- WSL / Ethan Smith
- WSL / Ethan Smith

The Men's divisions of the 2020 Mothernest Great Lakes Pro, World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 1000 event tore through the opening two rounds of competition, in a day that saw a variety of different conditions.

in Round 2 at the 2020 Mothernest Great Lakes Pro Ideal morning conditions at Boomerang Beach. - WSL / Ethan Smith

Timothee Bisso made his journey from Europe worthwhile as he progressed through the second round of the competition. Bisso found a handful of wedgey shore breaks early in the morning that allowed the French goofy-footer to perform a handful of exciting and high-flying aerial maneuvers. Bisso finished the heat with a respectable 11.30 heat total to claim the win and earn himself a spot into the third round.

"I'm super happy to be here. Australia is my favourite country to get fun waves," said Bisso. "The conditions are fun out there, but I found it hard to stick two turns together. Hopefully, I can improve in round three. I rode a smaller board which was probably a mistake, but I managed to make it work which I'm stoked with. I love this event and want to keep coming back every year."

in Round 2 at the 2020 Mothernest Great Lakes Pro Timothee Bisso. - WSL / Ethan Smith

Following on from their teams final at the recent nudie Australian Boardriders Battle National Final, Alister Reginato came up against Central Coast surfer Shane Holmes for the second time in a week. It seemed like the momentum fell in favour of the Sunshine Coast surfer as he proceeded to destroy a variety of long right-handers which saw him rewarded with a decent 16.00 two-wave heat totals. Holmes showed moments of brilliance but was beaten in the dying stages of the heat by Korbin Hutchings who posted a 7.10 wave score and claimed the second progressing position.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw that I was coming up against Holmesy again," said Reginato. "He's always hard to beat, so I just wanted to stick to my own plan and head out the back to get those longer running waves that began to break when the tide started to run out, which thankfully worked for me. The waves changed so much over the course of the morning, but there were some pretty sick ones if you could find them out there."

in Round 2 at the 2020 Mothernest Great Lakes Pro Alister Reginato. - WSL / Ethan Smith

Josh Boyle surfed the heat of his life, as the swell increased and the tide ran out. Boyle went ballistic in the second round heat, nailing a barrage of giant forehand hits to post two excellent scores, a 9.40 and a 9.20 which took his two-wave total to a near-perfect 18.60.

"I'm stoked with that heat. It's the best heat I've had in a QS event," said Boyle. "There were fun two-foot shorebreak peaks this morning now it's four foot and breaking out the back, so it's changed heaps. I wanted to make sure I mixed my turns up as much as I could when the swell increased and thankfully the bigger waves allowed us to do that."

in Round 2 at the 2020 Mothernest Great Lakes Pro Ryan Slattery on a Boomerang drain-pipe. - WSL / Ethan Smith

Not to be outdone, Nick Vasicek (Gold Coast, Qld) followed the same trajectory as Boyle in the second last heat of the day, posting a solid 18.05 two-wave total.

The 2020 Mothernest Great Lakes Pro will run from February 19 - 23. Please visit WorldSurfLeague.com or download the free WSL App for more information and results.

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