Taj Burrow tumbles Bede Durbidge in opening heat of Round 3 at Volcom Fiji Pro – Surfing News
Australia’s Taj Burrow successfully made his way into the fourth round at Volcom Fiji Pro, the fourth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after claiming a convincing victory over fellow countryperson
Bede Durbidge in the first heat of Round 3 that went down at the alternative venue of Restaurants in Tavarua, Fiji, on Saturday, June 9.
The disorganised swell at the primary event site of Cloudbreak had led to early end to action on Friday, with only two heats taking place. The next day did not see any significant improvement in swell, thus forcing the event organisers to shift the action
to the alternate event venue of Restaurants, which offered draining four-to-six foot waves. The waves were not as big as the ones that the surfers had enjoyed on Friday, but still offered plenty of juice and thus potent scoring opportunities.
The stage was all set for a day full of thrilling battles between the world’s best surfers, determined to register a good result in order to improve their positions in the standings on the 2012 ASP World Title rankings.
The opening heat of Round 3 pitted Burrow against Durbidge in a man-on-man battle for the Round 4 spot. Both the surfers had suffered an early disappointment, but rebounded strongly to eventually come face-to-face in the third round. The experience and skills
possessed by Burrow definitely tipped the scales in his favour, though the solid performance put on by Durbidge a day earlier at Cloudbreak led many to believe that an upset was on the cards.
As the heat got underway, Burrow wasted absolutely no time in stamping his authority over his rival. Locking a powerful barrel in the opening minutes of the battle, the Australian powerhouse rode deep into it and came out cleanly to post an impressive 8.83
on the score-board. He continued his search for another good score, catching wave after wave, before eventually settling for a 6.17 in the final minutes of the heat, thus finishing with a heat-total of 15.00 points.
Durbidge did not look too comfortable in the surfing conditions on offer. He struggled to find his rhythm and only managed to post a 3.17 and 6.83 on the score-board to finish with a heat-total of 10.00 points, 5.00 points short of the required score. The
lacklustre performance led to his elimination from the competition.
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