Josh Kerr and Adrian Buchan off to an ideal start at Billabong Pro Tahiti
Australia’s Josh Kerr and his fellow countryperson Adrian Buchan advanced straight to the third round at Billabong Pro Tahiti, the fifth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after delivering an exquisite
performance to secure victory in their respective Round 1 heats that went down at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti, on Thursday, August 16.
Brazil’s Jason Andre finished behind Kerr in second place during the seventh heat, while Portugal’s Tiago Pires finished in third place. The failure to clinch the win led to the relegation of both the surfers to the second round.
The eighth heat saw Australia’s Kieren Perrow and South Africa’s Jordy Smith finish behind Buchan in second and third place respectively, which forced them to take a trip into the relegation round to surf again for the spot in the third round.
The shifty three-to-five foot waves offered by Teahupo’o provided the surfing elite with plenty of potential scoring opportunities, allowing them to put their exquisite skills on display and treat the huge crowd in attendance and online audience to a series
of memorable performances.
Pitted against Andre and Pires in the seventh heat, Kerr knew he had to come up with something special in order to walk away a winner. Keeping his head high throughout the course of the battle, he navigated his way to a couple of juicy waves and managed
to earn an 8.33 and 7.90 off them to reach a heat-total of 16.23 points, which served to earn him a convincing victory.
Andre finished in third place with a heat-total of 13.67 points, which comprised of a 6.50 and 7.17-point ride, while Pires scored a 1.93 and 2.00 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 3.93 points.
The eighth heat saw Buchan get the better of Perrow and Smith in a three-man battle for the Round 3 spot. The Australian surfer got off to a solid start, earning a 5.33 off his first business-wave early in the heat and later added an additional 8.50 points
to his account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 13.83 points.
Perrow finished with a heat-total of 7.60 points, which included a 5.83 and 1.77-point ride, while Smith clearly looked out of rhythm, managing to earn a couple of scores in the two-point range off his best-two waves to eventually finish with a heat-total
of 4.40 points.
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