Rip Curl Pro wild card Owen Wright showed the world today that his round one victory over Dane Reynolds was not a fluke. With consistently smooth, powerful backhand surfing Wright simply put Kelly Slater away in an extremely close heat.
Early on Kelly had some trouble with the lip, nothing compared to his rail tripping during the Quiksilver Pro, but glitches just the same. He pulled into a couple little coverups, got a nice floater, but lacked the explosive perfection that the world (and the judges) have come to expect.
Owen Wright just stuck to it and ended up with a 14.67 to Slater’s 13.83. “There was a lot of pressure,” Wright said in his post heat interview. “Then I thought to myself. ‘I can surf. I’m not that bad of a surfer.’ I know he’s the 9 time world champion, but I just figured if I do what I do it might be enough at the end of the day. . . I’m really happy to get one on Kelly Slater. There won’t be many chances like that that come around. I’m so stoked right now.”
Now the big question: will Kelly stay with it or throw in the hopes of number 10? We’re hoping he hangs in for a couple more.
[Link: Rip Curl Pro]
Great result for Owen and some solid surfing on display.
Local boy Adam Robbo just knocked out Bede Durbo as well with some mad surfing!! Still has no sponsor!
Comments on this entry are closed.