Brett Simpson defeats Damien Hobgood in Round 2 of Rip Curl Pro Search – 2011 ASP World Tour
The crowd kept getting treated to a heavy dose of surfing action as America’s Brett Simpson took on his compatriot Damien Hobgood in the eighth heat of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco’s Round 2 on Wednesday, November 2, at Ocean Beach in San Francisco,
America.
The two Americans put up a remarkable show for their local fans and fought tooth and nail until the very end. Once the dust settled, it was Simpson who walked away with a thrilling come-from-behind victory, consequently securing his place in the third round
while bringing the competition to a premature end for Hobgood.
Despite the local knowledge of the waves, along with the support of the local crowd behind him, Simpson failed to get the sort of start that he was hoping for at Ocean Bean. The first round of the competition had not gone his way and he had ended up finishing
in third place to get pushed into the round 2 in order to earn his way into Round 3. With such a poor start to the proceedings, it was definitely going to take something special from the 26-year-old American to bounce back and find his rhythm before it proved
too costly for him.
Facing Simpson in the second round was Hobgood, another Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour veteran. He had looked to be in a much better form than his Round 2 competitor, but with the pressure of elimination hanging over his heat now,
it was indeed going to be a different game now.
As the eighth heat of Round 2 got under-way, Hobgood made his form apparent by going through a series of mediocre scores before locking a wave to unload a string of impressive turns, earning a 7.60 for the effort. He further added an additional 6.77 points
to his account and moved to a heat-total of 14.37 points.
Showing a lot of patience during the early stages of the battle, Simpson waited till the last moments of the heat to make his charge. With only a few minutes left in the contest, he locked a wave and went hard at it. The effort allowed him to post an impressive
8.47 points on the score-board. Still well behind his rival, Simpson needed to find another good score and fast as there was not much time left. In the dying minutes of the heat, he caught another wave and squeezed a decisive 7.90 points off it, taking his
heat-total to 16.37 points. The score sealed the fate of the battle in his favour and sent him through into the next round while eliminating Hobgood from the competition.
For more updates on Round 2 of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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