Leonardo Neves puts on a pleasing performance during Round 1 heat of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime
Brazil’s Leonardo Neves made his way through into the second round (Round of 48) of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola after prevailing in the 21st heat of Round 1 (Round of 96) that went down at the point-break of Itauna Beach
in Saquarema, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 23.
His fellow countryperson Filipe Toledo accompanied him into the next round of the competition after securing runner-up position. The third Brazilian in the heat Raoni Monteiro made a third-place finish, while South Africa’s Royden Bryson rounded out the
fourth position. The bottom-two finish led to the elimination of both the surfers from the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME event of the year.
With waves in the four-to-six foot range gracing the main event site of Itauna Beach on Wednesday morning, it was clear that the day was bound to be full of exquisite performances and intense battles between the top surfing talents from around the globe.
There was plenty to strive for at the fourth ASP PRIME event of 2012, with a prize purse of $US 250,000 in place along with 850 ASP ranking points up for grabs.
The 21st heat of Round 2 saw Neves squaring off with Toledo, Monteiro and Bryson in a four-man battle for the Round 2 spot.
As the battle got underway, Neves wasted absolutely no time to stamp his authority over his rivals. Utilising his local knowledge of the waves effectively, the Brazilian surfer quickly got into position to catch a juicy left-hander and used it to display
his stylish skills to post a 7.50 on the score-board. He kept the momentum going as the heat progressed and soon added an additional 5.57 points to his account to move to a heat-total of 13.07 points. The effort remained unbeatable until the end to eventually
seal the fate of the four-man battle in his favour.
Toledo did not get off to the best of starts, earning a mere 4.00 off his first business-wave. However, things went his way in the end as a perfect swell came in his direction in the dying minutes of the heat. Earning a 7.50 off the last-minute scoring opportunity,
Toledo finished second to advance into the next round.
Monteiro failed to make much of an impact during the course of the heat, earning his best scores in the five-point range to finish with a heat-total of 11.33 points. Bryson sat at a heat-total of 9.34 points at the end of the heat, finishing in fourth place
as a result. Both the surfers were consequently forced to make their exit from the competition field on just the second day of the competition.
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