Gabe Kling and Adrian Buchan emerge triumphant in Round 4 of Burton Toyota Pro – Surfing News
America’s Gabe Kling and Australia’s Adrian Buchan clinched top honours in their respective Round 4 (Round of 24) heats of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star Burton Toyota Pro at Newcastle’s Surfest that continued at Merewether Beach in
New South Wales, Australia, on Friday, March 16.
America’s Evan Geiselman and Australia’s Matt Banting took runner-up place in the third and fourth heat respectively to join Kling and Buchan in the fifth round (Round of 16). Australia’s Nic Muscroft and Tom Whitaker found the competition coming to a premature
end for them as they both rounded out the third position in their respective heats.
The race for the highly-appealing prize cheque and ASP rating points on offer at the latest ASP 6-Star event heated up as the field continue to narrow down. With only the in-form surfers remaining in contention for the event title, the intensity of the battles
rose even higher, treating the crowd to what was nothing short of thrilling showdowns.
Pitted against Geiselman and Muscroft in the third heat, Kling did exceptionally well to set himself up at a good position to catch good waves. After a series of average scores, the American surfer managed to lock his first business-wave to post a 7.30 on
the score-board. He immediately followed it up with an 8.40-point wave to take his heat-total to 15.70 points. The score turned out to be a decisive one and got him top honours to send him through into the next round.
Geiselman was nothing short of impressive during the three-man battle either. Locking his first business-wave, he scored a 6.07 and immediately backed it up with a 7.93-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.00 points. The effort served to extend his
life in the event.
Muscroft had been looking pretty good since the start of Burton Toyota Pro, but was forced to step out of the race for the goods that waited at the end after finishing with a heat-total of 13.23 points, which included a 6.50 and 6.73-point wave.
The fourth heat saw Buchan take on Banting and Whitaker in a three-man battle for the Round 5 spot.
Buchan proved to be in a supreme form during the heat, locking a couple of really juicy waves to pull off a series of power carves and other exquisite tricks for a heat-total of 18.50 points, which included a 9.33 and 9.17-point wave. The score earned him
a comprehensive victory to add him to the Round 5 line-up.
“When you win like that it’s good for your confidence,” Buchan said. “Over the last few days I’ve felt good without positing big scores, so I knew it would come. I spend most of the year going right on the ASP World Tour, so it’s refreshing to go left. It’s
a fun wedgy little left and I seemed to be in the right spot for two good ones. It was a stacked heat with Matty (Banting) and Tom (Whitaker), it was a good one to get through.”
Banting kept his head from getting cut from the competition field as well after securing a heat-total of 14.27 points.
Whitaker rounded out the bottom-position with a two-wave total of 10.06 points, which comprised of a 3.83 and 6.23-point wave, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
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