Fredrick Patacchia and Kelly Slater emerge triumphant in Round 1 of 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro
Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia and America’s Kelly Slater prevailed in the first round (Round of 96) of the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro that went down at Margaret River in Australia on Tuesday, March 20.
Both Patacchia and Slater advanced through into the second round (Round of 48) of the competition after claiming success in their Round 1 heats. Hawaii’s Olamana Eleogram and Australia’s Tom Innes also advanced through into the next round after taking first runner-up place in the 11th and 12th heat respectively.
With long lulls, strong winds and big waves, lying in the six-to-eight foot range, prevailing at the event site, the surfers were pumped up to put on solid performance to get a good start at the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated event. The competition field was full of world class surfers, compelling the crowd to expect a heavy dose of exciting action through the day.
The 11th heat did not turn out to be a high-scoring one, though that did not stop Patacchia from taking the win. The Hawaiian surfer locked his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 5.67 on the score-board and soon backed it up with a 4.93-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 10.60 points.
His compatriot Eleogram rounded out second position with a heat-total of 9.96 points, which included a 4.73 and 5.23-point wave.
South Africa’s Brandon Jackson and Brazil’s Jesse Mendes were forced to make a premature exit from the event after rounding out the bottom-two positions with a heat-total of 8.34 and 7.84 points respectively.
The 12th heat featured the man whom everyone had been anxiously waiting to see, Slater. The 11-time ASP World Champion did justice to all the hype that followed him to Telstra Drug Aware Pro by treating the crowd to a phenomenal performance. He caught a number of waves during the course of the 30-minute battle, which included an 8.77 and 7.83-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 16.60 points. None of his competitors were able to offer any sort of challenge to his dominating score and consequently enabled him to walk away with a comprehensive victory.
“It feels great to be back in Margaret River,” Slater said. “I got here really late last night so I haven’t had much sleep. Today is probably the worst of the wind conditions for the week, I think we’re going to get some great waves this week. I didn’t know what was on offer when I was out there because all day I saw guys missing waves, so I tried to stay busy and get used to the line-up. I thought I’d get a couple of scores on the right, then catch some lefts.”
Innes finished in runner-up place after scoring a 4.17 and 6.33 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 10.50 points.
His compatriot Mitchel Coleborn and France’s Marc Lacomare were forced to step out of the competition field after rounding out the bottom-two positions with a heat-total of 5.93 and 4.67 points respectively.
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