TAJ BURROW Wins At Haleiwa
TAJ CLAIMS CROWN
Western Australia’s Taj Burrow has won his first Reef Hawaiian Pro title in Hawaii – pocketing $25,000 in prize money and putting him in the lead on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing ratings. Burrow (33) is virtually a veteran of pro surfing having competed in many titles in the Hawaiian waters over the last 15 years. Going into the finals Burrow claimed that this was the year he was going to make his mark, he didn’t disappoint. The conditions showed little mercy for surfers who were not on top of their game in the crucial and highly contestable middle rounds of competition. Arial punts were given a helping hand thanks to some stiff off-shore wind. Australia’s Air Ace Josh Kerr, bowed out to Florida’s Evan Geiselman and Hawaii’s Ezekiel Lau; despite making some epic airs of the contests – his 9.7 score not being enough to see him through.
It took experience to shine in these conditions and great surfers always find a way – as did Taj Burrow who stepped up to the challenge. Ranked No.3 on the World Tour, he stayed patient throughout the final – picking off the best waves of the set. While aerials are the choice of surfers to stack up points, Burrow strategically built on his scores with a combination of form-bending tube rides and lip-belting close-out snaps. Taj had this to say:
It’s pretty tough and you have to be selective. I’m normally not that patient, but I tried to wait for those bigger waves even though I didn’t do the most rad surfing ever on my nine. I think the judges liked the size of the wave… I had a good run, it feels good scoring in the 9-point range and it’s hard to do, I just really wanted to win an event here. I am really happy. It’s funny I have never really gotten a good shot (at the Vans Triple Crown). I was thinking, maybe I should really have a go at one of these things so I actually have it right in the front of my mind.
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Local favorite John John Florence (19) was expected to do well but came up short against Burrow and Nat Young. Nonetheless the youngster put on a fine display to reach the semi finals and hopes to build momentum throughout the remaining two events. Florence was still stoked:
I’m happy. I would have loved to make the final but I’m stoked to make the semi’s. All the young guys, Nat (Young), Kolohe (Andino), Evan (Geiselman), Granger (Larsen), everyone’s just kind of killing it, doing airs, getting everything together. It’s great, everyone’s down here, I’m stoked. I feel so at home. Sunset’s next, it’s gonna be big, it should be fun!
The youngest of the finalists Nat Young (20) dominated in earlier rounds, posting the highest heat scores in the quarters – 17.77. He popped two huge reverse 360 aerials on one wave for a 9.77 – the highest single wave of the event. However the waves he encountered in the finals proved to be frustrating for the young surfer:
Yeah I was super frustrated in the final. Everything that could go wrong went wrong for me. I mean, it’s great to make the final and I’m so stoked about that. It’s all good and I will go into the next event with a little more confidence.
Burrow also edged out fellow Aussie Adam Melling (26) and while a victory would’ve been better, he was still happy to have made it as a finalist in Hawaii.
I’ve always wanted to get into the final over here because it’s such a unique place, and it’s a hard place to surf. I wanted to get the bomb rights, but I didn’t want to wait. There were a lot of lefts coming in all day. I think I got a good backhand whip on me at times, so I use it to my advantage.
Despite the difficult windblown conditions, Burrow is happy to have won in Haleiwa – a place where he feels very comfortable.
I love being in Hawaii. I was saying to a few of my friends it is so good to come to Hawaii and sit and make a base for six weeks. We are getting on a plane every other weekend normally, it’s draining. Coming to Hawaii you just get in a good routine, you unpack your bags and you can kind of relax. We train and eat good food and just the whole routine of it all I feel much better then having to skip town every two weeks.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing continues until December 6th, moving north to Sunset Beach for the Vans World Cup of Surfing.
Check out the video here:
FINALS
Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.90pts ; Adam Melling (AUS) 12.12.60pts ; Adriano De Souza (BRA) 12.50 pts ; Nat Young (USA) 6.10 pts
SEMIFINALS
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.84pts ; Nat Young (USA) 12.70pts ; John John Florence (HAW) 11.50pts ; Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 10.67pts
Heat 2: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 13.54pts ; Adam Melling (AUS) 13.16pts ; Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.30pts ; Roy Powers (HAW) 4.57pts
QUARTERFINALS
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.10pts ; Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 15.60pts ; Evan Geiselman (USA) 15.00pts ; Kolohe Andino (HAW) 6.90pts
Heat 2: Nat Young (USA) 17.77pts ; John John Florence (HAW) 14.27pts ; Kieren Perrow (AUS) 5.50pts ; Glen Hall (IRL) 5.20pts
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.50pts ; Adriano De Souza (BRA) 12.30pts ; Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 12.20 pts ; Jesse Mendes (BRA) 9.17pts
Heat 4: Roy Powers (HAW) 15.00pts ; Adam Melling (AUS) 9.90pts ; Brett Simpson (USA) 7.33pts ; Granger Larsen (HAW) 6.83pts
Round of 32
Heat 1: Evan Geiselman (USA)11.33pts ; Kieren Perrow (AUS)10.73pts ; Hodei Collazo (EUK) 6.84pts ; Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 2.90pts
Heat 2: Kolohe Andino (HAW) 11.84pts ; Nat Young (USA) 9.70pts ; Adrien Toyon (REU)9.27pts ; Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 9.13pts
Heat 3: Glenn Hall (IRL) 15.43pts ; Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 14.37pts ; Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 10.34pts ; Leonardo Neves (BRA)10.00pts
Heat 4: John John Florence (HAW) 16.27pts ; Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.26pts ; Thiago Camarao 7.77pts (BRA) ; Daniel Ross (AUS) 7.70pts
Heat 5: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 12.67pts ; Brett Simpson (USA) 12.34pts ; Dusty Payne (HAW) 9.60pts ; Adrian Buchan (AUS) 9.30pts
Heat 6: Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 11.19pts ; Adam Melling (AUS) 10.73pts ; Dion Atkinson (AUS) 8.83pts ; Adam Robertson (AUS) 8.50pts
Heat 7: Roy Powers (HAW) 9.94pts ; Michel Bourez (PYF) 9.50pts ; Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.57pts ; Marc Lacomare (FRA) 5.83pts
Heat 8: Granger Larsen (HAW) 14.60pts ; Jesse Mendes (BRA) 12.60pts ; Nathaniel Curran (USA) 10.84pts ; Aritz Aramburu (EUK) 7.93pts
CLASH of the LEGENDS
Heat 2 : Ross Williams (HAW) 14.50pts ; Shane Dorian (HAW) 14.44 pts ; Rob Machado (USA) 10.83pts ; Kalani Robb (HAW) 8.27pts
via: espn, transworld, mesurf
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