John John Florence and Taj Burrow off to a successful start at Billabong Pro Tahiti
Hawaii’s John John Florence and Australia’s Taj Burrow opened the fifth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of World Championship Tour, Billabong Pro Tahiti, with a successful result in the opening heats of Round 1 that went down at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu,
Tahiti, on Thursday, August 16.
Brazil’s Miguel Pupo and America’s Patrick Gudauskas finished behind Florence in second and third place respectively during the first heat of Round 1, which resulted in their relegation to Round 2.
With Burrow claiming victory in the second heat, America’s Damien Hobgood and Hawaii’s Dusty Payne had to settle for second and third position respectively, consequently forced to take a trip to the relegation round to keep themselves alive in the contention
for the event title.
The shifty three-to-five foot waves breaking at the primary site during the morning session of the latest ASP World Championship Tour event promised to deliver a heavy dose of thrilling action as surfing elite got ready to take each other on in three-man
battle for the Round 3 spot.
The opening heat pitted Florence against Pupo and Gudauskas. There was no pressure of elimination hanging over their heads, but an opportunity to jump straight into the third round without having to surf in Round 2 was enticing enough to motivate the surfers
to push hard.
Florence, current No.5 on the ASP World Tour Ranking, continued his excellent of form at the latest elite tour event, earning an 8.17 off his first business-wave and adding an additional 9.17 points to his account off his second business-wave. The resultant
heat-total of 17.34 points proved sufficient to earn him top honours.
Pupo finished in second place with a heat-total of 13.50 points, which included a 6.50 and 7.00-point ride. Gudauskas, on the other hand, collected a couple of scores in the five-point range to finish with a heat-total of 10.50 points.
The new heat saw Burrow, also ranking fifth in the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour Rankings, scoring a 6.00 off his first business-wave and adding an additional 5.77 points to his account during the dying minutes of the heat to finish with a heat-total
of 11.77 points.
Hobgood finish in second place after earning a 7.33 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 3.90-point ride. Payne scored a 1.83 and 5.17 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 7.00 points.
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