Gabriel Medina and Josh Kerr make it through the second round of Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and Australia’s Josh Kerr clinched top honours in their respective elimination Round 2 heats at the latest stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, which continued at Bells
Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Wednesday, April 4.
Medina defeated America’s Taylor Knox in third heat of the second round to advance through into Round 3, bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The fourth heat saw America’s Patrick Gudauskas get eliminated from the event after succumbing to Kerr, thus sending the latter to the next round.
The surfing conditions prevailing at the primary event site on day 2 of the latest elite tour event turned out to be quite unpredictable, offering good scoring opportunities in one heat while testing the patience of the surfers in others.
The 18-year-old Medina, one of the biggest standouts of the 2011 ASP World Tour, managed to outperform his experienced rival Knox in clean three-to-five foot waves during the third heat.
As the man-on-man battle got underway, the young Brazilian sensation opened his account with a 5.83-point wave and soon went on to add an additional 6.83 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 12.66 points.
Knox was unable to find a good ride during the course of the 30-minute battle and was thus forced to settle for a heat-total of 9.03 points, which included a 3.50 and 5.53-point wave.
“Taylor [Knox] is one of my favourite surfers and he is one of the better surfers out at Bells,” Medina said during his post-heat interview. “I just focus on my own surfing and I was trying to put together some good rides on my backhand. I tried to mix it
up and show as much variety as I could.”
The fourth heat pitted Kerr against Gudauskas in a battle for survival. Both the surfers had faltered during their Round 1 heats and were determined to collect a successful result in order to remain in contention for the event title.
Kerr found an impressive 8.17-point ride to take the lead and soon backed it up with a 7.93-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 16.10 points.
Gudauskas responded with a 15.30-point wave, which comprised of a 7.30 and an 8.00-point wave. As a result, he was forced to surrender victory and thus the Round 3 spot to his Australian rival.
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