ASP
Hawaii's John John Florence earned a perfect 10 on his barrel ride Friday in Teahupoo, Tahiti.
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Hawaii’s John John Florence blazed through his third-round heat Friday at the Billabong Pro Tahiti, conquering a huge barrel to earn the day’s second perfect 10.
Florence followed up his 10 with a 9.10, giving him a 19.10 to 11.13 victory over Brazil’s Miguel Pupo.
"That 10 was one of those lucky wide ones," Florence told
ASPWorldTour.com. "To get those wide ones, you have to be so close to peak to get the wave and I was over far enough to get it. I thought I’d be deep and I had to grab my rail. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster on that one. I was trying to get out of the barrel any way that I could and then I had a nice lip to do a turn on."
Florence was in one of eight third-round heats that were completed on Friday. Four heats remain to complete the round, one of which feature’s Hawaii’s Fred Patacchia against Brazil’s Gabriel Medina.
Defending event champion Mick Fanning of Australia had the day’s first perfect 10, on his way to a 17.83 score and a third-round victory over Hawaii’s Ian Walsh, who scored 17.60.
The rest of Friday’s third-round winners were:
» Jordy Smith, who beat Nathan Hedge 17.90-17.70
» Jeremy Flores, who beat Damien Hobgood 17.87-15.60
» Josh Kerr, who beat Kieren Perrow 18.53-17.83
» Adrian Buchan, who beat Bede Durbidge 17.03-16.27
» Kelly Slater, who beat Anthony Walsh 18.97-16.23
» Kai Otton, who beat Matt Wilkinson 16.43-16.27