Mitch Crews and Kai Otton advance to Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
Australia’s Mitch Crews took an outstanding come-from-behind victory in the eighth heat of Billabong Azores Islands Pro’s Round of 96 (Round 1) on Thursday morning, September 29, at Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal.
The outstanding last-minute effort allowed Crews to advance through to the Round of 48 (Round 2). Australia’s Kai Otton came up with a pretty impressive performance as well to secure runner-up place and successfully make the Round 2 cut. Australia’s Stu
Kennedy and Portugal’s Justin Mujica rounded out the third and fourth positions respectively, consequently getting removed from contention for the event title.
Surfing conditions proved to be pretty demanding on the second day of the ninth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the season. The inconsistent three-to-four foot waves hardly offered anything for surfers to earn big scores and put
their skills and experience to test.
The 21-year-old Crews remained the most impressive surfer during the four-man battle and did quite well to adjust to the difficult surfing conditions. As the heat kicked-off, he began to lock wave after wave to get his hands on a good score. The instant
charge paid-off well as he caught a relatively juicy wave to pull out a stylish trick from his arsenal and posted 7.00 on the scoreboard.
He kept the hunt going and finally got his hands on yet another good wave in the final minutes of the heat to earn 7.03 points off it, moving to a heat-total of 14.03 points. The score moved him into the lead and eventually sealed the fate of the battle
in his favour.
Otton put up a commendable fight to challenge Crew’s domination in the heat. In the opening minutes, he scored 7.00 points off a wave and soon added an additional 6.70 points to his account, getting to a heat-total of 13.70 points. The score was proving
to be a decisive one, until a sudden charge by Crews in the last minute turned things around. Despite missing out on victory, the outcome was not a total disappointment for Otton as he advanced through to Round 2 due to his runner-up finish.
Kennedy did not look too shabby during the showdown either, though he was unable to pose a serious threat to his compatriots. Scoring 5.87 and 6.87 points off his top-two waves, he finished in third place with a heat-total of 12.74 points.
Justin Mujica completely misread the conditions, which further added to the daunting task of getting a good score off the difficult waves. Looking miserable throughout the entirety of the heat, he only managed to collect 3.10 and 3.73 points off his best-two
waves.
Kennedy and Mujica got eliminated from the competition after failing to finish in the safe zone, i.e. the top-two positions.
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