Stack Eliminated as Field Thins at Quiksilver Pro

The field dropped from 36 competitors to 20 as the second round of the Quiksilver Pro New York wrapped up and third round began Wednesday in Long Beach.

Winners of each first-round heat from Tuesday received an automatic bid to the third round, while surfers who finished in the second and third spot of their first-round heats had to battle it out in the second round.

Wednesday's action wrapped up around 3:40 p.m. with four heats completed in the third round. Round 3 is expected to continue bright and early Thursday at 7:30 a.m.

Second Round Heat Summaries

Round 2, Heat 1

Point Lookout's Balaram Stack was no match for third-ranked Aussie Mick Fanning in Wednesday's first heat, as Stack failed to put much together and fell 15.20 - 7.06.

Round 2, Heat 2

Aussie Owen Wright, ranked fourth in the world, used two nice runs, including a 7.57 to defeat American Asher Nolan, who failed to score above 6.00 on either of his runs.

Round 2, Heat 3

Eighth-ranked Adrian Buchan continued the early morning Australian success as he defeated Keanu Asing 12.10 - 9.00.

Round 2, Heat 4

Bobby Martinez, ranked 49th in the world, narrowly edged ninth-ranked Bede Durbidge 14.06 - 13.73 to earn a spot against top-ranked Kelly Slater in the third round Thursday. 

Round 2, Heat 5

Fredrick Patacchia, ranked 47th in the world, upset 10th-ranked Michel Bourez 13.10 - 11.27.

Round 2, Heat 6

Damien Hobgood's 13.13 was enough to Gabe Kling, who finished with a 10.00 and could not come through with the big run to pull of the upset.

Round 2, Heat 7

Brazilian Adriano De Souza scored the highest run of the day with a 9.20 and grabbed the day's highest total score of 17.93 to defeat a solid 14.40 from Travis Logie.

Round 2, Heat 8

American Cory Lopez couldn't get the second run he needed as he fell to Australian Kieren Perrow 13.17 - 12.50.

Round 2, Heat 9

Australian Adam Melling posted one of the day's highest total scores to defeat fellow Aussie Matt Wilkinson 15.70 - 13.97.

Round 2, Heat 10

Kai Otton, ranked 31st in the world, upset 19th-ranked Chris Davidson 13.50 - 12.43.

Round 2, Heat 11

American Brett Simpson knocked off fellow American Taylor Knox 12.93 - 11.20.

Round 2, Heat 12

American Patrick Gudauskas easily defeated Daniel Ross 14.93 - 8.86. Ross failed to score more than 5.00 on any of his runs.

Third Round Heat Summaries

Round 3, Heat 1

Aussie Taj Burrow, ranked fifth in the world, cruised in his heat, putting up one of the highest runs of the day with a 9.17. Burrow, one of the favorites in the competition, knocked off Melling 17.10 to 12.93 to secure a spot in the fourth round.

Round 3, Heat 2

De Souza, who had already posted a 17.93 earlier in the day in the second round, used his strength to push through an early run and grab an 8.00. He ended the heat with a 7.60 on one of the first barrel waves of the competition to defeat Gudauskas 15.60 - 12.67. De Souza had three of the top five runs of the day.

Round 3, Heat 3

Portuguese surfer Tiago Pires built an early lead but couldn't hold on as Jeremy Flores edged out Pires 13.60 - 12.73. Pires grabbed a last-second wave that might have given him the score he needed to surpass Flores, but fell off at the very last moment to give Flores the win.

"It wasn't really pretty, but it did the job," Flores told Quiksilver.

Round 3, Heat 4

The very quick Jadson Andre, ranked 24th in the world, upset 11th-ranked American Hobgood in Heat 4. Hobgood failed to get into any kind of groove and Andre used a nice 7.67 run midway through the heat to secure the 13.44 - 7.93 win.

QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK ROUND 2 RESULTS:Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.20 def. Balaram Stack (USA) 7.06Heat 2: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.07 def. Asher Nolan (USA) 11.33Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.10 def. Keanu Asing (HAW) 9.00Heat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) 14.06 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.73Heat 5: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 13.10 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.27Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.13 def. Gabe Kling (USA) 10.00Heat 7: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.93 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 14.40Heat 8: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.17 def. Cory Lopez (USA) 12.50Heat 9: Adam Melling (AUS) 15.70 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.97Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) 13.50 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 12.43Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) 12.93 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 11.20Heat 12: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 14.93 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 8.83

QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.10 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 12.87
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.60 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.67
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.60 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.73
Heat 4: Jadson Andre (BRA) 13.17 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 7.93

QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 5: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Bobby Martinez *Will not be surfed. Martinez disqualified from competition.
Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 8: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)