Aranburu, Smith and Huscenot make the Round 3 cut at Mr Price Pro Ballito – Surfing news
Basque Country’s Aritz Aranburu, South Africa’s Jordy Smith and Reunion Island’s Maxime Huscenot advanced to the third round (Round of 24) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Mr Price Pro Ballito after emerging triumphant in their respective
Round 2 (Round of 48) heats at the main event site if Ballito in South Africa on Wednesday, July 3, 2013.
Australia’s Thomas Woods finished behind Aranburu in second place during the fourth heat of Round 2 to accompany the latter into the next round, whereas Hawaii’s Frederick Patacchia and Kiron Jabour rounded out the bottom-two positions to find themselves
out of the contention for the event title.
The fifth heat saw Portugal’s Marlon Lipke accompany heat winner Smith into the third round after clinching second place. Brazil’s Alejo Muniz finished in third place, while Hawaii’s Ezekiel Lau had to settle for fourth place. Both the surfers were consequently
eliminated from the event.
South Africa’s Beyrick De Vries made the Round 3 cut as well after finishing behind Huscenot in the sixth heat. South Africa’s Matt Banting and Australia’s Mitchel Coleborn rounded out the third and fourth place respectively, thus getting removed from the
race for the event title.
The waves on offer at Ballito during the afternoon session turned out to be pretty challenging, demanding a hefty amount of effort from the surfers before rewarding them decent scores.
During the fourth heat, Aranburu exhibited some impressive wave selection to find a couple of decent wave scores, eventually registering a heat-total of 13.77 points. The score proved sufficient to keep him in the lead until the end, consequently earning
him the win.
A two-wave total of 11.93 points served to put Woods in second place, thus allowing him to stay alive in contention for the event title.
Patacchia finished with a heat-total of 9.90 points, while Jabour registered a two-wave total of 7.27 points. Both the surfers clearly lacked form on the latest day of the competition and consequently found themselves making a premature exit from the competition.
The fifth saw Smith, former Mr Price Pro Ballito Champion and current World No.4, living up to his reputation as he tore the 1.5 to 2 metre surf apart with powerful curves and turns. Collecting an 8.00 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a
7.00 of second business-wave, the South African powerhouse finished with a heat-total of 15.23 points, which served to seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
“It was tough out there, there’s a lot of side chop and it makes it hard when you’re coming off the bottom and into your top turn but I think I got the best waves of the heat because I was willing to wait for them,” Smith said.
Lipke successfully made it through into the next round as well after finishing with a heat-total of 10.67 points.
Muniz and Lau registered a two-wave total of 10.17 and 8.40 points respectively, which proved inadequate for qualification into the next round.
The sixth heat saw Huscenot register a two-wave total of 14.23 points. De Vries offered a solid challenge, but failed to go beyond a heat-total of 13.40 points, thus surrendering victory to his rival and settling for second place himself.
Banting finished in third place with a heat-total of 13.04 points, whereas Coleborn, who looked completely out of form, finished with a heat-total of 6.70 points.
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