Brian Toth and Brett Simpson enter Round 3 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
Surfing action continued at Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal, with the seventh and eighth heat of Billabong Azores Islands Pro’s Round of 48 (Round 2) on Friday, September 30.
The seventh heat saw Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth emerge triumphant to secure his place in the Round of 24 (Round 3). He was accompanied into the next round by Germany’s Marlon Lipke, who finished in runner-up place to extend his life in the event. France’s
Romain Cloitre and Australia’s Mark Occhilupo got eliminated from the competition after rounding out the third and fourth positions, respectively.
America’s Brett Simpson walked away with top honours from the eighth heat, consequently confirming his place in the next round. Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia also managed to go through to Round 3 after securing second place. America’s Tanner Gudauskas and
Brazil’s Marco Polo finished in third and fourth positions respectively, getting removed from the contention for the event title as a result.
As the seventh heat got underway, the 26-year-old Toth got-off to a shaky start, but eventually locked a juicy wave almost half-way through the heat to pull off a string of impressive tricks and earning 7.77 points for the effort. He went on to add another
3.97 points to his account to keep his lead intact, which eventually carried him off to victory.
Lipke continued to put pressure on Toth throughout the four-man battle and refused to give up until the very last minute. He scored 5.67 points off his first business-wave and had a really good opportunity of securing victory with another relatively decent
score, but missed out on it by only scoring 5.87 points off his final wave. Consequently, he had to settle for second place, which was not a total disappointment as he still managed to go through to the next round.
Cloitre seemed to have completely misread the conditions and struggled to get decent scores off the waves that he caught. To further add to his misery, he got his points deducted after getting marked for interference on the last wave. In the end, he finished
in third place with a heat-total of 8.09 points.
Occhilupo remained the most disappointing surfer during the 30-minute heat and finished in last place after getting to a mere heat-total of 7.90 points. The shabby performances by him and Cloitre led to their expulsion from the competition.
The eighth heat turned out to be much better than the previous meet in terms of performances and scores. While the waves continued to challenge the surfers for skills and experience, the 26-year-old Simpson managed to collect 13.36 points in total off his
top-two waves, which eventually sealed the fate of the contest in his favour.
Patacchia successfully avoided elimination as well by clinching second place with a heat-total of 12.60 points. Gudauskas, on the other hand, was surprisingly eliminated after failing to cope with demanding conditions and only managed to get to a heat-total
of 11.83 points.
The fourth competitor in the battle, Polo, rounded out the bottom position after finishing with a heat-total of 11.50 points. This resulted in his elimination from the competition.
For more updates on Round 2 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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