Tiago Pires and Jeremy Flores advance to Round 3 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
After failing to start on July 14th due to low tides, the fourth of eleven stops on the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour finally got underway with Round 1 on Friday, July 15h, at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa.
The day kicked off with the first heat, which pitted Portugal’s Tiago Pires against Australia’s Bede Durbidge and America Cory Lopez. The “Portugal Tiger” prevailed over his rivals quite comfortably to go through to the third round directly. Durbidge and
Lopez were relegated to Round 2 after rounding out the second and third positions.
The second heat saw France’s Jeremy Flores advance to the third stage after emerging triumphant, while America’s CJ Hobgood and Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia finished in second and third place respectively, moving into the sudden-death Round 2 as a result.
After seven weeks of patience, the fans were treated to a showdown between the elite ASP Top 34. With contestable three-to-four foot waves breaking at Jeffreys Bay, the day was expected to be full of exciting surfing action.
The first Round 1 battle commenced with Pires, Durbidge and Lopez entering the sea to compete for a place in the third round. Current ASP World No.9 from Australia, Durbidge, drew first blood, scoring a 4.33 off a wave early in the heat. However, the 31-year-old
Portuguese, Pires, soon responded with a 5.77-point wave to take the lead.
The Australian surfer soon added another 2.33 points to his account, but the small lead failed to hold as Pires collected a 5.27-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 11.04 points, leaving Durbidge in a 4.38-point deficit.
Lopez’s performance during the heat failed to impress as well, merely collecting 2.33 and 4.27 off his two best waves. He was apparently struggling to adjust to the conditions and facing difficulty in catching waves. While the first round turned out to be
a huge disappointment for him, he still has an opportunity to stay in the race for the event-title by regaining his rhythm in Round 2.
The second heat turned out to be an intense battle between France’s Flores and America’s Hobgood. Currently 11th on ASP World Tour Rankings, Flores was never going to make the three-man battle easy for his rivals. However, the American surfer
put up a commendable fight to give the French a tough time, though in the end the effort turned out to be futile.
The 23-year-old French surfer collected a 6.77 early in the heat and later added an additional 6.33 points to his account, finishing with a heat-total of 13.10.
Hobgood had no intention of letting Flores walking away with a win without a tough fight and went hard during the heat. He managed to earn a 5.30 and 6.87 off his two best waves only, consequently surrendering the victory to his rival.
Hawaii’s Patacchia remained the weakest performer of the second heat, finishing with a 6.67 and 3.00 off his two business waves. The conditions were clearly making it tough for him to surf confidently and as a result he ended up at the bottom position. While
things may not have started off well for him, he still had another chance to make a more solid impact and remain in contention for the event title.
For more updates on Round 1 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay tuned to bettor.com
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