Jay Quinn and Mitch Crews power into Round 3 of the Australian Open of Surfing – Surfing News
New Zealand’s Jay Quinn and Australia’s Mitch Crews emerged triumphant in their respective Round 2 (Round of 96) heats at the 6-Star Australian Open of Surfing that went down at Manly Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Thursday, February 16.
The surfing conditions prevailing at Manly Beach were pretty decent as far as the opportunity to collect a good score. The two-foot waves and sunny weather set up the stage quite nicely as the surfers got ready to extend their life in the event.
Facing Australia’s Ty Watson, his compatriot Blake Thornton and America’s Dane Anderson in the 10th heat, Quinn completely stole the show with his phenomenal performance. He opened up his account with an exquisite 9.07-point wave and later added
another 7.50 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 16.57 points. Neither of his competitors even got close to his score and thus conceded an easy victory to him to send him through to Round 3 (Round of 48).
Watson managed to avoid elimination as well after securing runner-up place despite looking uncomfortable throughout the heat. He finished with a heat-total of 11.20 points, which comprised of a 4.97 and 6.23-point wave.
Thornton and Anderson finished with a heat-total of 11.03 and 7.53 points respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
The 11th heat featured yet another sensational performance, this time coming from the crowd-favourite Crews. The Australian posted a 9.57 on the score-board mid-way through the heat and soon added another 8.43 to his account to finish with a heat-total
of 18.00 points. The score held him in the lead until the end to seal the fate of the four-man battle in his favour and carry him through to the next round.
His fellow countryman Chris Friend did not have much luck with the waves during the course of the heat, but still managed to make the Round 3 cut after taking second place with a heat-total of 9.00 points, which comprised of a 4.67 and 4.33-point wave.
Tahiti’s Alain Riou and America’s Conner Coffin failed to get their hands on a decent score and eventually finished with a heat-total of 8.26 and 7.60 points respectively. Both the surfers had to make a premature exit from the competition as a result of
their lacklustre Round 2 performance.
The surfing action was to continue at the Manly Beach with the remaining heats of Round 2.
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