Nat Young and Evan Geiselman emerge triumphant in Round 3 of Burton Toyota Pro – Surfing News
America’s Nat Young and his fellow countryman Evan Geiselman prevailed in their respective Round 3 (Round of 48) heats of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Burton Toyota Pro at Newcastle’s Surfest that continued at Merewether in New South Wales,
Australia, on Thursday, March 15.
The Round 3 success carried both Young and Geiselman into Round 4 (Round of 24) of the competition, while Australia’s Adam Melling and Tom Whitaker also confirmed their place in the next round with a runner-up finish in the third and fourth heat of the third
round respectively.
Pitted against an in-form Melling, his compatriot Heath Joske and Japan’s Masatoshi Ohno in the third heat, Young clearly had his work cut out for him in the third heat.
The young Californian surfer received a strong challenge from Melling in particular, as the latter used his experience to navigate through the two-to-three foot waves. The Australian surfer locked his first business-wave to post a 7.57 on the score-board
and soon collected a 7.00-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.57 points.
Rather than succumbing to the pressure, Young stepped up to meet the challenge head on. Locking his first business-wave, the American surfer unloaded a series of exquisite tricks to earn a 7.33 and went on to back it up with a 7.40-point wave to move into
the lead with a heat-total of 14.73 points, consequently walking away with the win.
Ohno finished in third place with a heat-total of 9.83 points, while Joske rounded out the bottom-position with a two-wave total of 7.30 points. The lacklustre performance by the two surfers led to their elimination from the contention for the event title.
The fourth heat saw Geiselman walk away with a convincing victory after downing Whitaker, his compatriot Kai Otton and Chile’s Manuel Selman.
The American surfer collected a series of average scores before locking his first business-wave to post a 7.17 on the score-board. He continued the momentum to add an additional 6.60 points to his account, finishing with a heat-total of 13.77 points.
Whitaker secured runner-up place with a heat-total of 11.70 points, which comprised of a 4.00 and 7.70-point wave.
Otton barely missed out on the runner-up place and thus a spot in the fourth round after finishing with a heat-total of 11.64 points, which included an 8.17 and 3.47-point wave.
Selman also suffered elimination after finishing in fourth place with a two-wave total of 8.27 points, which included a 3.10 and 5.17-point wave.
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