Pablo Paulino and Kieren Perrow emerge triumphant in Round 2 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito
The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime surfing action continued at the Surfers Beach in Ballito with the third and fourth heat of Mr. Price Pro Ballito’s Round of 48 (Round 2) on Wednesday morning, July 6.
Brazilian Pablo Paulino continued his impressive form in the third heat, clinching a convincing victory over his competition to advance to the next round. Australia’s Nic Muscroft advanced further in the event as well after finishing runner-up. Ireland’s
Glenn Hall rounded out the third position, while South Africa’s Rudy Palmboom finished fourth to get eliminated from the competition.
Australia’s Kieren Perrow once again proved his big-wave surfing prowess by securing a comfortable win in the fourth heat. Brazil’s Jesse Mendes followed the Australian to the next round after clinching second position. Hawaii’s Granger Larsen and South
Africa’s Royden Bryson were ejected from the event-title race after finishing in third and fourth positions respectively.
Paulino, who has multiple ASP World Junior Championship titles to his name, stole the show during his four-way battle. Adjusting quite well to the conditions, he treated the crowd to an outstanding performance. He scored 7.93 off a wave to move ahead of
his rivals on the scoreboard. Throwing a string of fins-free turns and riding barrels cleanly, he collected the day’s highest single-wave score of 8.93, moving to the highest heat-total of the round, 16.86 and sealing the fate of the heat.
In a post-heat interview, Paulino said, “The waves were really heavy out there today. I tried to stay in tune with what conditions were doing and I was lucky to find that barrel.”
Muscroft came up with a pretty impressive second-round performance as well, scoring 5.33 and 8.57 off his two best waves, to finish with a heat-total of 13.90 points and advancing to the next round after finishing in second place.
Ireland lost its sole representative in the event, Hall, after he earned a heat-total of 10.37 to land in third place. South Africa’s Palmboom finished in last place, managing to earn 9.27 points in total from his two best waves.
The next heat featured a one-man show by the tour veteran, Perrow. The ASP World No. 15 dominated his three opponents in the 30-minute heat to claim victory. Throw a combination of sensational manoeuvres on a barrel early in the heat; he opened his account
with an excellent 8.83. Adding an additional 6.33 to his account half-way through the heat, he finished with a two-wave total of 15.16 points.
“There were some really good waves out there and if you got a good one you had to make the most of it. It’s fun when it’s like this! It’s really powerful, very good for turns and there’s the odd tube ride so you really can’t ask for much more,” said Perrow
in a post-heat interview.
Mendes successfully extended his life in the competition by scoring 5.10 and 5.37 points to finish with a heat-total of 10.47 and grab second position.
Larsen and Bryson saw their latest ASP Prime campaign come to a premature end after finishing in the bottom-half of the line up. Larsen took third position with a heat-total of 9.17 points, while the latter rounded out the last position with a heat-total
of merely 4.70 points.
For further updates on Round 2 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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