{"id":30675,"date":"2012-05-14T11:26:09","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T18:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=30675"},"modified":"2012-05-14T11:28:12","modified_gmt":"2012-05-14T18:28:12","slug":"billabong-rio-pro-gets-into-round-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=30675","title":{"rendered":"Billabong Rio Pro Gets Into Round 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Florence050Rio12Kirstin<\/a><\/p>\n

It was an ugly day at Barra Da Tijuca for the 2012 Billabong Rio Pro<\/a><\/strong> as surfers returned to the waves after a four-day break. Storm surf threw up shifty, slamming four to six foot beasts for the Round 2 surfers to negotiate and survive. Those who did felt like victorious warriors. Two of the survivors were 2 John Florence<\/strong> (pictured above in a photo that makes it look much better than it was) and CJ Hobgood<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese conditions are a giant equalizer no matter who you have,\u201d Hobgood said. \u201cYou know you\u2019re not going to get many chances. You could go from a dog fight trying to find 2s and 3s, that\u2019s how slim it is and luckily a little later I got a chance on a left. It\u2019s tough, there are not many out there. It looks easy from the beach and when you\u2019re taking off you\u2019re thinking, \u2018I hope I make the drop here.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The event progressed into the first two heats of Round 3 with Tiago Pires<\/strong> defeating Owen Wright<\/strong> and Michel Bourez<\/strong> taking Brett Simpson<\/strong> out. For the official word and complete results from the day follow the jump.BARRA DA TIJUCA, Rio de Janeiro\/Brazil (Monday, May 14, 2012) \u2013 After a four-day break from competition, the Billabong Rio Pro launched back to action at the primary venue of Barra da Tijuca as world\u2019s best surfers did battle in challenging four-to-six foot (1.5 – 2 metro) barrels at the primary venue.<\/p>\n

Adam Melling (AUS), 27, led the day\u2019s proceedings with superior barrel-riding skills. The powerful natural-footer charged into two deep tubes, earning the day\u2019s highest single wave score of 9.67 out of 10 en route to the day\u2019s highest heat total of 17.00 out of 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty happy with that one,\u201d Melling said. \u201cI snuck out of that first one that was a bit of a close out and on my way back out that other one doubled up real well and ran off. I was stoked to get that one on the way back out. It was sucking out off of the bank pretty well. It feels really good to get good waves in a heat. They\u2019re definitely out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

John John Florence (HAW), 19, led the rookie class with unmatched versatility this morning, driving through barrels and punting critical airs in the pounding conditions to take a dominant Round 2 victory over replacement surfer Willian Cardoso (BRA), 26, with a strong 16.20 out of 20 heat total.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really hard heat and I was so tired,\u201d Florence said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been sitting around these last couple of days. There really haven\u2019t been any waves and then we were straight into these conditions. I try to take the heats as a free surf. It seems like I surf the best when I\u2019m having fun, but obviously you\u2019ve got the jersey on and you know you need to finish your waves off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florence, current No. 10 on the ASP WCT ratings, was relieved to avoid an equal 25th place finish after a tough Round 1 loss and knew his Round 2 draw against Brazilian powerhouse, Cardoso, would be no easy task.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a really bad heat at Arpoador the other day and I was kind of nervous going into this one,\u201d Florence said. \u201cI just wanted to make it through. Willian (Cardoso) is such a good surfer and I\u2019m just happy to make it out of that round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florence will now face fellow rookie Miguel Pupo (BRA), 20, in Round 3 of competition.<\/p>\n

Peterson Crisanto (BRA), 19, Billabong Rio Pro Wildcard, began the day by delivering a big upset, eliminating event favorite and fellow countryman Gabriel Medina (BRA), 18, in the opening heat of Round 2. Crisanto focused on the barreling right-handers while Medina struggled with the strong current and thumping waves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that heat wasn\u2019t going to be easy with Gabriel (Medina) so I just tried to stay on the rights and try and find the barrels,\u201d Crisanto said. \u201cI almost made the first barrel, but I made the second one, so I\u2019m happy to get through to the next round. I just tried to stay relaxed and find the right waves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crisanto will take on Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, in Round 3 of the Billabong Rio Pro.<\/p>\n

Michel Bourez (PYF), 26, was extremely patient in his Round 2 matchup against Billabong Rio Pro Wildcard Tomas Hermes (BRA), 25, and his strategy paid off. The Tahitian drove through two righthand barrels, picking off his first ride in the opening minutes and waited until the dying seconds of the bout to post his second score.<\/p>\n

“I was waiting for that one for so long,\u201d Bourez said. \u201cI got my first wave at the beginning and got my second one at the last second. I love these conditions, it fits my surfing. I like to wait for the right ones and get the big barrels. Sometimes you have to go big and do big turns, but I expect to find the barrels today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bourez would go on to eliminate an in-form Brett Simpson (USA), 27, in the final heat of the day, advancing through to Round 4 of competition.<\/p>\n

Tiago Pires (PRT), 32, prevailed over the day\u2019s stormy beach break conditions to take out two heat victories, topping Australians Kai Otton (AUS), 32, in Round 2 and Owen Wright (AUS), 22, in Round 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam Melling must have been surfing another break out there,\u201d Pires said. \u201cYou get out there with the psych and I could not find the waves. There were lots of close outs and it was just really tough. I\u2019m stoked to make it through though, it\u2019s my first time advancing to Round 4 this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

C.J. Hobgood (USA), 32, navigated through the tough conditions brought on by building wind and dropping tide to post an 8-point score which proved to be enough to secure his win over ASP WCT Rookie Yadin Nicol (AUS), 26, in their Round 2 match-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese conditions are a giant equalizer no matter who you have,\u201d Hobgood said. \u201cYou know you\u2019re not going to get many chances. You could go from a dog fight trying to find 2s and 3s, that\u2019s how slim it is and luckily a little later I got a chance on a left. It\u2019s tough, there are not many out there. It looks easy from the beach and when you\u2019re taking off you\u2019re thinking, \u2018I hope I make the drop here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hobgood will take on Patrick Gudauskas (USA), 26, in Round 3 when competition resumes.<\/p>\n

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow at 6:30am to assess conditions for a possible 7am start.<\/p>\n

Highlights from today’s Billabong Rio Pro will be available via http:\/\/wctbrasil.com\/<\/p>\n

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n

The Billabong Rio Pro is proudly supported by Monster Energy Drink and Xperia Sony Smartphone.<\/p>\n

BILLABONG RIO PRO ROUND 3 RESULTS:
\nHeat 1: Tiago Pires (PRT) 10.40 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 6.40
\nHeat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 8.70 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 8.53<\/p>\n

BILLABONG RIO PRO ROUND 2 RESULTS:
\nHeat 1: Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 10.83 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 7.17
\nHeat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.10 def. Tomas Hermes (BRA) 12.66
\nHeat 3: John John Florence (HAW) 16.20 def. Willian Cardoso (BRA) 7.16
\nHeat 4: Heitor Alves (BRA) 6.00 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 5.47
\nHeat 5: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 9.83 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 7.46
\nHeat 6: Brett Simpson (USA) 9.33 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.60
\nHeat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.00 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 2.64
\nHeat 8: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.36 def. Yadin Nicol (AUS) 7.97
\nHeat 9: Travis Logie (ZAF) 9.33 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 5.70
\nHeat 10: Tiago Pires (PRT) 10.90 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.20
\nHeat 11: Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.16 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 6.50
\nHeat 12: Adam Melling (AUS) 17.00 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was an ugly day at Barra Da Tijuca for the 2012 Billabong Rio Pro as surfers returned to the waves after a four-day break. Storm surf threw up shifty, slamming four to six foot beasts for the Round 2 surfers to negotiate and survive. Those who did felt like victorious warriors. Two of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30675"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30677,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30675\/revisions\/30677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}