Day maintaining a simple formula to success
ALI Day says consistency will be the key in his quest for a second Nutri-Grain series title.
Day maintained the series lead after Round 3 at North Wollongong yesterday, with fifth keeping him just ahead of Surfers Paradise clubmate TJ Hendy, who was fourth.
Day’s effort was incredible given he was almost knocked out in the first race under the eliminator format.
The 27-year-old just beat Currumbin’s Jackson Maynard to the line in the opening race to survive “by the skin of my teeth”.
“There’s still a long way to go,” Day said.
“I wanted to get another consistent result and I didn’t want to make any mistakes. That first race, I literally just qualified and literally got through by the skin of my teeth. I just tried not to panic.
“Consistency’s always going to be the key but you look at the leaderboard and if you can win a couple, you can really skyrocket yourself.
“But if you can just stay in that top five or six, you can go a long way to getting yourself up the pointy end.”
Day said he was ready for a break having hit the halfway point of the series.
“I did the Gold and three weeks later we did that first round, then I was crook leading into (Round 2 at) Coolum and was really lucky to come away with that win,” he said.
TJ Hendy leads the list of six previously unqualified athletes who will advance directly to finals from Rounds 4-6 after having previously had to qualify through the Ocean6 heats a day before the finals.
Mermaid Beach’s James Lacy, Max Brooks (Newport), Nathan Gray (Surfers Paradise), Jay Furniss (Manly) and Hayden White (Currumbin) also made the cut.