Owen Wright defeats Michel Bourez to step into Quarter-finals at Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast
Australia’s Owen Wright defeated French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez in the first heat of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast’s Round 5 which went down at the renowned Snapper Rocks in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday, February 28.
The successful result moved Wright into the Quarter-finals while removing Bourez from the contention for the event title.
The first stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title series continued to deliver high intensity action as the world’s best surfers looked to kick off their campaign for the coveted World Title with a good result at Quiksilver
Pro Gold Coast.
With clean two-to-three foot waves and slight winds prevailing at the primary event site, Wright and Bourez found themselves pitted against each other in a man-on-man battle for a place in the Quarter-final.
Both the surfers had failed to make a solid impact in the fourth round. The 22-year-old Wright had been nothing short of superb during the previous season of the elite tour. However, he was proving to be pretty inconsistent at the latest ASP World Tour event
so far. Even though he had managed to reach the fourth round of the competition, he succumbed to Brazil’s Adriano de Souza to get relegated to the fifth round.
Bourez was also forced to take a trip to the fifth round after losing to America’s Kelly Slater in his Round 4 heat.
As the fifth heat got underway, Wright got off to a confident start, locking a juicy wave to unload a series of exquisite tricks. Earning an 8.50 off his first business-wave in the early minutes of the battle, he moved into a dominant position. He soon backed
it up with a 7.70-point wave, taking his heat-total to 16.20 points.
Bourez put on commendable fight but eventually finished short of the required score. He collected an 8.20 and a 7.23 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 15.43 points, surrendering victory to Wright due to a 0.77-point deficit.
The crucial man-on-man battles for the Quarter-final spot continued during the fifth round of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast at Snapper Rocks on Tuesday.
Tags: