After Tiago Pires defeated Josh Kerr in the opening heat of today’s foreshortened running of the 2011 Quiksilver Pro France we lost focus. We were saddened to see John John Florence out by .12 of a point to Alejo Muniz, but the rest of the heats really move us one way or another. We still don’t understand why organizers when with 35 minutes heats in the first place, but turns out it didn’t really matter as the wind blew things out by noon anyway.
The call for Friday will be made at 7:30 AM local time (10:30 PM PST Thursday). Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP.LA GRAVIERE, Hossegor/France (Thursday, October 6, 2011) – The Quiksilver Pro France completed Heats 4 through 8 of Round 2 this morning in shifting four-to-six (1.5 – 2 metre) waves this morning before calling competition off for the day due to onshore winds.
Event No. 8 of 11 on the 2011 ASP World Tour, the Quiksilver Pro France plays a vital role in both the hunt for the 2011 ASP World Title and the requalification campaigns of the world’s best surfers, and has already bore witness to some major upsets in the opening days of competition.
Tiago Pires (PRT), 31, navigated this morning’s tricky conditions to upset current No. 5 on the ASP World Title rankings, Josh Kerr (AUS), 27, in the opening heat of the morning.
“It’s really hard out there this morning,” Pires said. “There are some really good ones, but the water is moving so much. It’s challenging. I was fortunate to find a really good one that stayed open and I got a pretty decent barrel. Josh (Kerr) has been in really good form the last few events so I’m happy to get past him.”
Gabriel Medina (BRA), 17, newcomer to the elite ASP Top 34 following September’s rotation, utilized his lethal backhand to take down Dusty Payne (HAW), 22, in Round 2 of competition.
“Dusty (Payne) is such a good surfer and can get the score at any moment,” Medina said. “The lineup is very shifty and it’s very difficult to be in the correct spot. You just have to take off on waves and surf what you have. I’m very thankful to get through and hope the conditions clean up.”
Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7:30am to assess conditions for a possible 8am start.
When competition resumes, up first will be Raoni Monteiro (BRA), 29, and Miguel Pupo (BRA), 19, in Heat 9 of Round 2.
Highlights from the Quiksilver Pro France will be available via http://www.quiksilverlive.com
For additional information log on to www.aspworldtour.com
QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 4: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.10 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.76
Heat 5: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.00 def. John John Florence (HAW) 11.86
Heat 6: Kai Otton (AUS) 12.60 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 12.13
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.43 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.60
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.57 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 11.50
QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 9: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 10: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 12: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
