Taj Burrow prevails in Round 1 of Quiksilver Pro New York – 2011 ASP World Tour
Australia’s Taj Burrow got off to a perfect start at the latest stop of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Quiksilver Pro New York, by defeating USA’s Patrick Gudauskas and Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia in the third heat of Round
1 on Tuesday, September 6, at the Long Beach in New York, America.
The victory sent Burrow directly into the third round, while Gudauskas and Patacchia, who finished in second and third place respectively, were relegated to Round 2.
As the inaugural Quiksilver Pro New York continued with the third heat of Round 1 in two-to-four foot waves, Patacchia wasted no time in locking a wave to collect 5.33 points off it and take the lead. However, Gudaukas and Burrow were quick to rise to the
occasion and pushed their Hawaiian rival to third place almost immediately. While the American caught a wave to earn 6.57 points off it, the 33-year-old Burrow responded with a 6.90-point wave to gain the upper hand in the head.
Patacchia made another determined effort to take the lead and successfully got it back through a 6.13-point wave halfway through the heat to move to a heat-total of 11.46 points. However, he was once again displaced by Burrow, who linked up a few impressive
tricks on his second business-wave, earning 7.03 points for the effort and climbing to a heat-total of 13.93 points.
Gudauskas required an additional 7.36 to overtake Burrow on the scoreboard, but despite a determined effort, he only managed to add another 6.27 to his account. As a result, he ended up in a 1.09-point deficit to take runner-up place which led him to share
the same fate as Patacchia, i.e. get relegated to the second round.
Getting off to a good start was exactly what Burrow needed after a rather disappointing performance at Billabong Pro Tahiti a week ago which had resulted in his early elimination. Renowned for his prowess to perform under any conditions, the Australian is
one of the strongest contenders for the World Title this year and he would like to keep it this way by compensating for the previous event through a successful result in New York.
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