Royden Bryson and Bobby Martinez claim victory in Round 1 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing
The thrilling surfing action continued at Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, with the 19th and 20th heat of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing’s round of 96 (Round 1) on Wednesday morning, August 3.
South Africa’s Royden Bryson prevailed over his rivals in the 19th heat to confirm his place in the round of 48 (Round 2). Venezuela’s Hodei Collazo extended his life in the event as well by clinching the runner-up position. Hawaii’s Granger Larsen
finished third, while Brazil’s Heitor Alves rounded out the last position. Both the surfers were eliminated from the competition due to the bottom-two finish.
The 20th heat saw America’s Bobby Martinez claim victory, while Brazil Wiggolly Dantas finish in second place to advance to the next round. America’s Rob Machado finished in third place, while Australia’s Joel Parkinson shockingly finished in
fourth place to suffer elimination.
The 28-year-old Bryson kicked off the heat with a 4.50-point wave and soon added another 4.60 points to his account, reaching a heat-total of 9.10 points. While the two-wave total seemed like a mediocre one, it proved to be sufficient to carry him off to
victory.
Collazo collected a 4.40 and 3.60-point for a heat-total of 8.00 points, finishing as runner-up to stay alive in the competition. Even though the performance would have hardly given him any confidence, he was pretty glad to survive the heat in such tough
conditions.
Larsen finished in third place with a disappointing heat-total of 5.10 points. Alves scored 3.30 points off his first business-wave and 2.00 points off his second, but was penalised 1.00 point for interference, eventually finishing with a heat-total of 4.30
points.
During the 20th heat, California’s 28-year-old Martinez came up with an impressive performance despite the tough conditions and created the biggest upset of the day by putting current Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour leader,
Parkinson, out of contention for the event-title.
As the heat kicked off, Martinez got down to business right away, locking a wave to unload a flurry of impressive tricks to open his account with 7.50 points. He immediately followed it up with another impressive wave, adding an additional 6.43 points to
his account to reach a heat-total of 13.93 points. The score proved too big a challenge for his rivals to best and eventually allowed him to claim victory.
During his post-heat interview, Martinez said, “That was a hard heat for everyone. I didn’t have a heat strategy, I saw Rob (Machado) over there on his peak, but if I think about it too much I forget what I’m doing. I’m going to go home tonight to rest and
just come back tomorrow.”
Dantas did well during the four-man battle as well, collecting a 6.63 and 5.80-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 12.43 points and taking runner-up place, consequently advancing to the next round.
Machado got a really good start, earning 7.10 points in the opening minutes of the heat, but failed to follow it up with another good score, eventually finishing with a two-wave total of 12.03 points and settling for third place.
Rounding out the bottom position was Parkinson, the Australian who had been shining the brightest during the current ASP World Tour season. He failed to live up to the expectations and do justice to the hype that surrounded him after getting eliminated from
the competition in the very first round. He earned a 5.50 and 5.07 off his two best waves during the 30-minute heat.
For more details on Round 1 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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