Gabriel Medina and Brett Simpson shine in Round 4 of the ASP PRIME Nike Lowers Pro
Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and America’s Brett Simpson prevailed in their respective Round 4 (Round of 48) heats at the Nike Lowers Pro, an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME event, which resumed at the surf-break of Lower Trestles in San Clemente,
California, on Thursday, May 3.
Both the surfers advanced through into the fifth round (Round of 24) following their Round 3 success. Accompanying them into the next round were Hawaii’s Granger Larsen and America’s Dane Reynolds who finished second in the seventh and eighth heat respectively.
The fabled point-break of Lower Trestles continued to live up to its repute on day 3 of the latest ASP PRIME event, treating the fans to a series of impressive performances as the top local and international talent took each other on to remain in contention
for the prestigious event title and other rewards on offer.
Pitted against Larsen, Australia’s Mitch Crews and Guadeloupe’s Charles Martin in the seventh heat, Medina put on a superb performance to claim top honours. The young Brazilian sensation went through a series of average wave-scores before locking a juicy
right-hander to earn an 8.90 off it. He soon backed it up with an 8.00-point ride to move to a heat-total of 16.90 points, which served to earn him victory.
Larsen barely missed out on victory after his remarkable performance for a two-wave total of 16.77 points, which included an 8.67 and 8.10-point wave. However, the runner-up finish was sufficient to send him into the next round.
Crews and Martin rounded out the bottom-two position after finishing with a heat-total of 13.93 and 6.87 points respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
The eighth heat featured an excellent performance by Simpson as he cruised to victory. The American surfer collected a couple of scores in the eight-point range to finish with a heat-total of 16.60 points.
Dane Reynolds, a legendary-status American professional surfer, was nothing short of spectacular during the course of the four-man heat either. Scoring an 8.03 off his first business-wave and adding an additional 7.27 points to his account, he finished with
a heat-total of 15.30 points, which served to take him through into the next round.
Australia’s Heath Joske and Brazil’s Jesse Mendes were forced to step out of the contention for the event title after finishing with a heat-total of 13.80 and 12.77 points respectively.
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