Mark Occhilupo and Tom Whitaker advance to Round 5 of 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro
Australia’s Mark Occhilupo and his compatriot Tom Whitaker advanced through into the fifth round (Round of 16) of the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro after claiming top honours in their respective Round 4 (Round of 24) heats that went down at Margaret River
in Australia, on Friday, March 23.
Occhilupo made his fellow countryman Blake Thornton bow out to him in the third heat, whereas Whitaker created the biggest upset of the day by defeating America’s Kelly Slater in the fourth heat to advance through into the next round of the competition.
The second Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated event of the year had attracted top surfers from around the world to surf against fellow elite surfers in promising surfing conditions. The crowd had anticipated a heavy dose of thrilling
action during the course of the event and that is exactly what they got treated to during the initial rounds.
After failing to make a solid impact in his Round 3 (no-loser Round of 24) heat, the former ASP World Champion Occhilupo found himself pitted against Thornton in the third heat of Round 4. There was hardly any room for error now that both the surfers were
standing on the edge, where a failure to clinch the win would result in elimination from the event.
Thornton got off to a promising start, posting a 7.50 on the scoreboard off his first business-wave early in the heat and later added another 5.00 points to his account to take his heat-total to 12.50 points.
Despite getting off to a modest start, Occhilupo stepped up halfway through the heat to post an 8.67 on the scoreboard off his first business-wave and backed it up with a 7.93-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 16.60 points, consequently walking away
with the win.
The fourth battle featured an intense contest, followed by the biggest upset of the competition at the hands of the local talent Whitaker.
As the man-on-man battle got underway, Whitaker got off to a solid start by utilising his first business-wave to unload a series of exquisite tricks and post an 8.70 on the score-board. He soon backed it up with a 7.97-point wave to get to a heat-total of
16.67 points.
The 11-time ASP World Champion Slater was nothing short of spectacular during the course of the 30-minute battle either. Locking his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat, he unleashed a string of impressive tricks. However, he fell on the
last trick and ended up receiving an 8.23 for a wave that was likely to score a nine or more. After a lengthy search, he added an additional 8.33 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 16.56 points, barely missing out on victory by 0.11 points.
Quick to praise Whitaker for his superb performance, Slater said, “90 percent of the time you can expect Tom [Whitaker] to be on the best waves of the heat,” Slater said. “I had my chances. On my opening ride I fell on my last manoeuvre and if I didn’t I
would have gotten a 9. I had a feeling that falling off would come into play later in the heat, because I knew Tom was going to get a good set and put himself in a good position.”
The surfing action continued at Margaret River with the remaining heats of 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro’s Round 4.
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