Thiago Camarao and Joan Duru surge into Round 2 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
The thrilling surfing action continued to entertain the crowd as the 23rd and 24th heat of Billabong Azores Islands Pro’s Round of 96 (Round 1) went down at Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal, on Thursday, September 29.
Brazil’s Thiago Camarao barely managed to prevail in the 23rd heat, consequently advancing through to the Round of 48 (Round 2). Japan’s Masatoshi Ohno successfully extended his life in the event by clinching the runner-up position to make the
Round 2 cut. His compatriot, Yujiro Tsuji, got eliminated from the competition after finishing in third place.
The 24th heat saw France’s Joan Duru come up with an impressive performance to capture victory and confidently make his way into the next round. Accompanying him to Round 2 was America’s Patrick Gudauskas, who finished in second place. America’s
Austin Ware and Northern Spain’s Norman Landa rounded out the third and fourth positions respectively, which resulted in their removal from the contention for event title.
The 23rd heat turned out to be a rather intense head-to-head battle between Camarao and Ohno, with Tsuji becoming a mere spectator to the showdown. As the three-man battle got under-way, Ohno got-off to a decent start, collecting 5.27 points of
a wave in the opening minutes. However, Camarao almost immediately stole the lead with a 5.50-point wave.
A few minutes later, the Brazilian added another 6.53 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 12.03 points. The opportunity was there for Ohno to over-take his rival on the score-board, but he failed to capitalise on it after only managing to add
6.40 points to his account and finishing 0.36 points behind Camarao.
Tsuji failed to make a solid impact in the heat and only managed to reach a heat-total of 9.03 points, which included a 6.30 and 2.73-point wave. The inadequate scores led to his elimination from the competition.
The next heat featured a stunning performance by Duru as he took on Gudauskas, Ware and Landa in a battle for Round 2 spot. The demanding conditions were unable to keep the Frenchman at bay as he went hard at the waves.
In the opening minutes of the 24th heat, Duru locked a wave to squeeze 7.00 points out of it. Keeping the momentum going, he soon caught another wave to unload a combination of impressive tricks, earning 7.83 points for the effort and moving to
a heat-total of 14.83 points. The score proved too much big of a challenge for other surfers in the four-man battle, which consequently allowed Duru to walk away with a convincing victory.
Gudauskas also succeeded to go through to the next round after finishing with a heat-total of 11.77 points, which included a 7.00 and 4.77-point wave. The result would surely have been quite satisfying for the American, considering the difficult surfing
conditions.
Ware barely missed out on making the Round 2 cut after finishing in third place with a heat-total of 11.70 points, while Landa finished last after a disappointing heat-total of 7.90 points.
For updates on Round 2 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
Tags: