Damien Hobgood claims Round 1 success at Volcom Fiji Pro – Surfing News
America’s Damien Hobgood made his way through into the third round of Volcom Fiji Pro, the latest stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, after emerging triumphant in the third heat of Round 1 that went down at the main venue
of Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji, on Sunday, June 3.
His fellow countryperson Taylor Knox finished in second place, while Australia’s Taj Burrow had to settle for a third-place finish. Both the surfers were consequently forced to take a trip to the relegation Round 2, with one final opportunity of securing
their place in the third round.
The fourth stop on the 2012 ASP World Tour had brought the world’s best surfers to the open ocean reef pass, where they were to resume their campaign for the coveted ASP World Title in six-to-eight foot waves that were breaking at the event site on the opening
day of the competition. The day was expected to feature plenty of thrilling action as the surfing conditions on hand and the surfers in contention for the event title both were of top quality. The huge crowd in attendance at Cloudbreak anticipated the heats
to be full of exquisite performances and nail-biting finishes.
The third heat of Round 1 saw Hobgood square-off with Knox and Burrow in a three-man battle to try and secure their place in the third round without having to surf in Round 2.
All three surfers had a hard time getting their hands on a couple of good scores due to the scarcity of potent scoring opportunities. Hobgood, however, managed to do a bit better than his rivals during the course of the battle. Starting off with an ordinary
score, the American surfer found a comparatively better wave to earn a 4.83 off it. Keeping the momentum going, he went on to catch a juicy left-hander. Earning a 6.17 off it, Hobgood moved to a heat-total of 11.00 points, which held up until the end to see
him through into the next round.
Despite being the most experienced surfer in the heat, Knox failed to make much of an impact in the battle. He scored a 2.33 and 7.83 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 10.16 points, thus having to settle for second place.
Burrow, the formidable Australian sensation, accompanied Knox to the relegation round, much to everyone’s surprise. He only managed to collect a couple of scores in the two-point range, thus finishing with a heat-total of 4.17 points.
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