Filipe Toledo and Jordin Watson advance to Round 5 of CHIKO Pro Junior at Newcastle’s Surfest
Brazil’s Filipe Toledo and Australia’s Jordin Watson walked away with top honours in their Round 4 (Round of 32) heats of the 4-Star CHIKO Pro Junior at Newcastle Surfest that continued to deliver intense surfing action at Merewether Beach in New South Wales,
Australia, on Saturday, March 10.
America’s Taylor Thorne and Portugal’s Vasco Ribeiro also advanced through into the next stage of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s Qualifying event after securing runner-up positions in their respective heats.
With the waves lying somewhere between the four-to-five foot range, the surfing conditions were quite good on the third day of the competition.
Toledo left his fellow competitors, the local crowd and event judges in complete awe with his mesmerising performance during the seventh heat. The Brazilian unloaded a couple of massive back-hand air-reverse on the same wave, convincing the judges to give
him a perfect 10 for the effort. He followed it up with a 9.10-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 19.10 points, the highest of the event, to collect the win and advance through into the next round.
Thorne extended his life in the event as well after finishing behind Toledo in runner-up place with a heat-total of 14.75 points, which comprised of an impressive 9.25 and 5.50-point wave.
South Africa’s David Van Zyl finished in third place with a two-wave total of 12.75 points, while Australia’s Noa Deane rounded out the bottom-position with a heat-total of 5.50 points. Both the surfers were consequently eliminated from the competition.
In a real nail-biter eighth heat, both Watson and Ribeiro put on a determined fight for top honours.
As Watson opened his account with an impressive 7.50-point wave, his Portuguese rival got past him with an 8.10 off his first business-wave.
As the battle progressed, Ribeiro added an additional 7.00 to his account to move to a heat-total of 15.10 points. However, the Australian stepped up and caught a juicy wave to launch into a series of impressive manoeuvres. The effort earned him an 8.10,
putting him ahead of his rival on the score-board and consequently sealing the fate of the battle in his favour.
Both Watson and Ribeiro moved into the fifth round as a result of their top-two finish.
Australia’s Wade Carmichael and Shane Campbell got removed from the contention for the event-title after finishing with a heat-total of 12.65 and 9.35 points.
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