Kai Otton qualifies into Round 3 of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime – Surfing News
Kai Otton from Australia confirmed his place in the third round (No-Loser Round of 24) at the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola after claiming top honours in the second heat of Round 2 (Round of 48) that went down at the point-break of Itauna
Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 23.
Hawaii’s Sebastien Zietz’s runner-up finish served to take him through into the next round of the competition as well. America’s Michael Dunphy and his fellow countryperson Luke Davis got eliminated from the competition due to their third and fourth-place
finish respectively.
The four-to-six foot waves gracing the primary event site on the second day of the competition promised a heavy dose of enthralling action, sending plenty of potent scoring opportunities in the direction of the top surfing talent from around the globe that
was in contention for a share of the huge prize and coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) ranking points at the fourth event on the 2012 ASP PRIME calendar.
The second heat of Round 2 saw Otton square off with Zietz, Dunphy and Davis in a four-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
Otton, the defending event champion, continued his excellent run of form at the latest edition of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime by putting on yet another spectacular performance to clinch the win in his latest battle. Locking a juicy left-hander in the opening
minutes of the heat, the Australian surfer posted a 7.83 on the score-board and went on to add an additional 7.10 points to his account, finishing with a heat-total of 14.93 points.
“The waves are a little smaller than yesterday [Tuesday], but they’re still perfect,” said Otton. “I think choosing the right ones are fundamental in these conditions. If you catch a good one, they’re going to open up and you can really let loose. But that
heat was difficult because everybody surfed so well, especially Sebastien [Zietz] who gave me a hard time. For me, it was important to be able to qualify into the next round and keep my hopes alive of winning the event again.”
Zietz finished just behind Otton in second place to advance into the next round as well. The Hawaiian surfer collected an impressive 8.00 off his first business-wave, but only managed to add another 6.23 points to his account, thus having to settle for a
heat-total of 14.23 points.
Dunphy collected a couple of six-point waves to finish with a heat-total of 12.17 points, while Davis rounded out the third position to settle for a heat-total of 9.33 points. Both the surfers were consequently removed from the race for the title and accompanying
rewards.
Tags: