Kai Otton and Josh Kerr emerge triumphant in Round 1 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
The seventh and eighth heat of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay’s Round 1 went down at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa on Friday, July 15.
Australia’s Kai Otton emerged triumphant in the seventh heat after coming up with an impressive performance to advance to Round 3 and dispatch Brazil’s Adriano de Souza and Australia’s Chris Davidson, who finished second and third respectively, to the sudden-death
Round 2.
The eighth heat saw Australia’s Josh Kerr prevail over his countrymen Owen Wright and Matt Wilkinson to go straight to the third round. Wright and Wilkinson rounded out the second and third place respectively, consequently moving to Round 2 to compete for
a Round 3 spot.
Even though Jeffreys Bay has a reputation of offering some of the best waves for surfing, the first day of the event was yet to experience these waves. There were, however, three-to-four foot waves breaking at the coastline, making the conditions quite contestable.
Brazil’s De Souza, currently No.1 on Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour Rankings, was without any doubt the favourite to win the heat. However, the 31-year-old Otton brought his experience into action and though he was unable to catch
many waves, he made the most of the ones that he did end up riding.
Collecting 6.00 off the first wave and 7.50 off the second, Otton reached a heat-total of 13.50 points. The 24-year-old De Souza caught numerous waves but did not look comfortable with any on them. His two best waves earned him a 2.73 and 5.77, bringing
him to a heat-total of 8.50.
Davidson remained unthreatening throughout the heat, apparently failing to read the conditions and struggling to find his rhythm. He finished with a heat total of 4.73 points only, rounding out the third position as a result.
The next heat turned out to be an all-Australian affair, with Kerr, Wright and Wilkinson competing against each other for the third-round place.
The 31-year Kerr drew first blood, scoring 6.67 points off the first wave that he locked. He soon added another 6.03 points to his account to climb to a two-wave total of 12.70. The score turned out to be more than sufficient to get him top honours.
Wright and Wilkinson were unable to make a solid impact in the heat and finished with a heat-total of 8.43 and 7.56 respectively. While they are clearly faltered on the first day of the event, they still had another opportunity to bounce back and remain
in contention for event-tile by doing well in the second round.
For more details on Round 1 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay tuned to bettor.com
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