Matt Wilkinson emerges triumphant in tough Round 2 heat at Quiksilver Saquarema Prime – Surfing News

Matt Wilkinson from Australia moved into the third round (No-Loser Round of 24) at the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola after claiming top honours in the seventh heat of Round 2 (Round of 48) that went down at the point-break of Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 23.

Venezuela’s Jonathan Gonzalez finished in runner-up place to advance through into the next round of the competition as well. Spain’s Gony Zubizarreta finished in third place, while Brazil’s Messias Felix rounded out the bottom-position. Both the surfers found themselves ejected from the contention for the event title.

Some of the best surfers from around the globe had turned up at Brazil to compete for the coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) ranking points and a slice of the $US 250,000 prize purse that were on offer. The four-to-six foot waves breaking at the event site provided plenty of opportunities for the surfers to unleash their skills and treat the huge crowd in attendance to a series of exquisite performances.

The seventh heat of Round 2 pitted Wilkinson against Gonzalez, Zubizarreta and Felix in a four-man battle for the Round 3 spot.

As the battle got underway, Wilkinson got off to a slow start, apparently taking his time to search for his rhythm. Almost halfway through the heat, the Australian surfer got hold of a promising left-hander and successfully added a 6.83 on the score-board. Struggling to find another good score as the heat progressed, Wilkinson eventually managed to break free of the shackles and post a 5.77 on the score-board to move to a heat-total of 12.60 points. The score kept him in the lead until the end to see him through to victory, thus carrying him through into the next round.

Gonzalez got off to a slow start as well, but gradually built momentum to register a 6.20 and 5.97-point ride, which allowed him to finish with a heat-total of 12.17 points. The effort proved sufficient to earn him runner-up place, thus adding him to the Round 3 line-up.

Zubizarreta finished third after scoring a 5.93 and 4.63 off his best-two waves, while a heat-total of 10.10 points put Felix in fourth place. The bottom-two finish brought the competition to a premature end for both the surfers.

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Posted by Muhammad Qasim Hassan on May 28 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.