Tom Whitaker and Kai Otton prevail in Round 2 of Burton Toyota Pro at Newcastle’s Surfest
Australia’s Tom Whitaker and Kai Otton claimed victories in their respective Round 2 (Round of 96) heats of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Burton Toyota Pro at the on-going Newcastle’s Surfest at Merewether Beach in New South Wales, Australia,
on Wednesday, March 14.
The success in Round 2 carried both Whitaker and Otton into the third round (Round of 48) of the event. Australia’s Heath Joske and Japan’s Masatoshi Ohno managed to keep the heads from getting cut as well after securing runner-up positions in the seventh
and eighth heat respectively.
Some of the world’s best surfers were in contention for the latest ASP star event-title at Merewether Point with their sight set on nothing less than the winning prize and maximum share of the ASP rating points on offer, with the latter being extremely crucial
for earning a place in the ASP World Title series.
Whitaker, a former ASP elite tour campaigner, adjust exceptionally well to the two-to-three foot waves on offer on the third day of the competition. Putting his local knowledge of the waves to use in the seventh heat of Round 2, Whitaker made the right decisions
when it came to selecting waves and successfully collected a couple of scores in the range of seven to get to a heat-total of 14.07 points. The score held until the end to confirm his spot in the next round of the event.
Joske put on a pretty decent show during the four-man battle as well, scoring a 6.17 and 5.83 off his top-two waves for a heat-total of 12.00 points to clinch first runner-up place and therefore secure his place in the next round.
Australia’s Ty Watson finished in third place with a heat-total of 11.10 points, which included a 5.50 and 5.60-point wave, while Peru’s Gabriel Villaran rounded out the bottom-position with a heat-total of 7.76 points. The bottom-two finish by the two surfers
led to their elimination from the competition.
The eighth heat saw the top honours being clinched by yet another Australian. Otton did not disappointment the local crowd as far as the results were concerned despite the heat offering very few opportunities to earn a good score.
The Australian surfer opened his account with a 4.67-point wave and soon added another 6.17 points to his account for a heat-total of 10.84 points. The score stayed the highest on the score-board to eventually earn him the win.
Ohno made the Round 3 cut as well after earning a couple of scores in the four-point range for a heat-total of 8.70 points, a score that proved sufficient to earn him runner-up place.
Australia’s Parrish Byrne and Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam got removed from the contention for the event-title after finishing with a heat-total of 6.93 and 6.57 points respectively.
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