Matt Banting and Kekoa Bacalso claim victory in Round 1 at Vans World Cup of Surfing
Australia’s Matt Banting and Hawaii’s Kekoa Bacalso successfully made their way through into the second round (Round of 96) at the Vans World Cup of Surfing, the second of three events on the 30th anniversary Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, after
securing top honours in their respective Round 1 (Round of 128) heats that went down at Sunset Beach in Oahu, Hawaii, on Tuesday, November 27, 2012.
Hawaii’s Hank Gaskell finished just behind Banting in second place, which was just enough to move him alongside the latter into the next round. Hawaii’s Koa Rothman and Australia’s Blake Thornton finished in third and fourth place respectively, which resulted
in their removal from the contention for the event title.
The 12th heat saw Brazil’s Ricardo Dos Santos extending his life in the event after taking runner-up place to Bacalso, which served to take him through to Round 2. Hawaii’s Roy Powers and America’s Michael Dunphy rounded out the bottom-two positions,
which resulted in their elimination from the competition.
The waves on offer at Sunset Beach were nothing short of ominous, daring the surfers to take them on. However, the talent making up the field was more than capable of adjusting to the massive swell and thus the series of battles that took place during the
day were exciting to say the least.
Pitted against Gaskell, Rothman and Thornton in the 11th heat, Banting put on a solid performance to finish on top.
The Australian powerhouse asserted his dominance over his rivals with an impressive 8.67-point ride and went on to back it up with a 6.17-point wave, which moved him to a decisive heat-total of 14.84 points.
Gaskell did not finish too far behind his rival, registering a 7.17 and 6.83 business-wave to end up with a heat-total of 14.00 points.
Rothman finished third after finishing with a heat-total of 6.56 points, while Thornton concluded the heat at a two-wave total of 5.04 points.
The next heat saw Bacalso claim a convincing victory over Dos Santos, Powers and Dunphy.
The local talent managed to reap a 7.50 off his first business-wave and add an additional 6.33 points to his account, which took him to a winning heat-total of 13.83 points.
Dos Santos made the Round 2 cut as well after finishing with a heat-total of 11.17 points, which comprised of a 6.50 and 4.67-point ride.
Powers and Dunphy rounded out the bottom-two positions after finishing with a heat-total of 9.80 and 6.10 points respectively.
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