Josh Kerr’s Aerial’s Win an Amazing Drug Aware Pro presented by Rusty at Margaret River
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 20 March, 2010 : - - Surfers’ Point Margaret River, Western Australia: Josh Kerr claimed an incredible come-from-behind victory at the Association of Surfing Professionals 6 – Star Prime Rated Drug Aware Pro at Margaret River. Kerr defeated the home town hero Taj Burrow in front of the largest crowd ever seen at Margaret River estimated at 7000. One of the best ever finals in ASP history.
Aerial wizard Kerr was trailing for the majority of the 35-minute final before flying back into contention with the perfect ten point ride with just seven minutes on the clock.The 25 year old then locked in a 7-point ride to take the lead and claim victory in the 6 star World Qualifying Series (WQS) event.
The super cool Kerr never lost his composure despite requiring a two wave scoring combination for the majority of the final.The 6 star WQS win will go along way in advancing Kerr’s bid to re-qualify for the elite world tour ranks.
Josh Kerr : photo ASP/Woolacott
Burrow appeared to have a stranglehold on the final when he opened with an excellent 8.5 ride and shortly after backed that up with another excellent 8 point ride leaving Kerr requiring a combination of two scoring rides to win.
In the final five minutes Kerr caught two waves and unleashed three highest degree difficulty aerial moves, landed them all and scored a perfect 10 point ride followed by a 7.03 to turn the final around and take the win. “I thought it was well and truly over and I even said to Taj out in the water that he’d won and how amazing it was for him to win four events in a row!” said an ecstatic Kerr after the final.
“I said I’m going in on this wave and as I rode the wave I thought I’d try and put on a show for the crowd and pull a big air – I landed it, saw another section and landed again and all of a sudden I have a perfect 10 point ride and I’m in with a chance!”
Josh Kerr : photo ASP/Woolacott
“I grabbed another smaller one on the way back out, knew that on a smaller wave I’d have to again go big with an aerial and I landed again! - It all happened so fast that I’m still shocked – It’s easily the biggest win of my career and I can’t believe it.” Final scores in the final saw Kerr on 17.03 to Burrow on 16.5.
Burrow was philosophical about the defeat. “Surfing against a guy like Josh Kerr you always know he’s capable of massive scores but that was amazing – he virtually congratulated me in the last five minutes and then caught that wave – he deserves the win, those aerials he pulled were massive – there was nothing I could do to stop him today”
Burrow remains the number one rated surfer in the world and feels confident leading into his next major event at Bells Beach in just over a weeks time. “I feel great about my surfing, my boards are going well and I’m on good roll at present and I’m really looking forward to the next event – Hat’s off to Kerr today, he surfed amazing!”
Final Scores Kerr 17:03 to Burrow’s 16:50 (out of a possible 20).
Taj Burrow : photo ASP/Robertson
Kerr heads to Tasmania next week and the determined Queenslander is now positioned to again re qualify for the elite ASP world tour. Burrow who was hoping for a fourth consecutive win in front of his massive home crowd won the event way back in 1997 as a teenager and today used the same high speed surfing and attacking flair to finish runner-up.
Despite the second placing Burrow’s run remains remarkable and has marked himself a definite threat again for ASP World Title this year. Burrow eliminated current world no.5 Bede Durbidge (Gold Coast, Aus) in a one sided semi-final to secure his finals berth.
Kerr accounted for the last remaining international Corey Lopez (USA) in the second semi-final.Lopez who was in West Australia for a sponsor photo shoot opted at the last minute to contest the event.The former world tour surfer now has a head start if he decides to try and re-qualify for the elite ranks.
2000 ASP World Champion Sunny Garcia (Haw) proved he is still a force at the elite level of surfing, the 40 year-old eliminated from the quarter -finals by Corey Lopez (USA) after a sensational showing at Margaret River.Garcia not only had his dream shattered of winning the Drug Aware Pro but also broke his favorite board in the quarter-final.
The women's division will finalize tomorrow at Margaret River.
FiINAL Josh Kerr (Aus) 17:03 def Taj Burrow (Aus) 16:50
If you see a good surfing wave, just shoot a free panorama or a 360 to share it with other surfers. It is easy and fun with pixeet and its fisheye lens.
Contests
Hurricane Check
Printer friendly
Send to a friend
Podcasts
Newsfeeds
Galleries
Email
SV TV
Mobile