Adrien Toyon and Nat Young conquer their Round 3 heats at the Reef Hawaiian Pro
The first of three stops on Vans Triple Crown of Surfing World Cup, the Reef Hawaiian Pro, kept serving a heavy dose of thrilling action to the crowd in attendance at the famed North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on Tuesday, November 22 as a line-up of extremely
talented surfers took each other on for survival in the Round of 64 (Round 3). The third heat of Round 3 pitted Reunion Island’s Adrien Toyon against Australia’s Kieren Perrow South Africa’s Travis Logie and Brazil’s Tomas Hermes whereas America’s Nat Young
faced his compatriot Damien Hobgood, France’s Maxime Huscenot and Australia’s Tom Whitaker in the fourth heat.
The third heat turned out to be an intense affair with Toyon, Perrow and Logie stretching each other to the limit during the four-man battle. As the dust settled, however, it was Toyon who got to walk away with top honours and consequently qualified for
the Round of 32 (Round 4). Perrow made the Round 4 cut as well by edging past his South African rival, Logie, to clinch runner-up place while leaving the latter eliminated from the competition. Hermes, who finished in fourth place, also got ejected from the
event due to his lacklustre performance.
The fourth heat turned out to be another exciting showdown, this time between Young and Huscenot, though the American eventually secured victory in the final minutes to confidently make his way into the next round. Huscenot extended his life in the competition
as well after clinching runner-up place. Whitaker and Hobgood got removed from the contention for the event title after rounding out the third and fourth positions respectively.
With clean head-high waves and strong off-shore conditions at hand, the third heat got underway. The 22-year-old Toyon got off to a cautious start and gradually built momentum to eventually post a 5.67 off his first business-wave halfway through the heat.
Perrow had no intention of playing second fiddle to his rival and responded with an impressive 6.83-point wave to take the heat.
As the battle came close to the buzzer, Perrow added another 5.03 points to his account to move to a heat-total of 11.86 points. Finding himself under immense pressure, Toyon made a desperate effort on his final wave and successfully collected a much-needed
6.50 off it to move ahead of his rival on the score-board with a heat-total of 12.17 points.
Logie remained pretty impressive throughout the heat as well, but ended up just short of clinching the runner-up place after finishing with a heat-total of 11.64 points. Hermes failed to make a solid impact during the four-man battle and consequently rounded
out the bottom position with a heat-total of 8.94 points.
The fourth heat went down to the wire as well as the 20-year-old Young engaged in an intense battle with his French rival, Huscenot, for top honours. The young American collected a 6.23 off his first business wave, while Huscenot responded feebly with a
4.90-point wave.
A few minutes later, the Frenchman collected a 6.73-point wave to take his heat-total to 11.63 points and move into the lead. However, Young earned a timely 6.43 off his final wave of the heat to finish with a heat-total of 12.66 points, thus taking the
win.
Whitaker finished in third position with a heat-total of 10.44 points, while Hobgood’s lacklustre performance merely got him to a heat-total of 10.30 points for a fourth-place finish. Both the surfers got eliminated from the competition due to their bottom-two
finish.
For more updates on Round 3 of the Reef Hawaiian Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
Tags: