CJ Hobgood and Thiago Camarao enter Round 4 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
Billabong Azores Islands Pros’ Round of 24 (Round 3) wrapped up with the 11th and 12th heat on Friday, September 30, at Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal with CJ Hobgood and Thiago Camaro coming out as big winners.
America’s CJ Hobgood bested his compatriot, Patrick Gudauskas, in the 11th heat to confirm his place in the Round of 12 (Round 4), consequently bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival. The 12th heat saw Brazil’s Thiago
Camarao defeat South Africa’s Shaun Joubert with a convincing margin to advance into the next round, getting the name of his rival added to the elimination list in the process.
The Round 3 bout between Hobgood and Gudauskas was expected to be quite an exciting affair as both surfers looked in great form and had the necessary skills and experience to produce a lot of fire-works. However, the challenging surfing conditions, which
involved tricky three-foot waves and strong on-shore winds, were definitely going to play an integral role in determining the outcome of the battle.
As the 11th heat kicked off, Gudauskas got himself an early lead after scoring 5.67 points off his first business-wave. He was not given any time to relax as the 32-year-old Hobgood immediately responded with a 6.77-point wave to claim the lead.
Both the surfers kept pushing hard while hunting for another decent score. Hobgood extended his lead over his rival by adding another 5.57 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 12.34 points. Gudauskas kept searching hard for an adequate response
but could only manage to collect a 5.27 off his second business-wave, consequently finishing in second place with a heat-total of 10.94 points. The 1.40-point deficit forced him to concede victory to Hobgood, sending the latter into the next round.
The final heat of Round 3 featured the 23-year-old Camarao and Joubert competing against each other for a spot in the next round. Both surfers had exhibited promising results during the previous two rounds of the competition but the time had come for one
of them to take his leave.
As the heat got under-way, Joubert got off to a decent start, collecting 5.50 points off his first business-wave. Camarao collected a series of average scores before locking a wave to unload a combination of impressive manoeuvres, earning 7.00 for the effort.
With only a few minutes left in the heat, the Brazilian added an additional 5.70 points to his account, taking his account total to 12.70 points. Joubert needed to get a 7.20 off his crucial second wave but only managed to score 4.87 points off it, which
caused him to finish in second place and hence get eliminated.
For more updates on Round 3 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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