Heath Joske and Leonardo Neves clinch victory in Round 1 of Quiksilver Pro Portugal 2011
The sixth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the year, Quiksilver Pro Portugal 2011, continued with the eighth and ninth heat of the round of 96 (Round 1) at the main event site of Ribera D’Ilhas in Ericeira, Portugal, on Tuesday,
June 14th.
In the eighth heat, the four-way battle concluded with Australia’s Heath Joske walking away with top honours, while Brazil’s Jadson Andre managed to stay alive in the competition by finishing in second place. South Africa’s Dale Staples and Australia’s Lincoln
Taylor rounded out the third and fourth position, getting ejected from the competition as a result.
The ninth heat saw Brazil’s Leonardo Neves clinch victory, while his compatriot Jeronimo Vargas settled for the runner-up place. Australia’s Jack Perry and Willian Cardoso finished third and fourth respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the event
title race.
The surfing conditions prevailing at the primary event site were not that great. This resulted in the surfers struggling to unleash their true potential on the three-to-four foot waves.
Despite such unfavourable conditions, Australia’s Joske managed to grab a couple of good waves to seal the fate of the heat. He locked his first good wave almost 10 minutes into the heat, scoring 7.00 points off it. He later followed it up with a 6.17-point
wave to finish with a heat-total of 13.17 points. The score remained unbeatable and allowed him to secure victory and confirm his place in the next round.
Andre scored a 5.57 and 5.03 off his two waves to finish with a total of 10.60 points and grab the runner-up position, successfully extending his life in the competition by qualifying in the next round as well.
Staples finished with the same heat total as Andre, but the Brazilian had an advantage of getting a higher single-wave score. Therefore, the South African found himself barely missing out on the safe zone and getting eliminated. He was joined by Taylor who
finished with 10.26 points and landed fourth place.
During the ninth heat, another Brazilian made his country proud by clinching the win. Even though Neves did not seem too comfortable out in the sea, evidently struggling to catch waves, he did catch a couple of really good ones to get 5.33 and 6.50 points
off them to finish with a two-wave total of 11.83 and qualify to the next round.
His compatriot Vargas trailed him closely, but had to settle for runner-up place eventually, after ending the heat with an overall score of 11.27 from his two best waves.
Perry and Cardoso were undone by the demanding surfing conditions, which resulted in inadequate performances. While the Australian finished in third position with a score of 9.64, the Brazilian scored 9.30 points only and rounded out the bottom position.
The bottom-two positions marked the end of the event for the surfers.
For more updates on Round 1 of Quiksilver Pro Portugal 2011, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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