Spectacular performance by Taj Burrow move him into Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast Quarter-finals
Australia’s Taj Burrow successfully clinched top honours in the fourth heat of Round 4 at Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast that went down at Snapper Rocks in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday, February 28.
The comprehensive victory in his Round 4 heat carried him through into the Quarter-finals. His fellow countrymen Adrian Buchan and Julian Wilson were forced to settle for second and third place respectively, consequently getting relegated to the fifth round
to battle it out for a spot in the Quarter-finals.
The first stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title series returned to the primary event site for the fourth consecutive day, getting welcomed by clean two-to-three foot waves with slight on-shore winds.
The 33-year-old Burrow had proven his comfort at Snapper Rocks in the past and was considered to be one of the strongest contenders for the event title.
Pitted against Buchan and Wilson in the battle for the Quarter-final spot, the former Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast winner got off to a slow start as the heat got underway. After going through a series of average wave-scores, he began his onslaught to completely
steal the show. Locking his first business-wave, he unleashed a combination of spectacular tricks to post a 9.27 on the score-board. Continuing the momentum, he landed another strong of exquisite tricks to collect an 8.07 from the judges to move to a heat-total
of 17.34 points.
With none of his rivals managing to match his performance, Burrow walked away with a comprehensive victory.
“It was pretty much a 9-point-wave by itself and I just rode it,” Burrow said after the heat. “I got one good turn out the back and then one good one on the end. The judges like a good start and a good finish, so I knew it would be up there. Once I had that
9, I just really wanted to back it up with something solid. It’s pretty tough out there, but I managed to find another good score.”
Buchan got off to a shaky start as well, scoring a 4.00 off his first wave, but managed to step it up in the later stages of the heat to add an additional 8.33 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 12.33 points.
Wilson rounded out the third position with a two-wave total of 9.33 points, which comprised of a 2.33 and 7.00-point wave.
With the conclusion of the fourth heat, Round 4 of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast stood completed. Four of the eight Quarter-finalists had been determined, with the remaining slots to be filled up by the winners of Round 5.
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