Caio Ibelli and Tim Macdonald advance to Round 2 of Burton Toyota Pro at Newcastle’s Surfest
Brazil’s Caio Ibelli and Australia’s Tim Macdonald walked away with top honours from their respective Round 1 (Round of 144) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star Burton Toyota Pro at Newcastle’s Surfest that continued to deliver a heavy
dose of surfing action at Merewether Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Monday, March 12.
The successful Round 1 result carried both Ibelli and Macdonald into Round 2 (Round of 96) of the competition. They were accompanied by Brazil’s Marco Fernandez and Hawaii’s Olamana Eleogram who took first runner-up position in the 13th and 14th
heat respectively.
The tricky three-foot waves breaking at the beach on the opening day of the latest event in the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) hardly kept the surfers from putting on spectacular performances while pursuing the coveted event prize money and ASP rating
points that were on offer.
Ibelli read the conditions prevailing at Merewether Beach on Monday quite well and ended up delivering an impressive show in the 13th heat, taking down Fernandez, Hawaii’s Kiron Jabour and Japan’s Nobuyuki Osawa.
The Brazilian surfer went down to work as soon as the heat got underway and locked his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 4.67 on the score-board. He continued his hunt for a big score and eventually managed to add a 7.60 to
his account, finishing with a heat-total of 12.27 points. The score remained unbeatable until the end to seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
Fernandez successfully extended his life in the event by securing runner-up place through a heat-total of 11.83 points, which included a 6.93 and 4.90-point wave.
Jabour finished in third place with a heat-total of 9.83 points, while Osawa rounded out the bottom position with a two-wave total of 9.17 points. Both the surfers were consequently removed from the contention for the event-title.
The 14th heat featured an intense battle between Macdonald and Eleogram for top honours. The Australian surfer scored a 5.50 off his first business-wave, but Eleogram edged past him on the score-board with a 7.23-point wave.
Macdonald reclaimed the lead once again through a 7.00-point ride and this time managed to hang on to it. His Hawaiian surfer failed to find an adequate response and consequently finished with a heat-total of 11.53 points to settle for runner up.
Both the surfers advanced through into the next round of the competition.
Brazil’s Halley Batista and Reunion Island’s Medi Veminardi were also present in the four-man battle, though they failed to make their presence felt. Batista finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.27 points, while Veminardi was forced to settle
for fourth place after finishing with a heat-total of 7.96 points. The bottom-two finish led to the elimination of both the surfers from the event.
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