Wilko’s Flairing And Zeke’s Still Tearing

The swell dialled back a notch, the wind tended onshore, but Day 3 still saw the wrap up of the remaining Round 2 heats at a playful looking Keramas. 

There weren’t any Backdoor mimicking bombs on dawn, but thankfully for those in today’s draw, Keramas is just as fun and contestable when it’s not all eight-foot cylinders. 

As is custom at Keramas, the Komune floodlights lit-up before sunrise gifting the insomniacs a few trial runs before the comp kicked off. Griff, Italo and Jesse Mendes (with a huge jump) stood out in front of the photog-saturated shoreline, but the indisputable heroes from the dawn session were unsurprisingly John Florence and Gabriel Medina. 

Not a wave went ridden between the making of these two punts. 

We’re not here to make comparisons though – we’ll leave that to the IG comment thread. These two spins were however the biggest that went down both inside and outside the comp today; not that there was any lack of trying from the competitors.

It does however excite us about the prospect of seeing those with a touch more aerial-finesse taking to an air-conducive Keramas in the later rounds of the event. 

After briefly going on hold, the Corona Bali Protected kicked off once again.  

Only six heats went down today, and to save you watching the already condensed heat replays, here’s an even more abridged version of the Round 2 wrap-up:  

Frederico V Ian

As Ronnie pointed out, both Fred and Ian could’ve taken more advantage of the first section, however, Fred’s “golf stroke” carves were enough to surpass the ‘nooner’ onslaught Ian was packing. 

Freddy celebrating his 25th place avoidance. Photo. WSL/Cestari

It seemed to be shaping up as a tough day for the goofies until Matty Wilko turned up in the heat after.

Wilko V Duru

After two consecutive 5th place finishes in ’16 and ’17, Matt Wilkinson had all but solidified himself as a serious World Title threat. Unfortunately for Matt, the crown isn’t exactly on the cards for 2018, following a start resembling his coach-less days.

This morning however, Wilko showed exactly why he still is a future Title threat; there ain’t a surfer on tour with a more aggressive and consistent backhand than him right now and unfortunately for Joan, he was the victim of an in-form Matty Wilko.

Keramas may be better known for airs and tubes, but you can’t deny surfing this good regardless of where it is. Photo. WSL/Cestari

Kanoa V Mendes

Kanoa’s surfing has noticeably matured since his rookie debut and following @snaketales post yesterday, the American, I mean Japanese surfer, appeared the pick of the two in the lead up to this Round 2 Quikky teammate clash.  

This however wasn’t the case; potentially inspired by the backhand antics of Wilko the heat before, Jesse floated and fin-drifted his way to victory despite Kanoa’s best progressive attempts to hold the Brazilian back. 

Zeke V Pat

Like Kanoa, Zeke also featured in Snake’s team tease yesterday arvo where we saw Zeke throw an over-rotated flip and stick a reverse to the flats in conditions which matched this morning’s. 

Not the “move of the event” in question, but a momentary glimpse into Lau’s power nonetheless. Photo. WSL/Cestari

Zeke didn’t need to rely on any airs or mid-heat hussling against Pat, essentially slashing a jittery Patty G’s hopes of progressing with a single layback jam. 

Zeke may come off as cocky, but when he surfs how he did today, it’s warranted. 

Yago V M-Rod

At the start of the year, Yago and Griff were the two rookies hailed as the saviours of progression heavy competitive surfing.  And when it came to web-clips and segments, there weren’t many young guns more alluring than these two.

M-Rod ain’t quite a title contender, but at 7th place, rookie of the year is a bet worth placing. Photo. WSL/Sloane

To some extent, Griff has walked the path of expectation paved in front of him on tour; Yago on the other hand, has disappointingly struggled, other than on his home turf. 

He almost planted the biggest air of the comp and got hung up on a second spin, unfortunately though Yago wasn’t able to find the waves that would’ve allowed him sneak past the rookie of the year contender, M-Rod.  

Connor V Tomas

Connor O’Leary, the 2017 ROTY who materialised from relative obscurity is far from backing up his debut year on tour.

The waves for the final heat of the day were indisputably rubbish, but Tomas Hermes managed to flap and aeroplane-arm his way to 12.66 heat total, leaving Connor with another disappointing and somewhat unexpected Round 2 exit. 

Hermes’ (read: Hesse) ‘Journey To The East’ is panning out alright thus far. Photo. WSL/Sloane

The forecast for tomorrow appears near-identical to today; it’s therefore likely the women will be ushered from the Komune pool and bar and into the lineup tomorrow morning; either way, expect another half-day coverage as both the winds and tides prevent the commissioners from swiftly pushing through the opening rounds.

Corona Bali Protected Remaining Men’s Round 2 Results:
Heat 7: Frederico Morais (PRT) 12.07 def. Ian Gouveia (BRA) 8.43  
Heat 8: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.94 def. Joan Duru (FRA) 7.00
Heat 9: Jesse Mendes (BRA) 12.33 def. Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 10.56  
Heat 10: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 15.57 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 8.67  
Heat 11: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 11.40 def. Yago Dora (BRA) 11.27  
Heat 12: Tomas Hermes (BRA) 12.66 def. Connor O’Leary (AUS) 11.34

Corona Bali Protected Men’s Round 3 Matchups:
Heat 1: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Jesse Mendes (BRA)  
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Ezekiel Lau (HAW)  
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Willian Cardoso (BRA)  
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Michael Rodrigues (BRA)  
Heat 5: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Griffin Colapinto (USA)  
Heat 6: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Mikey Wright (AUS)  
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Michael February (ZAF)  
Heat 8: Frederico Morais (PRT) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)  
Heat 9: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)  
Heat 10: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Tomas Hermes (BRA)  
Heat 11: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 

Corona Bali Protected Women’s Pro Round 1 Matchups:
Heat 1: Tyler Wright (AUS), Johanne Defay (FRA), Coco Ho (HAW)
Heat 2: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW), Caroline Marks (USA), Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Sage Erickson (USA), Carol Henrique (PRT)
Heat 4: Lakey Peterson (USA), Keely Andrew (AUS), Paige Hareb (NZL)
Heat 5: Carissa Moore (HAW), Silvana Lima (BRA), Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Heat 6: Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Malia Manuel (HAW)