Ramzi Boukhiam and Stu Kennedy make the Round 5 cut at Mr Price Pro Ballito – Surfing News
Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam and Australia’s Stu Kennedy successfully secured their place in the fifth round (Round of 16) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Mr Price Pro Ballito after claiming top honours in their
respective Round 4 (Round of 24) heats that went down at Ballito, South Africa, on Thursday, July 4, 2013.
Boukhiam got the better of Hawaii’s Granger Larsen in the opening heat of round 4 to advance to the next round, removing the latter from the contention for the event title in the process.
The second heat saw Australia’s Jay Thompson failing to hold his own during his battle against Kennedy, thus surrendering victory to his rival and making a premature exit from the competition.
The huge crowd in attendance at the main event site had gotten treat to plenty of thrilling performances since the start of the proceedings on the latest day. The exquisite action, however, continued during the afternoon session
as well, as the surfers initiated their pursuit of the Round 5 place in clean- one-metre barrelling waves that were on offer.
Both Boukhiam and Larsen had been exhibited a solid form since the start of the competition, but had failed to hold their own during their respective Round 3 (no-loser Round of 24) heats, which had consequently led to their relegation
to Round 4.
Determined to make the most out of the second chance that they had gotten to qualify for Round 5, both the surfers put on an impressive fight.
Boukhiam got down to business in the opening minutes of the heat and posted a 6.50 on the score-board off his first business ride. He kept the hunt going for another decent score and eventually managed to add an additional 7.00
points to his account, thus getting to a heat-total of 13.50 points.
Larsen tailed him for most part of the heat, though he was not too far behind. In the end, however, the Hawaiian had to settle for a two-wave total of 12.27 points, which proved sufficient to take him past his Moroccan rival.
The second heat featured an intense battle, which went down to the wire. Both Kennedy and Thompson fought tooth-and-nail for the Round 5 spot.
Thompson collected a couple of decent scores to get to a heat-total of 11.93 points and seemed to be cruising to victory.
Kennedy, who had collected a 6.50 off his first business-wave, stepped-up in the dying minutes of the heat and earned a 6.43 off his second business-wave to finish with a heat-total of 12.93 points, thus claiming an exciting come-from-behind
victory.
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