grabbing runner-up position.
Davis and Ohno got eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 10.94 and 8.47 points respectively.
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