Success in Round 4 keeps Josh Kerr and Owen Wright alive in 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro
Australia’s Josh Kerr and his fellow countryman Owen Wright prevailed in their respective Round 4 (Round of 24) heats of the 2012 Telstra Drug Aware Pro that went down at Margaret River in Australia on Friday, March 23.
Kerr defeated his compatriot Bede Durbidge in the first heat to advance through into the fifth round (Round of 16), whereas Wright got the better of America’s Gabe Kling in the second heat to make the Round 5 cut.
With clean five-to-six foot waves on offer at the primary event site on Friday, the world’s top surfers who had failed to clinch top honours in Round 3 (no-loser Round of 24) battled it out for survival in the event’s first man-on-man round.
The first heat put an in-form Durbidge and Durbidge against each other. Both the surfers had been looking good since the start of the event, though a slight stumble in their Round 3 heats had led to their relegation of Round 4. Determined to stay in contention
for the event title, both the Australians were expected to give it their all during their fight for survival.
As the heat got underway, Durbidge got off to a good start, locking his first business-wave early in the battle to post a 7.77 on the scoreboard. However, Kerr responded strongly with his first business-wave, which allowed him to post a 9.13 on the score-board.
He soon added another excellent wave-score of 9.53 points to take his heat-total to 18.66 points.
Durbidge gave it his all on his second business-wave, but only managed to get an 8.13 off it, consequently finishing 2.76 points short of the required score. As a result, he was forced to make a premature exit from the event while sending his rival into
the next round.
The second heat saw Wright outperform Kling to remove the latter from the race for the event-title.
Putting his local knowledge of the waves to use, Wright set himself up in a position to catch the most promising waves during the course of the 30-minute heat. Despite getting off to a relatively modest start, he eventually managed to lock a juicy wave.
Unloading a series of exquisite manoeuvres on it, he posted a 7.93 on the scoreboard. The Australian surfer soon backed it up with a 5.20-point wave to take his heat-total to 13.13 points.
Kling struggled to find his rhythm and had little luck with the waves as well. Despite a desperate hunt, he was only able to collect a 5.07 and 4.40 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 9.47 points. The 3.66-point deficit led to his elimination
from the event while sending Wright into the next round.
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