Mick Fanning and John John Florence cap off day 1 of Quiksilver Pro with exquisite performances
Australia’s Mick Fanning and Hawaii’s John John Florence clinched top honours in their respective Round 1 heats at the first stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, which went down at Snapper Rocks
in Queensland, Australia, on Saturday, February 25.
With his win in the 11th heat, Fanning moved directly into the third round. Australia’s Josh Kerr and America’s CJ Hobgood were forced to take a trip to the relegation round after finishing in second and third place respectively.
The 12th heat sent Florence on his way into Round 3, while America’s Damien Hobgood and Portugal’s Tiago Pires rounded out the second and third positions respective, consequently getting relegated to Round 2.
The two-ASP world Champion Fanning was the favourite during the 11th heat and he justified the status by putting on an outstanding performance to claim top honours. The 30-year-old Australian did not get off to the best of starts, but he managed
to find a couple of really good waves in the final minutes of the heat to post an 8.63 and 6.63 on the score-board, finishing with a resultant heat-total of 15.26 points.
“It’s great to be at home,” Fanning said. “The neck injury at the end of last year wasn’t great, I missed Pipe and spent a lot of time on the couch. Coming in to this event I guess you never know what to expect until you hit the water, Kerrzy [Josh Kerr]
and I have had some great battles out here over the years. I didn’t have the best start to that one, but after a few waves, run arounds and rock jumps I got a couple of scores.”
Kerr scored a 6.50 off his first business-wave and backed it up with a 7.17-point wave to eventually finish in second place with a heat-total of 13.67 points.
Hobgood finished in third place after scoring a 6.17 and 5.67 off his top-two waves for a two-wave total of 11.84 points.
The final heat of the round as well as the opening day of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast pitted Florence against Hobgood and Pires in a battle for the Round 3 spot.
The Hawaiian force completely stole the show with a couple of near-perfect wave-scores in the final minutes of the heat, scoring a 9.90 off his first wave and a 9.70 off his second, to finish with the highest heat-total of the day, 19.60 points. Florence
had already announced himself as a formidable threat during the final stop of 2011 ASP World Tour at Banzai Pipeline and seemed to have carried that same momentum to Snapper Rocks to begin his campaign first full season of the elite tour.
Hobgood finished in second place after scoring a couple of eights off his best-two waves, finishing with a heat-total of 16.50 points.
Pires rounded out the bottom position after scoring a heat-total of 12.50 points, which comprised of a 7.60 and 4.90 points.
With the conclusion of the 12th heat, the first round as well as the first day of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast had been completed. The action was going to recommence at Snapper Rocks with the second round on Sunday.
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