Whatshot
The Corona Bali Protected Heats Up
The Corona Bali Protected Heats Up
Keramas, Bali and The Corona Bali Protected presented by Hurley, Stop No. 5 on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), resumed at Keramas on Tuesday, completing men's Round 2 in onshore but high-performance conditions.
Currently sitting at World No. 6 on the Jeep Rankings, Ezekiel Lau (HAW) is having a breakout start to his 2018 season. The Hawaiian powerhouse continued his solid form with a dominant win over Californian Patrick Gudauskas (USA) in Heat 10 of Round 2. Lau's rail-game was perfectly in sync with the big, open walls of Keramas and saw him post a heat total of 15.57 (out of a possible 20), the highest of the event so far. Gudauskas was left in a combination situation (needing two new scores) from early in the heat and,unable to hunt it down, was eliminated from the Corona Bali Protected.
"My coach told me before that heat that I'm sixth in the world so I just need to surf like I'm sixth in the world," Lau said. "That definitely gave me confidence and inspired me to put on a solid performance, especially after my first round heat where I didn't get many opportunities. I was really nervous even with that lead as there was so much time left on the clock and Pat (Gudauskas) is so talented, anything could have happened." The opening heat of the day got off to a slow start as Frederico Morais (PRT) and Ian Gouveia (BRA) paddled each other off the peak, battling for priority.Eventually, Morais took control with his trademark power-wraps. Although Gouveia did his best to stay in contention, it was Morais who ended the heat in the progressing spot, leaving Gouveia to end his campaign in Equal 25th place.