MATT Banting fell just short of his pre-Surfest goal of making the quarter-finals at Merewether Beach last week.
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As he progressed through to the second round of the Manly Pro on February 27, the 23-year-old was philosophical about his defeat in Newcastle.
He didn’t miss out by much.
“I would have liked to have gotten to the quarters or the semis because if you do you get the points,” he said.
With a bit more luck in Newcastle, Banting could have progressed to the quarter-finals which he hoped he could navigate his way to in his return to the competitive stage.
“I was leading all the way (in the fourth round) and then got beaten by 0.3 of a point, but that’s the way it goes,” he said.
Banting’s score of 13.90 wasn’t quite enough as Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi pipped him with a total score of 14.27.
“I was talking to his coach yesterday and he said he had a look at the replay and he wasn’t too sure he landed his two little air reverses at the end,” he said.
“But there is no use whinging about it, you cop it on the chin and move on.”
The 2014 Surfest winner admitted he only had himself to blame.
“If I had have gotten a better second score it wouldn’t have been an issue; you can’t win them all,” he said.
“A few of the CT guys went out early in the contest so it was pretty tough.”
On Tuesday, Banting progressed to round two of the Manly Pro after his score of 11.07 (6.50 and 4.57) was enough to join American Jordy Collins (13.87) in the next round.
“I did enough, but you’ve got to be thankful to get through heats and get more points,” Banting said.
“I probably need to get a slightly better heat strategy, but you learn from it.”