Taj Burrow overcomes Patrick Gudauskas to reach Round 4 of Billabong Rio Pro
Australia’s Taj Burrow took an excellent come-from-behind victory over America’s Patrick Gudauskas in the seventh heat of Billabong Rio Pro’s Round 3 that continued at the main event site of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 15.
With his success in Round 3, Burrow advanced through into the fourth round of the latest stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title Series roster. Gudauskas, on the other hand, had no choice but to become a spectator for the
rest of the event after getting eliminated due to his loss in the latest heat.
After delivering challenging stormy surfing conditions on Monday, the main event site offered three-to-five foot barrels on Tuesday, making it an ideal stage for the world’s best surfers to continue their pursuit of the event title by pushing their limits
and putting on a series of memorable performances, much to the delight of the local crowd.
The seventh heat of Round 3 pitted Burrow against Gudauskas in a battle for the Round 4 spot. Both the surfers had a vast experience, though the scales were tipping slightly in the favour of Burrow due to his ability to deliver an exceptional performance
in any conditions. The Australian surfer had been in a formidable form since the start of the season, collecting a first-place finish at Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast in Australia. An early exit at stop No.2 of the elite tour had left him seeking redemption at
the latest stop.
As his Round 3 bout got underway, Burrow did not get off to the best of starts. He had entered the heat with a strategy that hardly seemed to be working in his favour.
Gudauskas, however, got off to a solid start, locking his first business-wave early in the heat to post a 5.27 on the score-board and managing to back it up with an impressive 8.43-point ride to reach a heat-total of 13.70 points.
The 33-year-old Burrow stepped up n the late stages of the man-on-man battle. He caught a juicy wave to unload a series of exquisite tricks for a score of 7.50 and continued the momentum to add an additional 7.00 points to his account, thus getting to a
heat-total of 14.50 points. The late charge turned the battle in his favour, consequently earning him the win and thus taking him through into the next round of the competition.
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