Heitor Alves and Jay Thompson prevail in Round 4 of the ASP PRIME Nike Lowers Pro
Brazil’s Heitor Alves and Australia’s Jay Thompson claimed victory in their respective Round 4 (Round of 48) heats of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME Nike Lowers Pro that went down at the point-break of Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, on Thursday, May 3.
Both Alves and Thompson advanced into the fifth round (Round of 24) following their Round 4 success. Australia’s Daniel Ross and America’s Patrick Gudauskas made the Round 5 cut as well after finishing in runner-up place in their respective heats.
The surfing conditions prevailing at the fabled surf-break of Lower Trestles promised a series of enthralling bouts between top surfers, both local and international, during their pursuit for the prestigious event title, share of prize purse and coveted ASP ranking points.
The ninth heat pitted Alves against his compatriot Alejo Muniz, Australia’s Ross and Hawaii’s Kiron Jabour.
Even though the event site did not send too many waves in the direction of Alves, he still managed to make the most of the ones that actually arrived. Locking his first business-wave, the Brazilian surfer posted an 8.20 on the score-board. He went on to back it up with a near-perfect wave-score of 9.50 points to move to a heat-total of 17.70 points, which served to send him through into the next round.
Ross was forced to settle for runner-up place after scoring an 8.00 and 5.27 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 13.27 points.
Muniz finished in third place with a heat-total of 13.00 points, while Jabour rounded out the bottom position after a lacklustre performance for a heat-total of 7.66 points.
The 10th heat featured an intense contest between Thompson and Gudauskas as they fought tooth-and-nail to get an upper hand over the other. Once the dust settled, it was the Australia-based Thompson who stood victorious with a heat-total of 15.60 points, while the crowd-favourite Gudauskas had to settle for runner-up place with a two-wave total of 15.13 points.
America’s Conner Coffin and Brazil’s Jano Belo failed to rise up to the standard set up by their rivals in the heat, consequently getting eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 11.90 and 10.10 points respectively.
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