Travis Logie and Taylor Knox move to Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The air continued to remain electrifying at the renowned beach-break of Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, on Monday, October 17, as South Africa’s Travis Logie squared off with Brazil’s Miguel Pupo in the 11th heat, while America’s Taylor Knox
took on his compatriot Patrick Gudauskas in the 12th heat of Rip Curl Pro Portugal’s Round 2.
The 11th heat saw Logie walk away with top honours after putting forward an impressive performance to down Pupo. The victory marked the end for the road for the young Brazilian in Portugal, while sending the South African into the next round.
The experience of Knox really stood out as he competed and defeated Gudauskas in the 12th heat to advance through into the third round, bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The high performance six-to-eight foot waves on offer at the primary event site set the stage for thrilling battles as the surfers got ready to try and extend their life in the competition by securing a place in the third round.
The crowd was definitely not disappointed during the 11th heat, as the battle between Logie and Pupo turned out to be a real nail-biter and delivered the promised action. After a lacklustre performance in the first round, both the surfers needed
to do some serious bit of thinking before hitting the waves again and it soon became apparent that the home-work had indeed been done.
As the man-on-man battle got underway, the 32-year-old Logie went through a series of average scores before showcasing a string of impressive tricks on a wave to collect 7.50 points for the effort. However, Pupo immediately responded with a 7.83-point wave
to clinch the lead.
The Brazilian added another 6.93 points to his account to take his heat-total to 14.76 points. Just when it seemed that the score had proved sufficient to carry him off to victory, Logie locked a wave in the dying minutes of the battle to earn 8.93 points
off it and edged past his rival to a decisive heat-total of 16.43 points.
The final heat of Round 2 saw the 40-year-old Knox take down his compatriot Gudauskas, despite getting off to a slow start. As the 30-minute battle commenced, Knox struggled to find a good score, but after gradually building momentum and showing some patience,
he got hold of a juicy wave. The wave allowed him to unleash a flurry of impressive manoeuvres, earning 9.00 points for the effort and moving to a heat-total of 13.73 points.
Gudauskas turned out to be short on luck and despite getting to a similar start as his opponent, lady luck refused to smile upon him and kept him deprived of a juicy wave. He eventually had to settle for a couple of modest score and consequently finished
with a heat-total of 9.30 points. As a result, he was forced to surrender victory to Knox, sending the experienced surfer into the next round.
For updates on the Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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