Richard Christie and Alain Riou enter Round 3 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Events
Fans kept getting treated to a heavy dose of thrilling surfing action with the third and fourth heat of Billabong Azores Islands Pro’s Round of 48 (Round 2) that went down at Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal, on Thursday, September 29.
New Zealand’s Richard Christie emerged triumphant in the third heat and secured his place in the Round of 24 (Round 3), while Marc Lacomare also went through to the next round after finishing in second place. Australia’s Kai Otton and South Africa’s Dale
Staples rounded out the third and fourth positions respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
The fourth heat saw Tahiti’s Alain Riou walk away with top honours, while New Zealand’s Jay Quinn took runner-up place to go through to the next round. Reunion’s Adrien Toyon and Australia’s Mitch Crews rounded out the third and fourth positions respectively,
which resulted in their expulsion from the event.
As the third heat kicked-off, Christie got-off to a slow start but gradually built momentum to eventually score 6.33 points off a wave. He continued the momentum to lock a juicy wave and unloaded a series of exquisite manoeuvres to add an additional 8.33
to his account, climbing to a heat-total of 14.66 points. The score turned out to be a decisive one, sealing the fate of the contest in his favour.
Lacomare did well to remain in control despite the challenging surfing conditions. The wave-scores of 7.00 and 6.93 may not have been enough to get him top honours, but it did earn him the runner-up place, allowing him to move into the next round.
Otton and Staples seemed to have completely misread the conditions and failed to find a single good score. The Australian finished in third place with a heat-total of 4.93 points, while Staples finished last after scoring 4.77 points in total off his top-two
waves.
Tahiti’s Riou came up with the most notable performance during the fourth heat. Despite pitted against a line-up of talented and determined surfers, he managed to steal the show with a 5.97 and decisive 7.43-point wave to reach a heat-total of 13.40 points
and go through to the next round.
Quinn and Toyon had an intense battle for runner-up position. While the Kiwi collected a 6.33-point wave early in the heat and later added a 5.60 to his account to get to a heat-total of 11.93 points, his Reunion rival got to a heat-total of 11.87 points,
which included a 6.77 and 5.10-point wave. The 0.06-point deficit forced Toyon to concede victory to Quinn and settle for third place, which consequently added him to the elimination list.
Crews also got eliminated from the competition after only managing to get to a heat-total of 10.87 points during his Round 2 heat. The disappointing performance resulted in a fourth-place finish for him.
For more updates on Round 2 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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