Jay Thompson and Mark Occhilupo just a step away from the Quarter-finals spot at Nike Lowers Pro
Australia’s Jay Thompson and his compatriot Mark Occhilupo successfully made it through into the seventh round (Round of 16) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME Nike Lowers Pro after emerging triumphant in their respective Round 6 (Round
of 24) heat that went down at the fabled beach-break of Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, on Friday, May 4.
America’s Nathan Yeomans and Australia’s Blake Thornton failed to bounce back despite getting another opportunity after their Round 5 (no-elimination Round of 24) loss and were thus eliminated from the competition.
The surfing conditions prevailing at Lower Trestles on Friday morning turned out to be quite decent, with regular appearance of glassy two-to-four foot waves that gave plenty of opportunity to the competition field comprising of talented surfers from around
the globe to put their stylish and smooth surfing on display.
The seventh heat pitted Thompson and Yeomans against each other in a man-on-man battle for survival. Both the surfers needed to step up a little if they wished to stay alive in contention for the event title.
As the heat kicked-off, both the surfers wasted little time in letting it known that they meant business. Attacking wave after wave, they conducted their search for a couple of big scores.
Yeomans took an early lead through a 6.50-point ride and went on to back it up with a 7.00-point wave halfway through the heat to move to a heat-total of 13.50 points.
Thompson had little luck with the luck during the early stages of the heat, but he managed to eventually break free of the shackles eventually by unloading a string of exquisite tricks on his first business-wave to post an impressive 8.17 on the score-board.
He later added an additional 5.77 to his account to get to a heat-total of 13.94 points, thus walking away with the win.
The eighth heat saw the former ASP World Champion Occhilupo get the better of Thornton after a nail-biting contest. Both the surfers fought tooth-and-nail for victory, though the latter eventually had to succumb to his senior compatriot.
Occhilupo scored a 6.43 and 6.67 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 13.10 points, while Thornton finished just short with a heat-total of 13.00 points, which included a 6.83 and 6.17-point ride.
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