As the waves continued to pump through at Bells Beach on Monday, the first of the Rip Curl Pro’s quarter-finalists were decided. Taj Burrow, John John Florence, Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning all won their Round 4 non-elimination heats to jump straight into the quarters and skip Round 5.
JJF in particular looked ruthless. During a perfect ten in his heat, John John punted and twisted through a corkscrew air reverse right in front of his opponent, Gabriel Medina. Did having the Brazilian in his sights motivate the Hawaiian to do something crazy? Perhaps, but either way it was spectacular. Watch below.
Earlier in the day, Jordy Smith carved his way to the highest heat tally of Round 3 to advance to Round 4 and eliminate Sebastian Zietz from the event. His combined score of 17.44 included a 9.57 plus a 7.87 that comprised just two massive turns. If he’d held on through the third turn, then another excellent score was on the cards for the powerful regular foot.
Round 4 unfortunately saw Jordy get relegated to Round 5 though, as Joel Parkinson turned up the style and claimed first in the non-elimination encounter to book his spot in the quarter finals. Jordy now will have to get through a tough match-up with Julian Wilson to make it to the quarter finals.
Jordy will be hard to beat if he finds the right waves in Round 5.
In the Women’s division surfed on Sunday, Bianca Buitendag finished third in her non-elimination Round 3 heat to get relegated to Round 4. The Southern Cape local will need to get past Lakey Peterson if she wishes to continue her good start to the season. Currently lying equal third in the world rankings, Bianca has looked like the goofyfoot to beat on the Dream Tour so far this season. If she gets into a good rhythm on her backhand on Bells’ notoriously tricky walls during Round 4, then Lakey is in for a tough heat.
Bianca will be looking to keep up her early season momentum in Round 4.
The forecast is predicting the swell to hang around, but while Tuesday will see a slight dip, Wednesday through to Friday looks good for more great action at Bells Beach.
Stay tuned to www.aspworldtour.com for the call for action to get back underway at the Rip Curl Pro.
