Day one of the 2024 Usher Cup Open men’s contest and on a reducing tide, the swell provided arguably more scoring opportunities for the 97 strong field.
Wildcard Thomas Carvalho 15.17 claimed heat one with Florida’s Chauncey Robinson 11.03 second with Burleigh Heads Rico Haybittle 9.46 third and North Ends Chris Bennett’s 9.07 fourth.
Huntington beach surfer Sage Guinaldo 13.40 claimed heat two by 3.7 points from Noosa’s Tim Bain 9.70 with Japan’s Sentaro Sakai 8.80 finishing in third and the Juraki’s Joel Slabb 4th with a score of 2.83.
North Shelley Qualifier Shane Holmes 12.70 claimed heat three ahead of Merewether’s Mikey Clayton-Brown 12.50 with Santa Cruz surfer Shaun Burns third with a score of 10.27, Byron Bay’s Joel Paon 4th with 7.34.
Heat four was an incredibly close fought contest with Kawana surfer Dane Bird 11.70 finishing in first ahead of veteran Torquay surfer Troy Brooks 11.54 with Kauai surfer Rylan Beavers finishing in third place with 10.90 with Newport surfer Taj Miller 10.04 in 4th.
Scarborough surfer Nic Squires 14.10 took out heat five ahead of NASA surfer Arch Whiteman 11.17 with North Shore’s Noah Andrews 10.76 third and North Ends Brock Cooper fourth with 10.50
Willis Droomer scored a telling point win for Torquay in heat six, his 12.63 points haul seeing him a comfortable winner ahead of Le-Bas Bohdi Williams 9.33 with Maui’s Steve Roberson 9.17 third and Tezu Harrison fourth with 7.47
Duranbah’s Jimmi Hill 14.97 claimed heat seven by just 0.21 of a point from Santa Cruz surfer Sam Coffee 14.76 with North Shelley surfer Hughie Vaughan 12.77 third ahead of Newport’s Quaid Fahrion
MNM veteran Darren Turner 11.50 edged out Point Lookouts Ash Jenner 11.27 in heat eight with Burleigh Heads Hinata Aizawa 10.83 third ahead of San Diego’s Jett Maughan 10.80 who finished in fourth place.
Padma’s, I Made Darma Putra 15.93 scored a telling blow for Indonesia in heat 9 defeating Le-Ba’s Harry O’Brien 12.60 San Clemente’s Jeremy Carter 10.13 and Windansea’s Noah Kearney 9.57.
North Narrabeen’s Jordy Lawler 13.16 claimed the final heat of the day by 3.66 with Florida’s Sam Duggan 10.26 second, New Zealand’s Jack Hinton 8.90 third and San Diego’s Cody Steele 5.56 fourth.
The contest resumes at 7:30am tomorrow morning.