John John Florence and Aritz Aranburu triumphant in Round 2 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito
Mr. Price Pro Ballito’s Round of 48 (Round 2) wrapped up with the 11th and 12th heat at Surfers Beach in Ballito, South Africa, on Wednesday, July 6.
Hawaii’s John John Florence prevailed in the heat to reserve a spot for himself in the Round of 24 (Round 3). Australia’s Kai Otton managed to stay alive in the event as well by clinching the second position. Portugal’s Tiago Pires rounded out the third
position, while America’s Damien Hobgood finished last, getting ejected from the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event.
Northern Spain’s Aritz Aranburu walked away with top honours from the 12th heat, while Brazil’s Messias Felix secured second position to successfully go through to the next round. Reunion Island’s Adrien Toyon and Australia’s Davey Cathels finished
in third and fourth place respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
The 11th heat turned out to be really intense as Florence and Otton battled hard for the top slot. The Hawaiian locked a wave halfway through the heat to pull off a string of impressive manoeuvres, earning 7.93 points for the effort. Otton responded
with an identical score a little later, to keep the fight intense.
Florence pulled ahead of his Australian rival once again, scoring 7.47 off his second wave to reach a heat-total of 15.40 points. Otton needed 7.47 points off his second wave, but only managed to add an additional 6.93 points to his account, surrendering
first place to his Hawaiian rival after ending 0.54 points short. Both surfers did advance to the next round however.
The “Portuguese Tiger” Pires failed to meet the standards that had been set by Florence and Otton and had to settle for third place after finishing with a heat-total of 12.53 points. Hobgood was unable to make a solid impact during the heat as well, only
managing to score a total of 8.90 points from his two best waves.
The final heat of Round 2 saw Aranburu emerge triumphant, though it was not smooth sailing for the Basque Country resident. He took the lead midway through the heat by scoring 6.67 points off a heat and later adding another 5.60 to his account to reach a
heat-total of 12.27 points.
Felix had no intention of letting his rival relax and after getting off to a disappointing start, scoring 3.20 off his first wave, he pulled off an amazing combination of manoeuvres on his second wave, scoring an excellent 8.27 points from it. However, the
bad start made its impact and kept the Brazilian away from victory due to a 0.80-point deficit. He did, however, advance to the next round after finishing in second place.
Toyon scored 5.00 and 5.33 from his two best waves to finish with a heat-total of 10.33 points, while Cathels finished at the bottom with a two-wave total of 7.93 points. Both the surfers were eliminated from the competition after their scores proved to
be inadequate.
With the conclusion of the 12th heat, the second round and third day of Mr. Price Pro Ballito wrapped up. Round 3, which comprised of 24 surfers, is expected to get underway on Thursday.
For updates on Round 3 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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