John John Florence begins his pursuit of ASP PRIME Nike Lowers Pro with a roar
Hawaii’s John John Florence walked away with a comprehensive win after putting on a spectacular performance in the eighth heat of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME Nike Lowers Pro’s Round 3 (Round of 96) that continued at the renowned
Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, on Tuesday, May 1.
The successful result in Round 3 served to add Florence to the Round 4 (Round of 48) line-up. France’s Marc Lacomare accompanied him into the next round after managing to get his hands on the runner-up position.
The surfing fans expected to get treated to plenty of adrenaline-pumping action during the course of the latest PRIME event due to the names that were present in the competition field. Both local and international surfers, which included ASP World Tour contenders,
were eager to walk away with the prestigious event title, a large slice of the prize purse and coveted ASP ranking points that were on offer.
Florence had been pretty much on a roll over the last few months. Not only was he making his debut in the current season of the ASP World Tour, he had been making quite an impact. Thus, his presence in the Nike Lowers Pro line-up was bound to raise the level
of the competition.
As expected, the 19-year-old Hawaiian sensational was nothing short of brilliant during his bout with France’s Lacomare and Joan Duru, as well as Australia’s Dean Morrison in the eighth heat of Round 3.
Florence wasted his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to unload a variety of powerful carves and tail-free turns, earning an 8.33 for the effort. He repeated the effort on the very next wave that he caught to add an additional 8.20 points
to his account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 16.53 points. The score received no serious threat and thus eventually sealed the deal in the Hawaiian surfer’s favour.
“I’m super stoked to get that first heat out of the way, the waves are super fun and you kind of have nerves coming up before the whole event,” Florence said. “I’m stoked the waves were really fun and that I got to surf there with just four guys out. It’s
really a skate park, you stand up and it looks like you can do whatever you want out there. I kind of just go with the flow and things worked out.”
Lacomare collected a couple of scores in the seven-point range to finish with a heat-total of 14.03 points. While the score was inadequate to challenge his Hawaiian rival’s position, it proved to be enough to put him in runner-up place and thus confirm his
place in the next round.
Duru and Morrison finished with a heat-total of 11.40 and 11.00 points respectively, which led to their elimination from the competition.
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