Daniel Ross and Julian Wilson win Round 1 heats of 2011 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
The latest edition of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay continued with the ninth and tenth heat of Round 1 on Friday, July 15, at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa.
The ninth heat saw Australia’s Daniel Ross down his compatriots Adrian Buchan and Kieren Perrow to see himself through to the third round. Buchan finished as runner-up, while Perrow rounded out the third position. Consequently, both the surfers had to compete
in Round 2 to earn a spot in Round 3.
Australia’s Julian Wilson walked away from the tenth heat with top honours after downing America’s Taylor Knox and America’s Damien Hobgood. The victory allowed him to advance directly to the third round, while Knox and Hobgood, who finished second and third,
were relegated to the second round.
The surfing conditions became really tough during Round 3, with the frequency of good waves getting extremely low. After waiting patiently for quite some time, the 28-year-old Ross finally came across a good wave. He threw a string of impressive manoeuvres
to earn 7.77 points for the effort and taking the lead. Adding an additional 3.93 points to his account, he finished with a heat-total of 11.70 points. The score allowed him to clinch victory comfortably.
Buchan and Perrow were unable to adjust to the surfing conditions and their luck wasn’t coming to their rescue either. Buchan finished with a heat-total of 7.80 points for second place, while Perrow finished last with a two-wave total of 7.73 points.
The tenth heat turned out to be much better as far as the condition of sea and the scoreboard was concerned. However, it was Wilson who remained the main highlight of the heat.
“It was a slow heat out there and I guess that’s how it is at J-Bay sometimes,” Wilson said in his post-heat interview. “You only get two or three opportunities to make it a good heat for yourself so you need to make sure you make the most of them. This
is my first time to Jeffreys and only my third surf out there. I’ve got a really good board right now that Matt Biolis shaped specifically for J-Bay and it’s worked really well so far.”
Knox collected a 5.83 and 4.63 off his two best waves to finish with a two-wave total of 10.46 points, and had to settle for second place. Hobgood’s shaky performance came as a surprise as well, considering his recent form. He only managed to earn 9.70 points
in total from his two best waves and took third position.
For updates on Round 1 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay tuned to bettor.com
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