De Souza and Parkinson move into Quarter-Finals at Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The ninth stop of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Rip Curl Pro Portugal, further added two more names to the Quarter-Finals line-up, determined by the result of the third and fourth heat of Round 4 that went down at Supertubos
in Peniche, Portugal, on Tuesday, October 18. The third heat saw Brazil’s Adriano de Souza take on Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia and Australia’s Bede Durbidge, whereas Australia’s Joel Parkinson squared off with Hawaii’s John John Florence and Tahiti’s Michel
Bourez in the fourth heat.
De Souza came up with a pretty impressive performance in the third heat to clinch victory and advance through into the Quarter-Finals. Patacchia and Durbidge finished in second and third place respectively, consequently getting relegated to Round 5.
The fourth heat turned out to be pretty intense, with all three competitors making their determination to walk away with top honours quite evident through their outstanding performance. In the end, however, Parkinson managed to capture the win and move into
the Quarter-Finals, while Florence and Bourez rounded out the second and third place to get relegated into the fifth round.
The 24-year-old De Souza had done exceptionally well to recover from a bad start on the opening day of the competition, where he had tasted defeat in Round 1. However, he had bounced back strongly in Round 2 and kept the momentum going in the third round
as well to move into Round 4. As it turned out, the Brazilian had no intention of letting his momentum break and therefore put up yet another sensational performance to secure a place in the Quarter-Finals. He opened the heat with a 7.17-point wave and later
added an 8.13 to his account, consequently finishing with a decisive heat-total of 15.30 points.
Patacchia finished in second place with a heat-total of 14.64 points, which included a 6.87 and 7.77-point wave, whereas Durbidge finished in third place with a heat-total of 11.67 points. The failure to claim top honours moved both the surfers into Round
5, giving them one final chance to secure a place in the Quarter-Finals.
The crowd witnessed a sensational three-man battle during the fourth heat, as Parkinson, Florence and Bourez held nothing back while reaching out for the Quarter-Final slot. As the 30-minute bout got underway, Parkinson locked a juicy wave to unload a string
of exquisite manoeuvres and posted a 9.50 on the score-board. A long and determined searched allowed him to add an additional 8.50 to his account, moving him to a heat-total of 18.00 points.
Despite such an intimidating total, the 30-year-old Australian was not allowed to relax throughout the entirety of the contest as neither Florence nor Bourez had any intention of letting him walk away with a win without putting up a strong fight.
Florence gradually built momentum and eventually made his charge almost midway through the heat, scoring an 8.77 off his first business-wave and following it up with a 9.07-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 17.84 points. However, he found himself
finishing in a 0.16-point deficit, which caused him settle for second place.
Bourez attempted to reach out for victory as well, but failed to come up with adequate scores. He eventually finished with a heat-total of 16.10 points, which included a 6.67 and really impressive 9.43-point wave. As a result, he was forced to settle for
third place and compete for the Quarter-Final spot in Round 5.
For updates on Round 5 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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