CJ Hobgood claims victory over Yadin Nicol to stay in race for the Billabong Rio Pro Title
America’s CJ Hobgood made his way through into the third round of Billabong Rio Pro, the third of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, after getting the better of Australia’s Yadin Nicol in the eighth heat of Round
2 that went down at the main event site of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Monday, May 14.
While the outcome of the heat served to carry Hobgood into the next round, it also brought the competition to a premature end for Nicol.
“These conditions are a giant equalizer no matter who you have,” Hobgood commented during his post-heat interview. “You know you’re not going to get many chances. You could go from a dog fight trying to find 2s and 3s, that’s how slim it is and luckily a
little later I got a chance on a left. It’s tough, there are not many out there. It looks easy from the beach and when you’re taking off you’re thinking, ‘I hope I make the drop here.’”
Both the surfers had not gotten off to the best of starts at the latest stop of the elite tour. Due to unfavourable conditions at the primary event site on day 1 of the competition, the event organisers had shifted to the alternate event venue of Arpoador
for Round 1. The tricky one-to-two foot waves had gotten the better of both the surfers, sending both of them into the elimination round to take a tougher road to Round 3.
After staying on hold for four days, the competition resumed with the second round Barra da Tijuca. The conditions had improved significantly, with the barrels lying in the four-to-six foot range gracing the site and offering plenty of potential scoring
opportunities to the surfers.
Determined to put on a much better performance than their previous one, Hobgood and Nicol got ready to take each other on in the eighth heat of Round 2 on Monday afternoon.
As the battle got underway, the 32-year-old Hobgood got off to a scratchy start, collecting a mere 3.33 off his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat. Using his massive experience, the American surfer navigated through the building wind
and demanding tide to lock an 8.03-point ride, which took him to a heat-total of 11.36 points.
Nicol never looked at ease during the course of the battle, clearly succumbing to the tough conditions. Collecting a 4.00 and 3.97 off his best-two waves got him only to a heat-total of 7.97 points, 3.39 points behind the required score. As a result, he
surrendered victory, sending the latter into the next round to face America’s Patrick Gudauskas.
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