Mick Fanning and Taj Burrow comfortable make it through Round 2 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal
Australia’s Mick Fanning and his fellow countryperson Taj Burrow bounced back from a disappointing start at the Rip Curl Pro Portugal, the eighth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, claiming top honours
in their respective Round 2 heats that went down at Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, on Saturday, October 13.
Fanning defeated France’s Pierre-Valentin Labo in the first heat to advance to the third round while removing the latter from the contention for the event title in the process.
The second heat saw America’s Dillon Perillo succumb to Burrow, getting eliminated as a result whereas the latter got to move into the next round to continue his pursuit of overall victory.
The conditions had been great at the main event site since morning and had continued to show improvement as the day progressed, thus paving way for a series of exquisite performances by none other than the superstars of surfing.
However, there had been a few upsets in the day, which included the relegation of Fanning and Burrow into the second round after they failed to hold their own in their respective Round 1 heats.
The first heat of Round 2 saw the former two-time ASP World Championship made amends for the Round 1 hiccup by mercilessly going hard at Labo, the event wild-card entry.
The Australian powerhouse put his typical form on display, earning a 6.67 and a superb 9.50 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 16.17 points.
Labo failed to offer much of a fight to his rival during the one-on-one battle and eventually had to settle for a heat-total of 6.17 points, which included a 2.00 and 4.17-point ride.
The second heat saw Burrow take on Perillo in a do-or-die situation, where both the surfers found themselves under immense pressure.
As the battle kicked-off, the Australian surfing heavy-weight wasted hardly any time to register a massive 9.00 on the score-board and managed to back it up with a 5.33 in the dying minutes of the heat to reach a heat-total of 14.33 points.
Perillo responded with a two-wave total of 10.37 points, which included a 2.87 and 7.50-point ride, which was not enough to challenge the position of his rival.
As a result, he found himself ejected from the competition, taking his place among the spectators, from where he was going to watch the event unfold.
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