Taj Burrow prevails in Round 1 of Quiksilver Pro France – 2011 ASP World Tour
The eighth stop of the eleven event 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Quiksilver Pro France, kept the exciting action running at the renowned beach at La Graviere in France on Wednesday, October 5, with the seventh heat of Round
1, which pitted Australia’s Taj Burrow against his compatriot Kai Otton and Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro.
It turned out to be yet another intense contest, with the fate of the match-up getting decided in the last minutes of the heat. The result of the three-man battle came out in Burrow’s favour, sending him directly into Round 3. Monteiro and Otton rounded
out the second and third position respectively, consequently getting sent to Round 2.
The small and tricky waves had turned out to be more troublesome than expected and kept the surfers at bay, preventing them from going for the more advanced tricks in their arsenal. Big scores were scarce as the elite surfers struggled to adjust to the demanding
conditions prevailing at the event site.
As the seventh heat kicked off, Monteiro was the first to score by locking a wave to claim 4.00 points. A small yet effective search allowed him to add an additional 6.83 points to his account, taking the heat-total to 10.83 points. The score kept him in
the lead for the most part of the heat, though it failed to earn him the desired results due to Burrow’s last-minute offense.
Renowned for his ability to perform well under any conditions around the globe, the 33-year-old Burrow wasted no time in announcing himself as a threat. Going through a series of mediocre scores, the Australian went on to lock a relatively juicy wave to
earn a 6.70 points off it. The next decent wave came in the dying minutes of the heat, allowing Burrow to collect 4.83 points and move to a heat-total of 11.53 points. Finishing 0.70 points ahead of Monteiro, the Australian walked away with top honours.
Otton was also competing in the seventh heat for a Round 3 spot. While his rivals were engaged in a real close contest to get their hands on victory, he failed to pose a serious threat and continued to struggle to get his hands on a single good score. In
the end, he collected a 4.33 and 2.50 off his top-two waves to finish in the third place with a heat-total of 6.83 points.
The lacklustre performance by Monteiro and Otton got them relegated to the second round, putting them in a must-win situation to stay alive in the competition.
For more updates on Round 1 of Quiksilver Pro France, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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