Dusty Payne, Evan Geiselman and Richard Christie advance to Round 4 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing
2011 Nike US Open of Surfing continued to deliver intense action with the opening heats of round of 24 (Round 3) at the Huntington Beach Pier, California, on Thursday, August 4.
Hawaii’s Dusty Payne walked away with top honours from the first heat after winning a real close battle against Venezuela’s Jonathan Gonzalez and removing him from contention for the event title.
The second heat saw America’s Evan Geiselman take on and best Brazil’s Hizunome Bettero to claim victory, consequently eliminating his rival from the competition.
New Zealand’s Richard Christie defeated Hawaii’s Joel Centeio in the third heat to make his way through to the round of 12 (Round 4), bringing the current Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) campaign of his rival to a premature end.
As the first heat kicked off, the 22-year-old Payne got off to a good start, making his form evident despite the demanding conditions. However, Gonzalez had no intention of letting his Hawaiian rival take control of the heat and put up a determined fight
throughout the 30-minute battle. He collected a couple of decent scores to finish with a heat total of 13.80 points, seemingly heading towards victory
It was in the dying minutes that Payne managed to move in front, locking a decisive wave to finish with a heat-total of 13.96 points and claim victory.
The second heat saw the 17-year-old local, Geiselman, prevail over Brazil’s Bettero in what turned out to be a low scoring heat. Both the surfers struggled to catch waves throughout the contest. Eventually, Geiselman managed to climb to a heat-total of 10.60
points, which proved to be sufficient to carry him off to victory. Bettero was eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 9.77 points to land in second place.
The 22-year-old Gisborne-native, Christie, came up with a decent performance during his head-to-head battle against Centeio in the third heat. Despite facing difficulty in finding good waves and earning impressive scores, Christie still managed to clinch
a convincing victory over his Hawaiian rival after finishing with a heat-total of 11.04 points against Centeio’s 8.67.
For more updates on Round 3 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing, stay tuned to bettor.com
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