Owen Wright off to a solid start at Volcom Fiji Pro – Surfing News
Australia’s Owen Wright advanced through into the third round of Volcom Fiji Pro, the fourth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, after putting on a superb performance to claim victory in the seventh heat of Round
1 that went down at the main venue of Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji, on Sunday, June 3.
Portugal’s Tiago Pires had to settle for a second-place finish, whereas Australia’s Yadin Nicol rounded out the third place. Both Pires and Nicol were consequently relegated to the second round, having to surf again to try and get themselves added to the
Round 3 line-up.
The six-to-eight foot waves breaking at the event site on the opening day of latest stop on the elite tour promised to deliver a heavy dose of thrilling action. The world’s best surfers had converged to the open ocean reef pass to resume their campaign for
the coveted ASP World Title and were expected to go all out with excellent surfing conditions on hand.
The seventh heat of Round 1 saw Wright take on Pires and Nicol in a three-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
Wright had announced himself as a force to be reckoned with during the previous season of the ASP World Tour and had a lot of hype surrounding him in the current season of the elite tour. Currently sitting at the No.10 spot on the 2012 ASP World Title rankings,
the Australian powerhouse is still a strong contender for the event title.
Looking to keep his chances alive, Wright held nothing back during hi clash with Pires and Nicol. Locking his first business-wave halfway through the heat, the Australian sensation posted a 6.00 on the score-board. In the final minutes of the heat, he caught
a juicy left-hander to unload a series of exquisite tricks, earning an 8.87 for the effort. The last-minute effort took him to a heat-total of 14.87 points, thus sealing the fate of the battle in his favour.
Pires got off to a pretty dismissal start, scoring a mere 1.87 off his first business-wave. Despite an excellent 9.63-point effort in the dying minutes of the heat, the heat-total of 11.50 points kept him in second place.
Nicol scored a 2.93 and 7.33 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 10.26 points, consequently having to settle for the bottom position.
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