John John Florence and Matt Wilkinson prevail in Round 1 of Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach – Surfing News
Hawaii’s John John Florence and Australia’s Matt Wilkinson made their way through into the third round of Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach after claiming top honours in their respective Round 1 heats that went down at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Wednesday,
April 4.
Florence got the better of Brazil’s Alejo Muniz and Portugal’s Tiago Pires in the 11th heat to send his rivals into the relegation Round 2 where they were to take another shot at nailing a place in Round 3.
Brazil’s Miguel Pupo and his compatriot Heitor Alves succumbed to Wilkinson in the 12th heat, consequently getting relegated to the second round to have another go at making the Round 3 cut.
With clean three-to-five foot waves breaking at the primary event site on Wednesday, the stage was set for a series of exciting battles. The crowd expected the showdowns to be nothing short of epic as the world’s best surfers took each other on at the second
stop of the 2012 ASP elite tour.
Pitted against Muniz and Pires in the 11th heat, Florence came up with an outstanding performance to steal the show. The 19-year-old Hawaiian had been winning fans through his exquisite performances over the last few months, with his latest success
coming at ASP 5-Star event during February in Hawaii, and continued to impress the crowd in his first heat of Rip Curl Pro Bell Beach with yet another terrific effort. Opening his account with an 8.00-point wave, Florence went on to back it up with a 7.93-point
wave to finish with a heat-total of 16.26 points, consequently taking the win.
“Winning out at Margaret’s last week definitely gave me confidence coming into Bells,” Florence said. “The waves seem pretty similar and the conditions are a lot of fun this morning. Happy to come away with a win this morning and looking forward to the next
heat.”
Muniz finished in second place after scoring a 6.50 and 7.07 off his best-two waves, while Pires rounded out the third position with a heat-total of 11.20 points, which comprised of a 4.00 and 7.20-point wave.
The final heat of Round 1 saw Wilkinson square off with Pupo and Alves in a battle for the Round 3 spot.
The Australian surfer got off to a modest start, scoring a 4.50 off his first business-wave, but went on to add an additional 6.17 points to his account to finish with a winning heat-total of 10.67 points.
Pupo finished in second place after scoring a 4.93 and 4.60 off his top-two waves for a heat-total of 9.53 points.
Alves was forced to settle for runner-up place after a lacklustre performance for a heat-total of 6.66 points, which included 2.83 and 3.83-point wave.
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