Josh Kerr and Olamana Eleogram head into the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro Quarter-finals
Australia’s Josh Kerr and Hawaii’s Olamana Eleogram clinched top honours in their respective Round 5 (Round of 16) heats of the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro that continued at Margaret River in Western Australia on Friday, March 23.
Kerr defeated his fellow countryman Dion Atkinson in the first heat, while Eleogram got the better of Australia’s Owen Wright in the second heat of Round 5 to make their way through into the Quarter-finals.
With clean five-to-six foot waves being offered by Margaret River on Friday, the crowd expected a series of action-packed battles between the top surfers from around the world as they sought to make it into the Quarter-finals.
The first heat of Round 5 pitted Kerr against Atkinson. Both the surfers were in top-notch forms and pretty much equally familiar with the waves, though the experience of Kerr put him at a slight advantage.
As the battle got underway, Atkinson drew first blood with a 6.50-point wave and soon added an additional 6.10 points to his account to take his heat-total to 12.60 points.
Kerr, on the other hand, completely stole the show with his superb performance. Catching his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat, he posted an 8.83 on the scoreboard and soon backed it up with an 8.17-point wave to finish with a heat-total
of 17.00 points, consequently walking away with a comprehensive victory.
The second heat saw Eleogram and Wright battle it out for the Quarter-final slot.
Getting busy in the opening minutes of the heat, the Hawaiian surfer posted a 5.33 and 7.83 on the scoreboard to get to a heat-total of 13.16 points.
Wright failed to come up with an adequate response and finished with a heat-total of 9.23 points, consequently surrendering victory to his rival.
“It was looking really good right before my heat then it switched,” Eleogram said after the heat. “But everyone surfs the same conditions so I can’t complain. It was really nerve racking because I know Owen [Wright] can post big scores on waves that aren’t
good. I got the lucky in that heat that I got a really good left. I’m stoked. I’d love to do the whole ASP World Tour, but I don’t have a lot of sponsorship backing, so right now I’m looking to get enough point to qualify for the Hawaiian events.”
Eleogram advanced through into the next stage of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated event, while Wright found himself out of the contention for top honours.
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