Davey Cathels and Adrian Toyon clinch victory in Round 1 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito
The final two heats of Mr. Price Pro Ballito’s round of 96 (Round 1) went down at Surfers Beach in Ballito, South Africa, on Tuesday, July 5th.
Australia’s Davey Cathels walked away from the 23rd heat with top honours, while his compatriot Kai Otton finished in second place to join him in the Round of 48 (Round 2). The third Australian in the four-way battle, Yadin Nicol was ousted from
the competition after taking third position, along with Brazil’s Jean da Silva who finished fourth.
Reunion Island’s Adrian Toyon emerged triumphant in the 24th heat to advance to the next round. America’s Damien Hobgood took runner-up place to stay alive in the event-title race. Australia’s Shaun Cansdell and America’s Nat Young rounded out
the bottom-two position and were eliminated from the completion as a result.
The 23rd heat turned out to be an intense battle between Cathels and Otton. Both surfers remained at par with each other’s performances, making it anyone’s game.
Otton opened the heat with an impressive 7.43-point wave to take the lead. However, Cathels reversed the pressure by earning 7.93 off a wave almost halfway through the heat. Otton moved ahead on the scoreboard once again by adding a 8.07 to his account,
but once again, his rival responded with a decisive 8.23-point wave to clinch victory. Regardless of the winner, both top-two surfers advanced to the next round.
Nicol was unable to meet the standards set by his countryman and seemed to be more of a spectator rather than competitor. Looking completely out of rhythm, he finished with a heat-total of 4.70 points, with 1.20 and 3.50 as his best scores.
Da Silva managed to beat Nicol in terms of poor performance and finished in fourth place after earning 1.03 and 1.23 off his two best waves. His two wave total was an embarrassing 2.26.
Reunion Island’s Toyon won the final heat of Round 1 to make his way confidently to the next stage of the competition. Scoring 6.83 points off the very first wave, he moved ahead off his competition on the scoreboard and widened the gap with an additional
6.43 points. The heat-total of 13.26 remained unbeatable and earned him the top slot.
Hobgood, ASP World No. 10 and winner of the second ASP Prime event of the year, The Drug Aware Pro, also made his place in the next round after scoring 6.43 and 5.23 off his two best waves.
Cansdell took third place with a two-wave total of 9.40 points, while the promising young-gun from America, Young failed to do justice to his reputation by giving a weak performance during the heat. He finished in fourth place after managing to earn a heat-total
of 8.77 points.
With the conclusion of heat 24, the field for Round 2 of the event was completed. A total of 48 surfers were going to compete for the 24 slots available for Round 3.
For updates on Round 2 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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