Jeremy Flores defeats Tiago Pires in Round 3 of Quiksilver Pro New York – 2011 ASP World Tour
The sixth of eleven stops on Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Quiksilver Pro New York, continued at the Long Beach, New York, on Wednesday, September 7, with the third heat of Round 3.
After a real intense battle, it was Frenchman Jeremy Flores who managed to walk away with top honours by defeating Portuguese Tiago Pires, consequently securing his place in the fourth round while removing his opponent from the competition in the process.
The 23-year-old Flores had done quite well on the opening day of the latest elite tour event, winning his Round 1 heat to move directly into Round 3. His opponent in the third round, Pires, had gotten off to a great start as well, making the competition
all the more nail-biting.
With four-to-six foot waves and strong winds on offer at the primary event site, the head-to-head battle between the French and Portuguese got underway, a battle that neither of them wanted to be a part of considering their friendship and the fact that one
of them was going to force the other out of the competition.
As the third heat kicked off, the 31-year-old Pires got down to business right away, locking a real juicy wave that came his way to pull off a combination of impressive tricks and collecting 7.00 points for the effort. The score allowed him to enjoy the
upper hand for most part of the heat as Flores was apparently having a real difficult time choosing the right waves while searching for a decent score.
As the heat-clock ticked away, the Frenchman continued to desperately hunt for a good score. Pires locked another wave to add an additional 5.73 points to his account, putting Flores under an even greater pressure.
Eventually, the persistent effort by Flores paid off and he got himself an impressive 7.27 points off a wave, getting back in the contest. In the dying minutes of the heat, he caught another wave and managed to earn 6.33 points off it, moving ahead of his
rival on the scoreboard by climbing to a heat-total of 13.60 points.
Talking to a reporter after the heat afterwards Flores said, “I didn't like surfing against Tiago, I want him on tour. He's my friend, but I want to do well here, I want to make heats, but I wanted to see him do well here because I knew he needed a result.
I couldn't find any really good waves. The guys in the heats before had fun waves with great walls and mine were fat or wide. I guess my wave choice was bad, but I made it.”
Despite not looking his best during his Round 3 bout, Flores still managed to survive the day and secure his place in the no-elimination Round 4.
For more updates on Round 3 of Quiksilver Pro New York, stay tuned to bettor.com
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