Dusty Payne and Evan Geiselman emerge triumphant in Round 2 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing
After narrowing the field from 96 surfers to 48 surfers, 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing started off with the round of 48 (Round 2) on Wednesday, August 3, at the Huntington Beach Pier, California.
Hawaii’s Dusty Payne walked away from the first heat with top honours to go through to the round of 24 (Round 3). Brazil’s Hizunome Bettero also successfully extended his life in the event with a runner-up finish to advance to the next round. Australia’s
Blake Thornton and Hawaii’s Kekoa Bacalso were removed from the competition after rounding out the third and fourth positions respectively.
The second heat saw America’s Evan Geiselman advance to the third round after securing a convincing victory over his rivals. Venezuela’s Jonathan Gonzalez also got through to the next round after finishing in second place. Hawaii’s Torrey Meister and Brazil’s
Gabriel Medina finished in third and fourth positions respectively, getting eliminated from the competition as a result.
The surfing conditions continued to present the surfers with a tough challenge, with the demanding one-to-two foot waves, accompanied by the cold weather, really putting the skills and experience of the surfers to test.
Despite the prevailing conditions, the 22-year-old Payne managed to come up with an exceptional performance to clinch top honours. He treated the crowd to a flurry of impressive manoeuvres, finishing with a heat-total of 15.93 points.
Bettero came up with a couple of decent waves as well, finishing with a heat-total of 13.23 points to take runner-up position and go through to the next round.
Thornton and Bacalso failed to make the Round 3 cut after finishing with a two-wave total of 12.04 and 7.33 points respectively.
After exhibiting excellent form in the first round on Tuesday, Geiselman continued to remain impressive in the second heat of Round 2. While the remaining surfers were facing difficulty in catching waves and utilising them for a good score, the American
surfer managed to unleash a string of impressive tricks, eventually finishing with a winning heat-total of 14.34 points.
Gonzalez finished with a heat-total of 7.60 point and even though the score seemed like a mediocre one, it proved to be sufficient to earn him second position and send him off to the next round.
Meister finished third with a two-wave total of 7.30 points, while Brazilian sensation Medina remained the least impressive surfer of the lot, finishing with a heat-total of 6.50 points.
For more updates on Round 2 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing, stay tuned to bettor.com
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