Mikey Wright smoked Adriano De Souza with a dirty manhack

Mikey Wright walked into the competitors area, grabbed a pair of Quiksilver speed dealers, hugged his sister, Tyler, then tried to shake off the euphoria of beating the world champ on his World Tour debut before confronting the media.

“Yeah, I didn’t even think about that (beating the world champ) til you said it,” he said. “I wasn’t really thinking about that. I was just trying to get waves and surf my best.”

A 6.87 in the dying seconds for a speed float to grab-rail man-hack did the damage, defeating world champ Adriano De Souza along with Californian Kolohe Andino. The American coughed up the lead despite holding the second highest wave score of the day – a 9.10 for an aggressive run of turns and a fin throw to end.

“I didn’t know what I needed because I didn’t know what my last wave was, so I just tried to surf as good as I could on that last wave,” he said.

Making his debut against one of the most grizzled and fiery competitors on tour in Adriano was no cause for nerves, he said.

“I was more nervous in my first surf as a wildcard (in the trials). They were my biggest nerves.”

“I just know you have to surf to your best on every wave (at this level),” he said. “It’s what they all do. Every section you come at they go at 100 percent. I’ve just been working on that just trying to go 100 percent at all sections.”

It was far from a convincing win, with Mikey overcooking turns and struggling for wave quality. But he dropped the hammer when it counted, pulling off the turn of the day, and promising to give us more if the waves provide.

“Yeah, you’ll probably see more if the section provides, if I can get the right wave,” he said. “I woulda liked to have gone a lot better but I did enough to win the heat. I’ll come back for the next heat and really give it more.”

The professional freesurfer said he had a point to prove in the competitive arena but not at the expense of big power and punts.

“I just wanna show what I’ve got and what I can do and just surf how I do in freesurfs and put it into a heat,” he said.

Mikey has spent the summer on the far North NSW coast tuning up, putting him in the midst of tropical cyclones Victor and Winston and what were some of the best waves the Superbank has ever seen. He’s as comfortable out here as anyone in the draw.

“I really wanna do good and I wanna put on a show,” he said. “To go through that heat with a win… I’m stoked to go into another round.”