Day 1 of 2012 Hurley Pro concludes with excellent wins by Jordy Smith and Gabriel Medina
South Africa’s Jordy Smith and Brazil’s Gabriel Medina put on superb performances to claim victory in their opening round heats at the 2012 Hurley Pro, sixth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which continued at the iconic Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, on Sunday, September 16.
While Smith clinched the win in the 11th heat to secure his place in the third round, his fellow countryperson Travis Logie had to settle for second place, while Brazil’s Heitor Alves finished third. Both the surfers were sent to the relegation Round 2 as a result.
The 12th heat saw Medina advance straight to Round 3, leaving America’s CJ Hobgood and Australia’s Kieren Perrow to round out the second and third positions and therefore forcing them to surf again for the Round 3 spot in the relegation round.
The conditions continued to remain promising as the latest elite tour event entered the final hour of its opening day. There was still plenty of juice in the two-to-four foot waves breaking at the main event site, thus creating a strong anticipation for thrilling performances by the world’s best surfers.
Squaring-off with Logie and Alves in the 11th heat, Smith had his work cut out. However, the South African powerhouse met the challenge head on and put on an amazing performance during the course of the three-man battle to eventually walk away with the win after registering a heat-total of 16.30 points, which included an 8.43 and 7.87-point tide.
Logie finished in runner-up despite an impressive performance. He scored an 8.00 off his first business-wave and added an additional 7.87-point ride to reach a heat-total of 15.87 points.
Alves collected a 7.23 and 6.60 off his best-two waves to reach a resultant heat-total of 13.83 points, which forced him move into the relegation round.
The final heat of Round 1 pitted Medina against Hobgood and Perrow in a three-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
The Brazilian phenom put on an outstanding performance, selecting the right waves and unloading a series of exquisite tricks to eventually finish with a heat-total of 16.90 points, which included an 8.27 and 8.63-point ride.
“That was a hard heat,” Medina said. “I got a couple of waves, but it was kind of hard to find the good ones. I’m just stoked to make it because it was a hard heat against C.J. (Hobgood), he got a couple of rights and got two 8s. I knew I needed to go big and I got the last wave and decided to go for the air and I made it.”
Hobgood finished just behind Medina in second place after registering a heat-total of 16.17 points, which included a 7.67 and 8.50-point ride respectively.
Perrow struggled to find his rhythm during the course of the battle and only managed to get his hands on a 3.67 and 4.53 off his best-two waves, consequently finishing with a two-wave total of 8.20 points.
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