Adrian Buchan and Owen Wright survive Round 2 of Billabong Pro Tahiti – 2011 ASP World Tour
Australia’s Adrian Buchan defeated America’s Gabe Kling, while Australia’s Owen Wright defeat compatriot Adam Melling in the third and fourth heat of Billabong Pro Tahiti’s Round 2 respectively on Friday, August 26, at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti.
The success in their second round heat allowed Buchan and Wright to move to Round 3, while removing their rivals from the competition.
The sudden-death Round 2 took place in a solid swell of over six-to-eight feet, while the conditions were made somewhat terrifying due to the strong winds blowing across the primary event site.
As the third heat kicked off, Buchan showed everyone what he was really made of as he caught a wave to score 7.17 points off it and soon locked another wave to unleash a string of impressive yet daring manoeuvres, sending both the crowd and the judges in
awe while earning a near-perfect score of 9.93. Finishing with a heat-total of 17.10 points, the Australian seemed to have pretty much sealed the fate of the contest in his favour.
Kling went through a series of waves before collecting 4.07 and 2.53 points off the last two waves to finish with a heat-total of 6.60 points. The effort was not even close to what was required under the circumstances and simply allowed Buchan to walk away
with a comfortable win.
The fourth heat turned out to be completely one-sided as well as Melling’s luck seemed to have bailed on him, leading him into totally succumbing to the conditions.
Wright earned 7.50 and 4.00 points off the only two waves that he was able to catch during the 30-minute heat. Surfing was not easy due to the strong winds and big wave combination, making the heat-total of 11.50 look like a challenging one to beat.
This was soon proved by the two-wave total of Melling, whose best-wave scores consisted of 0.83 and 1.00 points. Consequently, he was forced to surrender victory to his countryman and make an early exit from the competition.
Billabong Pro Tahiti is the fifth stop on the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour and second-to-last event before the September rotation takes place.
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