Heath Joske and John John Florence advance to Mr. Price Pro Ballito quarter-finals
The third and fourth heat of Mr. Price Pro Ballito’s no-elimination round of 12 (Round 4) went down at the Surfers Beach in Ballito, South Africa, on Friday, July 8th.
In an all-Australian third heat, Heath Joske prevailed over his compatriots, Julian Wilson and Blake Thornton, to secure a place in the quarter-finals. Wilson and Thornton rounded out the second and third positions respectively and moved to Round 5 to compete
for the coveted quarter-final spot.
Hawaii’s John John Florence clinched the win in the fourth heat, advancing directly to the quarter-finals as a result. Australia’s Kai Otton took second place, while Brazil’s Jano Belo had to settle for third, consequently heading to Round 5 to participate
in the battle for survival.
The third heat saw all the three surfers in the line-up struggling to catch waves. Despite the difficulty in catching waves, Joske managed to the make the ones that he actually did lock really count. Catching his first wave, he threw down a combination of
amazing manoeuvres to earn an outstanding and decisive 9.23 for the effort. A little while later, he locked another wave to earn a 6.17 off it and move to a heat-total of 15.40 points.
“The waves are absolutely pumping,” Joske said in a post-heat interview. “These are waves surfers dream of surfing! You can’t ask for better conditions, it’s amazing.”
Wilson did not do any better as far as catching waves was concerned, but he also showed his excellent form on the ones that he actually did manage to lock. Earning 8.07 points off the first wave and 7.17 off the second, he finished with a heat-total of 15.24
points, barely missing out on victory.
Thornton had gotten off to an excellent start, scoring 8.70 points off his first wave, but was unable to follow it up with an equally impressive score and finished in third place after scoring only 1.50 points off his second wave.
The next heat featured Hawaii’s Florence on a rampage to dominate the battle and clinch victory. He caught a wave in the later stages of the heat to score 8.93 points off it. Not quite done yet, he immediately locked another wave in the final minutes of
the battle, air-dropping straight into the huge barrel, disappearing for a few second and reappearing to earn an outstanding 9.50 points. This allowed him to climb to the highest two-wave total of the day, 18.43 points.
“It’s a lot like the barrels at Backdoor (right hand waves at Pipeline), it’s big and round and maybe a little bit faster and longer,” Florence said after the heat. “I came here a few years ago and it got pretty big so I brought my Pipe boards and I’m happy
I did.”
There was not much that Otton could do after his Hawaiian rival’s rampage. However, he did make his form evident during the heat, collecting 7.00 points off his first wave and 8.23 points off the second to finish with a heat-total of 15.23 points in the
end and securing runner-up place.
Belo had remained truly impressive in the three previous rounds of the event, but seemed to be a completely different man in Round 4. With 0.67 and 1.33 as his two best scores during the heat, it was clear that he needed to do some serious thinking before
his Round 5 heat if he had any intentions of remaining in contention for the event title.
With the fourth heat concluded, the no-elimination round of 12 wrapped up. Four surfers had already advanced to the quarter-finals and the other four were going to be determined through Round 5.
For updates on Round 5 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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