Adrian Buchan and CJ Hobgood claim success in Round 2 at O’Neill Coldwater Classic
Australia’s Adrian Buchan and America’s CJ Hobgood were able to claim top honours in their respective Round 2 heats at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, the ninth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which
continued at Santa Cruz in California, America, on Sunday, November 4, 2012.
Buchan got the better of his fellow countryperson Kieren Perrow in the ninth heat to secure to step into the third round, removing the latter from the contention for the event title in the process.
The 10th heat saw Brazil’s Heitor Alves succumb to Hobgood, getting eliminated from the competition as a result and thus allowing his rival to comfortably make the Round 3 cut.
The latest day of the competition continued to see challenging conditions prevailing at the primary event site, an ideal setting to separate the in-form surfers from the ones who were still struggling to find their rhythm.
After a disappointing result in their Round 1 heats, Buchan and Perrow found themselves facing each other in a man-on-man battle for survival during Round 2.
As the ninth heat got underway, Buchan got off to a solid start, locking his first business-wave in the opening minutes to unleash a series of exquisite tricks and thus posting an 8.83 on the score-board.
The Australian surfer eventually added an additional 9.50 points to his account in the later stages of the heat, thus moving to a heat-total of 18.33 points.
Staring at such a mammoth-sized heat-total in demanding conditions, Perrow clearly had his work cut out for him.
The Australian surfer struggled to find momentum for most part of the heat, but seemed to break free of the shackles in the final minutes of the heat to collect a 7.17 and 5.43-point ride, thus finishing with a heat-total of 12.60 points.
The effort just was not enough to see him through into the next round, thus allowing Buchan to go through with a comprehensive win.
The 10th heat saw Hobgood make an effective use of his local knowledge of the waves to down Alves with a convincing margin.
The American surfer got down to business right away, earning a 5.00 off his first business-wave and immediately backed it up with a 7.17-point ride, thus reaching a heat-total of 12.17 points.
Alves got off to a slow start, but despite gaining a bit of a momentum, the Brazilian surfer got to a heat-total of 10.53 points, which included a 6.53 and 4.00-point ride.
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