Gony Zubizarreta and Tomas Hermes move into Round 2 of 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro – Surfing News
Spain’s Gony Zubizarreta and Brazil’s Tomas Hermes walked away with top honours from their respective Round 1 (Round of 96) heats of the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro that went down at Margaret River in Australia on Tuesday, March 20.
Both Zubizarreta and Hermes advanced through into the second round (Round of 48) of the competition after emerging triumphant in Round 1. Cayman Islands’ Jonathan Gonzalez and Australia’s Nic Muscroft confirmed their place in the next round as well after securing runner-up position in the 19th and 20th heat respectively.
With the world’s best surfers making up the competition field for the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated event, a series of thrilling battles were expected throughout the day. There were coveted ASP rating points and an appealing prize purse on offer, giving surfers an extra bit of motivation to push themselves hard.
Squaring off with Gonzalez, South Africa’s Travis Logie and Australia’s Daniel Ross in the 19th heat, Zubizarreta struggled to catch waves, but did manage to make the most off the ones that he did manage to lock during the 30-minute battle. Scoring a 6.00 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 6.33-point wave, the Spaniard finished with a winning heat-total of 12.33 points.
Gonzalez made the Round 2 cut as well after clinching runner-up positions by scoring a 5.17 and 6.80 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 11.97 points.
Logie and Ross were unable to see themselves through into the next round after finishing with a heat-total of 11.43 and 9.44 points respectively.
The 20th heat turned out to be a low-scoring affair with all four surfers in the four-man battle having little luck with the waves.
Hermes, however, managed to take the win after finishing with a heat-total of 6.70 points, which included a 3.00 and 3.70-point wave.
Muscroft successfully extended his life in the event as well through a heat-total of 6.50 points, which proved sufficient to put him in second place.
Australia’s Luke Cheadle and Brazil’s Heitor Alves found themselves removed from the contention for the event title after finishing with a heat-total of 6.20 and 1.77 points respectively.
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