Taj Burrow and Kieren Perrow power into the fifth round of 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro
Australia’s Taj Burrow and his fellow countryman Kieren Perrow emerged triumphant in their respective Round 3 (no-loser Round of 24) heats of the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro that went down at Margaret River in Australia on Friday, March 23, to advance through
into the fifth round (Round of 16) directly.
Australia’s Kai Otton and America’s CJ Hobgood finished behind Burrow in the seventh heat to find themselves relegated to the fourth round (Round of 24). Australia’s Lincoln Taylor and Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth were also forced to take a trip to the fourth
round after rounding out the second and third positions respectively in the eighth round.
The clean five-to-six foot waves on offer at Margaret River during the latest competition day of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated event set up a pretty good stage for a series of adrenaline-pumping surfing battles, keeping the fans
hopeful of action that was expected to be nothing short of superb. With the world’s best surfers competing for top honours at one of the most exotic surfing locations in Australia, the expectations by the surfing fans seemed pretty justified.
As the seventh heat got underway, Burrow, current No.1 on the ASP World Title series, looked a bit shaky during the initial stages, though he gradually built momentum to eventually begin a late charge. Locking his first business-wave, he posted an 8.57 on
the scoreboard. Catching a wave in the dying minutes of the heat, he added an additional 6.37 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 14.94 points.
Otton and Hobgood did not perform too badly either, though they were unable to challenge the 33-year-old Burrow’s score. Otton rounded out the runner-up place with a heat-total of 12.60 points, which included a 3.73 and an 8.87-point wave, whereas Hobgood
rounded out the bottom position with a two-wave total of 11.23 points.
The eighth heat saw Perrow walk away with a convincing victory after earning a couple of scores in the six-point range to finish with a heat-total of 13.44 points.
Taylor was forced to settle for runner-up place after posting a 4.17 on the scoreboard off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 5.73-point wave.
Toth finished third with a two-wave total of 8.10 points, which comprised of a 4.10 and 4.00-point wave. Both the surfers got their names added to the relegation Round 4 due to their lacklustre performance in the eighth heat of Round 3.
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