John John Florence shines in the opening round of Rip Curl Pro Portugal
Hawaii’s John John Florence managed to secure his place in the third round of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, the eighth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after clinching top honours in the third heat of
Round 1 that went down at Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, on Saturday, October 13, 2012.
Florence secured the win by getting the better of America’s Patrick Gudauskas and Australia’s Kai Otton, consequently relegating both his rivals to Round 2, where they had to surf again to earn their place in the third round.
A huge crowd had gathered at the primary event site during the morning session of the latest elite tour event, expecting to get plenty of entertainment as the top surfers from around the globe squared-off to get into the third round of the competition without
having to go through the second round.
The clean two-to-three foot waves breaking at Supertubos looked very promising, but the surfers were finding it a bit hard to adjust their surfing to the conditions and therefore big scores were really tough to come by.
Florence, who is currently placed on the No.4 spot on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour rankings, was apparently looking to continue his excellent run of form in the Portugal event and wasted very little time to make his intentions clear to his rivals
during the third heat of Round 1.
Pitted against Gudauskas and Otton in a three-man battle for the Round 3 spot, the Hawaiian powerhouse locked his first business-wave early in the heat to register a 7.50 on the score-board.
After a long and determined hunt, he was eventually able to add an additional 7.23 points to his account, thus moving to a heat-total of 14.73 points.
Gudauskas appeared to be struggling to find his rhythm during the course of the heat. Despite a desperate effort, he was only able to score a 4.67 and 2.67 off his best-two waves, finishing with a heat-total of 7.34 points as a result.
Otton was unable to do any better than his American rival. Getting a 2.00 off his first business-wave and adding another 2.13 points to his account, the Australian surfer finished with a heat-total of 4.13 points.
The action continued at Supertubos as the remaining heats of Round 1 unfolded.
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