Jeremy Flores and Kieren Perrow triumphant in Round 2 of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast – Surfing News
France’s Jeremy Flores and Australia’s Kieren Perrow walked away with top honours from their respective Round 2 heats at Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, the opening event of 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title series, which continued at
Snapper Rocks in Queensland, Australia, on Sunday, February 26.
Flores’ success in the ninth heat carried him through into the third round while bringing the competition to a premature end for Brazil’s Jadson Andre.
Perrow also made the Round 3 cut after clinching victory in the 10th heat, removing America’s CJ Hobgood from the contention for the heat-total in the process.
The surfing conditions at Snapper Rocks may not have been ideal, but they were pretty good, offering surfers a number of good waves to allow them to unload their technical tricks.
Pitted against Andre in a battle for survival, Flores could not afford another hiccup in his performance. As the heat got underway, he posted a 5.50 on the score-board to take an early lead, but Andre edged past him with a 6.17-point wave.
As the heat progressed, the Frenchman reclaimed the lead with an excellent behind-the-rock barrel to add an additional 8.17 to his account, taking his heat-total to 13.67 points.
Andre was unable to find an adequate response to his rival’s wave and eventually finished with a heat-total 12.07 points to concede victory to Flores.
“I knew there was going to be some barrels on the low tide,” Flores said. “I wanted to get barrelled, I got a few and was so close to coming out and didn’t make any except the one. Maybe it was the pressure. I’m feeling a lot of pressure at this event, like
I’m a rookie again. I don’t know why, this is my sixth year on tour. I’m only 23-years-old, but kind of feel like an old guy with all these rookies. It’s good it makes us work more.”
The 10th heat turned out to be a real nail-biting affair as Perrow and Hobgood fought hard for good waves.
Perrow posted a 6.67 on the score-board off his first business-wave and soon backed it up with a 7.33-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.00 points.
Hobgood kept breathing down his neck with a heat-total of 13.84 points, which comprised of a 6.27 and 7.57-point wave. He needed to improve his score by only a little to take the win, but failed to do that and consequently succumbed to Perrow’s heat-total.
The crowd kept getting treated to a heavy dose of exciting surfing action as Round 2 of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast continued at Snapper Rocks on Sunday.
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