Michel Bourez secures victory in Round 1 at Hurley Pro – 2011 ASP World Tour
Tahiti’s Michel Bourez came up with an outstanding performance on the opening day of Hurley Pro, the seventh stop on the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, to take the win in the eighth heat of Round 1 that took placea at Lower Trestles
in California, on Sunday, September 18.
The 25-year-old Tahitian clinched top honours by prevailing over Australia’s Kieren Perrow and Kai Otton in the three-man battle to move directly to Round 3. Perrow and Otton got relegated to Round 2 after finishing in second and third place respectively.
The New York stop of the 2011 ASP World Tour turned out to be a real disappointment for Bourez as he got removed from the competition right in the beginning due to a lacklustre performance. However, he managed to redeem himself to some extent by opening
the latest event with an exceptional performance.
As the eighth heat kicked off, Bourez took control of the battle instantly by locking a wave to pull off a series of quite turns and flips, earning 8.50 points for the effort. He added another 6.90 points to his account a few minutes later to reach a heat-total
of 15.40 points, which allowed him to lead the battle throughout its entirety, eventually carrying him off to victory.
Commenting on the heat afterwards, Bourez said, “I feel great and my board works well. It felt like a long wait to get that win but it came through. I’ve been working a lot with my shaper over the last few years and it’s going well. In the last event I lost
pretty quickly and I’m happy to get that first round win today.”
Perrow did not look too comfortable during the 30-minute heat and failed to utilise the waves that he caught to their full potential. He ended up finishing in second place, scoring 6.00 points off his first business-wave and 5.50 points off his second.
Otton looked out of rhythm on the opening day of the latest ASP World Tour event and only managed to score 9.83 points in total off the only two waves that he was able to catch.
Perrow and Otton may have failed to make an impact during the first day of the competition, but they still have a chance to stay in contention for the event-title if they are able to collect victory in Round 2.
Tags: