Owen Wright and Adrian Buchan survive Round 2 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
The adrenaline-pumping surfing action continued at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa on Monday, July 18, with the fifth and sixth heat of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay’s Round 2.
Australia’s Owen Wright emerged triumphant while facing Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia in the fifth heat, consequently advancing to the third round and bringing the event to a premature end for his rival.
The sixth heat saw Australia’s Adrian Buchan dominate his American rival, Cory Lopez, to make it through to the next round, and remove the American from the competition.
Wright, currently No.6 on Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, had been exhibiting good form over the last few months. There was little doubt that the Australian would prove to be a tough competitor and strong contender for the title in
the South African stop of ASP World Tour. Even though he ended up getting bested by his compatriot Josh Kerr in the first round, he managed to redeem himself in Round 2.
As the heat kicked off, the 21-year-old Wright went to work right away and caught a wave to earn 5.93 points off it to put pressure on Patacchia. Later in the heat, he collected yet another 5.93-point wave to move to a heat-total of 11.86 points.
The Hawaiian patiently hunted for a couple of good scores to down his Australian opponent. In the final minutes of the heat, he caught his two best waves, scoring 5.67 and 5.10 points off them. However, the resultant heat-total of 10.77 points proved to
be insufficient and forced him to surrender victory to Wright, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
Australia’s 28-year-old Buchan completely stole the show during the sixth heat through his exceptional performance. Despite the testing surfing conditions, he managed to make a solid impact during his battle against America’s Lopez.
As the heat kicked off, the Australian immediately went on a rampage, locking a wave to score 8.80 points off it and placing his opponent under immense pressure. Not quite done yet, he soon added another 7.00 points to his account with yet another surge
of backhand surfing and moved to the highest heat-total of the day, 15.80 points.
Chasing such an intimidating two-wave total, Lopez was unable to come up with the necessary response. He was only able to catch one wave during the heat and posted a 6.50 on the scoreboard. The unimpressive performance allowed Buchan to make his way into
the third round quite comfortably.
During his post-heat interview, Buchan said, “It’s challenging out there with the inconsistency. We’re always in a tough spot when faced with less-than-stellar forecasts, and I think the guys understood that we had to get out there and battle one another.
It might not be equal for all heats in a round or all rounds in a contest, but at least it’s equal between each guy in the heat.”
The conditions were indeed putting the experience and skills of the surfers to test. To make matters even worse, the inconsistent waves made it difficult for the event organisers to keep the contest going and eventually forced them to call it a day after
getting done with just six heats of Round 2.
For more updates on Round 2 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay tuned to bettor.com
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