John John Florence put on a clinic in Round 4 of the Hurley Pro at Trestles as the field narrowed down to the final eight surfers. We’re not exactly sure what the clinic was called – perhaps ‘How to Score a Nine at Trestles’ or ‘Near-Perfect Surfing by JJF’ – but it was a crazy show as he recorded five scores in the nine point range to attain a 19.73 heat total.
Here is a quick video re-cap:
The Hawaiian was surfing against Adriano De Souza (BRA), who was one of the other standouts of the day, and Kelly Slater (USA), who he could have given three of his nine point rides to and still beaten. On his last wave of the heat, John John launched and landed two airs that made you wonder exactly what kind of wax he uses to keep him in such control, and what sort of stretches he does pre-heat to make his limbs and torso flex like rubber. The commentators just called him an alien.
Along with some of the biggest carves of the day, Adriano also punted some committed airs.
The day’s next highest heat total belonged to Adriano De Souza, who defeated Owen Wright (AUS) in Round 5 to advance to the Quarter Finals with a heat total of an even 18.00pts. Along with John John and Adriano, other surfers to qualify for the Quarter Finals were; Mick Fanning (AUS), Jordy Smith (ZAF), Gabriel Medina (BRA), Ace Buchan (AUS), Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Kelly Slater (USA).
Jordy started the day by defeating Julian Wilson in tricky conditions in the first heat of the morning, before finishing third in his non-elimination Round 4 heat against Brazilians, Gabriel Medina and Miguel Pupo. The judges appeared to be favouring the snappy backhand attacks of Gabriel and Miggy, as Jordy’s powerful drawn-out turns weren’t registering the same kind of scores.
Three more heat wins is all Jordy needs to grab his first event victory of 2014.
In Round 5, Jordy found some good rhythm and more importantly the clean finish to his rides that were costing him in the previous heat. He finished on top of a closely fought battle with the Spartan, Michel Bourez (PFY) to advance to a Quarter Final match-up with Mick Fanning.
With the field narrowed down to the last eight in both the Hurley Pro at Trestles and the Swatch Women’s Pro, we are in for an exciting conclusion at Lower Trestles as the Dream Tour starts winding down towards its business end.
Go to aspworldtour.com for all the Heats on Demand, results and photos.
Hurley Pro at Trestles Quarter Final Match-Ups:
HEAT 1 – Mick Fanning vs Jordy Smith
HEAT 2 – Gabriel Medina vs Ace Buchan
HEAT 3 – John John Florence vs Adriano De Souza
HEAT 4 – Joel Parkinson vs Kelly Slater
Swatch Women’s Pro Quarter Final Match-Ups:
HEAT 1 – Steph Gilmore vs Laura Enever
HEAT 2 – Coco Ho vs Lakey Peterson
HEAT 3 – Sally Fitzgibbons vs Bianca Buitendag
HEAT 4 – Tyler Wright vs Johanne Defay