Damien Hobgood starts off with success in Round 1 at Quiksilver Saquarema Prime – Surfing News
America’s Damien Hobgood emerged triumphant in the fifth heat of Quiksilver Saquarema Prime’s Round 1 (Round of 96) that went down at the point-break of Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 22.
A win in the opening round of the competition served to carry Hobgood into Round 2 (Round of 48). Brazil’s Bino Lopes finished in second place to make his way through into the next round as well. South Africa’s Shaun Joubert and Brazil’s Jesse Mendes rounded
out the bottom-two positions to find themselves ejected from the contention for the event title.
The best surfers from around the world had arrived at Saquarema to compete for a slice of the $US 250,000 and coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) rankings points at the third event on the 2012 ASP PRIME event calendar. The perfect conditions
prevailing at the event site contributed to the excitement in the air on the opening day of the competition, with the six-to-eight foot waves acting as an ideal canvas to feature a series of exquisite performances during the course of the day.
The fifth heat of Round 1 saw Hobgood take on Lopes, Joubert and Mendes in a four-man battle for the Round 2 spot.
The American surfer got off to a promising start, earning a 7.00 off his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat. However, the situation got a bit dire for him after an excellent start. In the final minutes of the heat, Hobgood got hold of
his second business-wave to add an additional 7.20 points to his account, thus finishing with a decisive heat-total of 14.20 points.
“The conditions are really, really good and excellent to compete in,” stated Hobgood. “Without a doubt, I caught one of the best waves I’ve had this year in the world. The waves are perfect, really long lefts and things are classic. Saquarema is incredible,
there’s a great area for the surfers, you can really take advantage of the wave and you just have to go out there and do your best. I’m really excited to find such good waves here in Brazil.”
Lopez gave a tough fight to Hobgood throughout the course of the battle, but eventually had to settle for runner-up place with a heat-total of 11.57 points, which included a 6.00 and 5.57-point ride.
Joubert finished in third place with a heat-total of 11.03 points, while Mendes finished fourth with a two-wave total of 10.80 points. The bottom-two finish removed both the surfers from the competition field.
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