Day 1 of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime finds Kai Otton in optimal form – Surfing News
Australia’s Kai Otton walked away with top honours from the fourth heat of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime’s Round 1 (Round of 96) that went down at the point-break of Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 22.
The successful result in his Round 1 heat served to carry Otton into the second round (Round of 48) of the competition. Brazil’s Hizunome Bettero accompanied the Australian into the next round after securing runner-up position. Hawaii’s Kiron Jabour finished
third, while Brazil’s Ruda Carvalho was forced to settle for fourth place. Both the surfers were consequently eliminated from the competition.
The $US 250,000 prize purse and coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) rankings point on offer at the latest event on the 2012 ASP PRIME event calendar attracted the best surfers from around the world to Saquarema. The expectations for a series
of enthralling performances were further fuelled by the high-performance six-to-eight foot waves on offer at Itauna Beach on Tuesday.
The thrilling action continued at the event site on the opening day of the competition with the fourth heat of Round 1, which featured Otton, Bettero, Jabour and Carvalho in a four-man battle.
As the heat got underway, the defending event champion Otton wasted very little time to begin a charge that eventually sealed the fate of the battle in his favour. Locking his first business-wave, the Australian posted a 6.83 on the score-board and soon
backed it up with a 6.93-point ride to finish with a heat-total of 13.76 points.
“Conditions are perfect and the waves are fantastic,” declared Otton. “I’ve been so stoked since yesterday [Monday], when I went for my first surf. It’s really a lot of fun. Conditions this year are better than last year when I won in really choppy and heavy
waves. If things continue as they are it’s going to be great and I’m going to do everything I can to win the contest again this year.”
Bettero finished just behind Otton in second place after collecting a couple of scores in the six-point range to reach a heat-total of 12.50 points. The runner-up finish was enough to add him to the Round 2 line-up.
Jabour finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.50 points, which included a 5.00 and 5.50-point ride, while a dismissal performance by Carvalho put him in fourth place with a heat-total of 6.26 points. The lacklustre performance by the two surfers
led to their removal from the contention for the event title.
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