Dusty Payne dominates Round 4 heat to earn 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing quarter-final spot
After getting done with the man-to-man Round of 24 battles, 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing got down with the non-elimination Round of 12 (Round 4) heats at the Huntington Beach Pier, California on Friday afternoon, August 5.
Hawaii’s Dusty Payne continued his winning momentum by going on a complete rampage in the first heat to take down New Zealand’s Richard Christie and America’s Evan Geiselman, consequently advancing directly to the quarter-finals. Both Christie and Geiselman were relegated to the knock-out Round of 12 (Round 5).
The 22-year-old Maui-native, Payne, was turning out to be a real force at the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event, coming up with impressive performances quite consistently. Even though his Round 3 battle had turned out to be an extremely close one, his outstanding performance despite the demanding surfing conditions could not be ignored. He seemed to be more than prepared to take down anyone who crossed his path as he pursued the event title.
The first heat of Round 4 pitted Payne against Christie and Geiselman in a battle for a direct quarter-final spot. Neither of his two opponents could be taken lightly as they too had earned their way into Round 4 after surviving several tough heats.
As the three-way battle commenced, the elite ASP surfer Payne wasted no time in asserting his dominance over his two rivals. He locked a wave to unleash a flurry of impressive manoeuvres, earning 7.50 points for the effort and putting his rivals under pressure. A few minutes later, he caught a juicy right-hander to unload a crisp hack, following it up with a big air-reverse to send both, the judges as well as the crowd in awe. Earning the highest single-wave total of the event of 9.67 points for the outstanding effort, he finished with a heat-total of 17.17 points to seal the fate of the contest.
During his post-heat interview, Payne said, “That 9.67 was just a wedgy right and I didn’t want to do just one move so I tried to squeeze in a little snap before I did the air and luckily I pulled it off. The waves are fun, it’s pretty consistent and there are a bunch of waves coming through and you get some opportunity and get to mess around a bit. It was fun to mess around and not have the nerves of maybe only having one wave come in your heat.”
The onslaught by the rampaging Payne left Christie and Geiselman looking extremely helpless during the 30-minute heat. The New Zealander only managed to reach a heat-total of 12.63 points, while the local surfer finished in third position with a two-wave total of 9.47 points.
Despite a mediocre performance in Round 4, Christie and Geiselman still had an opportunity to remain in contention for the event-title by surviving their knock-out Round 5 heat.
For more updates on Round 4 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing, stay tuned to bettor.com
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