Josh Kerr defeats Jordy Smith in third round of 2011 Men’s Billabong Rio Pro
Australia’s Josh Kerr faced South Africa’s Jordy Smith in the seventh heat of the third round of Men’s Billabong Rio Pro that returned to the break of Barra Da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday, May 19th. After a really close contest,
Kerr managed to prevail over Smith to walk away victorious from the heat.
The event came back to the original site of 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s World Tour for the third round after delivering two days of intense surfing action at the Arpoador beach resort. The conditions did not turn out to be ideal,
with around four-foot waves breaking at the site, but it was nothing that the experienced ASP surfers had a problem adjusting to.
During his heat against the South African rival in the third round, the 26-year-old Australian got an inspiration from America’s legendary surfer, Kelly Slater, who had went for the waves breaking to the right during his heat. Even though Slater failed to
get a successful result from those surfs, Kerr still expected more from the rights as compared to the lefts.
Smith, on the other hand, chose to ride the left wave and it worked out pretty well for him for most of the heat, allowing him to get ahead of Kerr. It seemed that following in Slater’s footsteps was eventually going to make Kerr share the American’s fate
as well.
Just when the fate of the battle seemed decided, Kerr locked a right to throw down a big front-side air that earned him enough points to edge past Smith and finish the heat as the winner.
“I’m stoked, the whole game-plan was to go down there on those rights,” Kerr said. “I saw Kelly down there and it looked like there were a couple of good ones. I saw Jordy (Smith) get those lefts, but luckily I got that right and went for the punt.”
After getting off to a really bad start at the Men’s Billabong Rio Pro, Kerr had managed to redeem himself in the second round and continued to look in rhythm during his third round heat. Two consecutive successful heats will definitely allow him to feel
more confident as he makes his way to the fourth round to compete for a place in the quarter-final.
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