SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., May 5, 2011 – The ASP PRIME Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro charged through the Round of 24 with several up-and-comers putting on a show in clean two-to-four foot waves at Lower Trestles in San Onofre State Beach. Surfers competing in the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro are surfing for the crucial points on offer towards their ASP World Ranking.

Jadson Andre (BRA), 21, who earned the highest heat total of the entire Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro event yesterday, returned to form again to earn the day’s highest heat-total of 17.87 out of 20 in a combined effort on both the lefts and rights on offer at Lower Trestles.

“Trestles is one of my favorite waves in the world, and I just love to come down and compete and surf,” Andre said. “When I come here I just enjoy surfing with a few other guys in the water so I’m pretty stoked to do this well in the contest, but I’m trying not to think about scores or the final and just try to catch the best waves.”

Andre, who took the event’s highest single-wave score in yesterday’s competition on his forehand, looked equally impressive on the rights of Lower Trestles today with a 9.10 score for several blistering backside turns.

“It’s just amazing to show that I’ve improved,” Andre said. “My best wave was on my backside in that heat, a 9.10 and I’ve just been working hard on my backside.”

Andre has been the leader of the impressive Brazilian contingent responsible for several of the event’s top scores and is motivated by the camaraderie of his fellow countrymen.

“Everybody knows the Brazilian guys are always supporting each other and I really love it,” Andre said. “There are still so many Brazilians left in the contest and it’s always great to make your heat and see your friends make theirs.”

Kolohe Andino (San Clemente, CA), 17, put on an amazing performance in front of his home crowd to earn some of the event’s top scores in what many are calling the most exciting heat of the day. The young Lower Trestles local detonated a well-rounded combination of massive airs and carves on several rights to take down ASP Dream Tour talent Dusty Payne (Lahaina, HI), 22, in a high scoring affair of 17.50 to 17.03.

“Before the heat, my nerves were running wild,” Andino said. “I had to step aside and focus because I was pretty nervous. Once the heat starts, I start to get a little more comfortable, but actually after I got that 7, I was still nervous because I knew Dusty (Payne) could get a bomb and rip it. I just want to give credit to Dusty. He’s one of my favorite surfers, and it’s a bummer we came up against each other and I probably had the best heat of my life.”

Gabriel Medina (BRA), 17, continued to issue his string of upsets by reveling in the clean lefthanders in his morning heat to defeat local standout and ASP Dream Tour competitor Patrick Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA), 25. Medina issued the day’s highest single-wave score of a near perfect 9.50 out of 10 for a massive layback, a powerful carve and completed the ride with a committed air to overtake Gudauskas in their bout for the win.

“I was outside and the wave just came,” Medina said. “I thought ‘oh my God, I have to rip this wave because I need a score.’ I did that layback first and then a good turn and finished with the air. I’m stoked.”

“I feel so good,” Medina said. “I was nervous in the start of my heat and I just don’t know, I just got two good waves. At first I was worried because my feet were slipping off of my board. Luckily I had some wax in my wetsuit and fixed it and got two good waves later in the heat.”

C.J. Hobgood (Melbourne, FL), 31, was one veteran campaigner who capitalized on his experience of the Round of 24’s man-on-man format. The Floridian took to his backhand to lock into two of the heat’s best right-handers to post a solid 17.07 heat total to oust Hawaiian powerhouse Joel Centeio (HAW), 28.

“I just focused in on the rights and it’s completely different than those four-man heats,” Hobgood said. “In the four-man heats, it’s all about getting your waves and building a house and the two-man are exactly opposite. You want to think clearly and focus on what you’re doing. I was able to do that and it was the difference. I’ve got a lot of experience here, so it helps.”

Andre, Andino and Mendes all executed maneuvers worthy of Most Valuable Performance (MVP) status during the day.  A video clip of each will be available to view online at nike6lowerspro.com/mvp-bracket/mvp-most-valuable-performance/. Tomorrow, the surfer with the most Facebook “likes” will earn MVP status and the gold MVP jersey for the day.  An MVP will be awarded each day; Dane Reynolds earned the title on day one and Caio Ibilli for day two. Each daily winner will go into a final vote for a chance at $1,000 for the overall win.

Concluding today’s action was the ASP 5-Star Oakley Pro Junior, which ran the first two heats of the Round of 32.

The Oakley Pro Junior’s ASP 5-Star status will play a crucial role in American surfers’ chances of qualification for the prestigious ASP World Junior Tour.

Both the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro and Oakley Pro Junior are available via live HD webcast with live video coverage and scoring for all five days of competition with announcers Sal Masekela, Mark Fewell, Dino Andino, Saxon Boucher, Chris Mauro, Brad Gerlach and Jodie Nelson.

The Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro will be televised live and in its entirety in Hawaii on Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s Channel 250 and 1250HD. Additionally, the Oceanic Time Warner Cable live feed will be transported to Time Warner Cable’s Los Angeles (Channel 101), San Diego (Channel 411) and Desert Cities (Channel 111) markets from Thursday through Saturday.

For more information about the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro, visit nike6lowerspro.com. For more about the Oakley Pro Junior, visit oakleyprojunior.com.

The Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro and Oakley Pro Junior wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of sponsors. A special thank you goes out to presenting sponsors Nike 6.0 and Oakley, co-sponsors Red Bull and Sierra Nevada, media sponsor SURFER Magazine (Surfermag.com) and official forecaster Surfline.com.

Medina, who got off to a sluggish start in his heat against Gudauskas, maintained composure in his Round of 24 match-up to show experience beyond his years.