Fredrick Patacchia emerges triumphant in Round 1 heat at Billabong Pro Tahiti – 2011 ASP World Tour
Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia got off to an excellent start at the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour event, Billabong Pro Tahiti, winning the second heat of Round 1 that went down at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti, on Saturday, August
20.
The 30-year-old Hawaiian clinched the victory by besting Australia’s Matt Wilkinson and Taj Burrow, who finished in second and third place respectively, advancing directly to the third round.
The opening day of the latest elite Tour event turned out to be quite ideal, with clean four-to-six foot waves and clear weather at the primary event site.
As the second heat kicked off, Patacchia wasted no time in unleashing a string of spectacular manoeuvres on his first business-wave to collect 7.50 points and take control of the heat early on. He soon increased the pressure on his opponents by locking a
wave to throw down an even more impressive combination of tricks and ended up earning 8.33 points for the effort, moving to a heat-total of 15.83 points.
Wilkinson put up a determined fight to keep his Hawaiian rival from maintaining the upper hand over him, but the effort remained in vain. Throughout the heat, Wilkinson trailed behind his rival and even a couple of really impressive wave-scores of 7.00 and
7.73 points turned out to be insufficient to get him ahead of Patacchia. In the end, he was forced to settle for runner-up place, consequently getting relegated to the second round.
Burrow’s third place finish came as a real shock, especially after the sort of form the Australian has been exhibiting this year. It took him a while before he landed his first business-wave, scoring 7.00 points off it, but followed it up with an inadequate
6.27-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 13.27 points.
Despite a disappointing start, Burrow still has an ample opportunity at hand to remain in contention for the event title. However, that would require him to quickly regain his form and make it through Round 2 successfully.
Billabong Pro Tahiti is the fifth stop on the 2011 ASP World Tour and the second last event before the mid-season rotation takes place in September.
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