Taj Burrow and Josh Kerr step into the Oakley Pro Bali quarter-finals – Surfing news
Australia’s Taj Burrow and his fellow countryperson Josh Kerr claimed top honours in their respective Round 4 heats at the Oakley Pro Bali, stop no. 5 on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which resumed at Keramas
in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday, June 26, 2013.
With his victory over Australia’s Joel Parkinson and America’s CJ Hobgood in the opening heat of Round 1, Burrow advanced directly into the quarter-finals, while forcing both his rivals to take a trip to Round 5.
Kerr, on the other hand, secured his place in the quarter-finals by surprising finish on top of America’s Kelly Slater and Hawaii’s John John Florence in the second heat of Round 4, relegating both of them to the fifth round.
The latest day of the competition saw excellent six-to-eight foot waves gracing the primary event site, thus giving the surfers a perfect opportunity to put their vast range of big-wave riding skills on display as they battled it out for a place in the quarter-finals.
The opening heat of Round 4 pitted Burrow against Parkinson and Hobgood in a three-man battle for a direct place in the quarter-finals.
As the battle got underway, the 35-year-old Burrow navigated his way through a couple of juicy barrels to post a 9.83 and 8.47 on the score-board for a heat-total of 18.30 points.
Parkinson, reigning ASP World Champion, put up an impressive fight by collecting a 9.17 and 8.73 off his top-two waves, but the resultant two-wave total of 17.90 points was just not good enough.
Hobgood, however, put on a pretty dismal performance and got completely overshadowed by the other two surfers during the heat as he registered a heat-total of 11.57 points, which included a 6.67 and 4.90-point ride.
“I’m pretty happy to skip that next round,” Burrow said. “The last few events I got stuck in that Round 5 and got a ninth and once you get to the Quarters it’s considered a pretty good result, so I’m stoked.”
The second heat saw Kerr pitted against two of the event’s strongest barrel riders, namely Slater, 11-time ASP World Champion and current no.1 on the 2013 ASP World Championship Tour, and Florence, ASP World Tour rookie.
As the heat got underway, all three surfers put up an outstanding performance, making some excellent wave selections and unleashing some of the day’s best carves and turns.
Amidst the action, Kerr managed to find himself a perfect-10 ride and went on to back it up with a 9.67-point wave, thus registering a heat-total of 19.67 points.
Slater collected a couple of scores in the nine-point range to finish with a heat-total of 18.60 points, whereas Florence registered a two-wave total of 17.10 points after scoring an 8.73 and 8.37 off his best-two waves. As a result, both the surfers were
forced to surrender the quarter-final spot to their Australian rival and move into the relegation round.
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