De Souza and Patacchia off to an ideal start at Oakley Pro Bali – Surfing news
Brazil’s Adriano de Souza and Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia walked away victorious from their respective Round 1 heats of Oakley Pro Bali, fifth of ten stops in the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which kicked-off at
the main event venue of Keramas, Bali, Indonesia, on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.
De Souza got the better of Australia’s Bede Durbidge and Hawaii’s Dusty Payne in the open heat of the competition to make his way straight into the third round, while pushing both his rivals into the relegation round.
Patacchia, on the other hand, secured his spot in the third round by finishing on top of reigning ASP World Champion Joel Parkinson from Australia, thus forcing the latter to make a trip to Round 2.
The waves were nearly chest-high on the opening day of the latest event on the elite tour, thus creating a perfect stage for the top surfers from across the globe to continue their campaign for the coveted ASP World Title with exhilarating performances.
Keen on redeeming himself after an ordinary performance at the Volcom Fiji Pro, De Souza showed a much better form while taking on Durbidge and Payne in the first heat of Round 1.
The Brazilian surfer managed to navigate his way through the unforgiving waves to find himself a couple of scores in the six-point range, thus finishing with a decisive heat-total of 12.93 points.
Durbidge did not finish too far behind him on the scoreboard, as he managed to score a 6.67 and 5.50 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 12.17 points.
Payne got off to a promising start, earning a 7.00 off his first business-wave, but he only managed to add an additional 1.60 points to his account, thus finishing in third place with a heat-total of 8.60 points.
The second heat was missing the third surfer, South Africa’s Travis Logie, thus leaving the battle for the Round 3 spot to be fought between Patacchia and Parkinson, with the latter being the favourite to win.
However, Patacchia made it quite clear that he meant business by scoring a 7.50 off his first business-wave. He went on to back it up with a 5.17-point ride, thus registering a heat-total of 12.67 points.
Parkinson failed to get past his rival’s score after posting a 6.83 and 5.17 on the score-board for a final heat-total of 12.00 points. As a result, he was forced to concede victory and move into the relegation round.
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