John John Florence and Gabriel Medina survive Round 1 of Hurley Pro – 2011 ASP World Tour
The thrilling surfing action continued at Lower Trestles in California, with the fifth and sixth heat of Hurley Pro’s Round 1 on Monday, September 19.
The fifth round saw Hawaii’s John John Florence come up with an outstanding performance to down Brazil’s Alejo Muniz and secure his place in Round 3, removing his rival from the competition in the process.
Brazil’s Gabriel Medina exhibited a top-class form during the sixth heat to defeat South Africa’s Travis Logie and clinch the Round 3 spot, consequently eliminating his opponent from the competition.
The 18-year-old Florence had failed to justify his presence among the ranks of elite ASP surfers during the first round of the competition. However, he returned to the battlefield on Monday in a completely different form and came down heavily on Muniz.
As the battle commenced, Florence got down to business right away, locking a juicy wave to pull off a combination of impressive manoeuvres and collecting 8.93 points for the effort. After a long and patient hunt, he caught yet another good-looking wave
to earn 8.60 points off it, moving to a heat-total of 17.53 points. The score remained unbeatable and carried him off to victory in the end.
Talking to a reporter afterwards, Florence said, “I’m really excited. Alejo [Muniz] is one of my good friends and I’m bummed for him, but I’m super stoked to make it. I was actually going to go left on that one wave because Alejo had priority and then he
didn’t get into it so I got that good right. Hopefully I can make some heats, Lowers is such a fun wave.”
Muniz failed to meet the standard that was set by his young opponent and was forced to embrace elimination after finishing with a heat-total of 11.16 points, which included a 6.33 and 4.83-point wave.
The sixth heat pitted the 17-yearold Medina against an experienced Logie in a sudden-death battle. After an unsuccessful heat on the opening day of the competition, both the surfers could not afford another lacklustre performance.
As the sixth heat got underway, Logie drew first blood by locking a wave to score 5.50 points off it. However, Medina soon came with a strong response, utilising a wave to earn 7.33 points and moving into the lead.
Logie once again took the lead through a 5.13-point wave, but the joy was short-lived as Medina caught a wave in dying minutes of the heat to throw down a flurry of tricks, collecting 8.77 points for the effort. Scoring 16.10 points against his rival’s 10.36,
Medina clinched the win and advanced to the next round.
For more updates on Round 2 of Hurley Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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