Blake Thornton and Dion Atkinson step into Round 3 of 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro – Surfing News
Australia’s Blake Thornton and his compatriot Dion Atkinson walked away with top honours from their respective Round 2 (Round of 48) heats of the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro that went down at Margaret River in Australia on Wednesday, March 21.
Both the Australians advanced through into the third round (Round of 24) following their success in Round 1. Their fellow countrymen Mark Occhilupo and Dion Atkinson also advanced through into the next round of the competition after securing runner-up place in the third and fourth heat respectively.
The six-foot waves on offer at the primary event site on day 3 of the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated event promised a heavy dose of thrilling action as the best surfers from around the globe got ready to continue their pursuit of the event title.
As the third heat got underway, Thornton got off to a cautious start but gradually built momentum to eventually post a 6.10 on the scoreboard off his first business-wave. He followed it up with an 8.17-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.27 points, which served to seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
Occhilupo, 1999 ASP World Champion, took runner-up place after scoring a 5.50 off his first business-wave and following it up with a 7.17-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 12.67 points.
America’s Damien Hobgood finished in third place with a heat-total of 12.46 points, while Brazil’s Jadson Andre rounded out the bottom-position with a two-wave total of 4.60 points. Both the surfers got removed from the contention for the event title.
The fourth heat saw Kerr, defending event champion, continue his excellent run of form to down Atkinson, New Zealand’s Billy Stairmand and Brazil’s Hizunome Bettero.
Kerr went through a series of average scores before locking his first business-wave to post an 8.90 on the scoreboard and immediately followed it up with a 7.27-point wave to finish with a decisive heat-total of 16.17 points.
“I’m feeling really good!” Kerr said. “I didn’t have any bigger boards when I got here and I was lucky enough that Rusty pulled one off the shelf and it’s been going really good. It’s super clean out there. The rights are bending back so there’s a few nice walls. It’s like snowboarding out there, you get lots of speed and power and you can push your turns.”
Atkinson also got his place confirmed in the third round after finishing with a heat-total of 6.23 and 6.77-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 13.00 points.
Stairmand and Bettero got eliminated from the competition after finishing with a two-wave total of 6.80 and 5.90 points respectively.
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