Bruce Mackie, Che Allan and Josh Burke through to quarter-finals
Bruce Mackie, Che Allan and Josh Burke all advanced to the quarter finals of the the men’s Qualifying Series (QS) Thomo QS 1,000 in Memory of Bill Thomson and Live Like Zander Junior Pro In Memory of Zander Venezia at the iconic Soup Bowl of Bathsheba yesterday.
With the conditions changing and the rain sitting over the Bowl at times the surfers pushed through to score some impressive waves.
Mackie was the Heat 5 winner in Round 2, while Burke finished second in Heat 7 and they both found themselves in the same Round 3 Heat.
Three big open face turns saw Mackie drop a 6.83 at the start of the Heat 3 and he led the Heat for most of the Heat.
Burke worked his first wave all to the inside and he earned 8.0 to jump into first position. These two battled it out as Mackie took back over the lead with a 3.17 for a combination score of 10.0.
However with only one wave to his name for most of the Heat Burke slipped to third but with just under six minutes to go he caught his second wave and scored a 6.17 to move into first place with a combination score of 14.17. Burke also hit an aerial on his third wave but bailed out after landing it.
With just over a minute left the two local surfers led the heat and so it ended though Mackie improved his score as the clocked ticked down he rode his last wave to shore for a 5.40 and finished second in the heat with 12.23 to Burke’s 14.17.
Burke will be in Heat 3 of the quarter finals and will face Giorgio Gomez while Mackie is in Heat 4 and he is up against Taj Lindbald.
The 2017 event winner Che Allan also advanced to the quarter finals as he started off the heat with a bang and took the early lead of the Heat when he dropped 6.17 on his second wave.
The lead slipping out his hands a few minutes later to Sam Reidy who had a combined score of 9.5 thanks to wave scores of 5.50 and 4.0. and Own Moss who combined for 8.5.
Needing a 3.33 to move into first place Allan caught a wave with just over eight minutes to go which earned him a 5.03 and the lead.
Allan went on to win the heat and move into the quarter with a combined score of 11.20. and he will face Nick Marshall who was second in Heat 2.
Defending champion Chauncey Robinson also advanced to the quarter finals and he will be in Heat 2.
In the Junior event earlier Bajans Lance Bourne, Rafe Gooding, Warren Povey, Ocean Gittens and Caleb Rapson were eliminated before the quarter-finals. (CG)