Dege O’Connell and Evan Vallere emerge triumphant in Round 1 of 2011 Reef Hawaiian Pro
The Reef Hawaiian Pro, first stop of the 2011 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, continued to treat the fans to a heavy dose of thrilling surfing action as Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth squared off with Hawaii’s Dege O’Connell, Sebastien Zietz and Flynn Novak in the fifth heat, whereas Australia’s Davey Cathels took on South Africa’s Rudy Palmboom, as well as Hawaii’s Evan Vallere and Kamalei Alexander in the sixth heat of the Round of 128 (Round 1) that went down on Monday, November 21, at the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.
O’Connell walked away with a comfortable victory in the fifth heat to secure his place in the Round of 96 (Round 2). He was joined by Zietz, who secured the runner-up place to extend his life in the competition. Toth and Novak were unable to make the Round 2 cut after finishing in third and fourth position respectively.
The sixth heat saw Vallere clinch top honours with a convincing margin to advance through into the next round. Cathels earned his place in the Round of 96 after finishing in second place. Palmboom and Alexander rounded out the third and fourth positions respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
As the fifth heat of the Reef Hawaiian Pro got underway, the 21-year-old O’Connell did not have much luck in finding the waves, but was able to make the most out of the ones that he actually did manage to lock. After earning a modest 4.33 off his first business wave, the Hawaiian went on to unload a series of exquisite tricks on his second wave, earning 8.00 for the effort. The two-wave total of 12.33 points proved more than sufficient to carry him off into the next round with a confident win.
Zietz collected a 3.10 and 6.50 off his first-two waves of the heat to finish with a heat-total of 9.60 points. The score earned him the runner-up place and sent him through into the next round to continue his campaign for the event title.
Toth and Novak struggled to adjust to the demanding conditions and eventually got eliminated due to their lacklustre performance. The Puerto Rican-based Toth collected a 4.00 and 5.07-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 9.07 points, where Novak finished last with 8.00 points in total off his two best waves.
The sixth heat saw the 27-year-old Vallere make an excellent recovery from a slow start to eventually seal the fate of the contest in his favour. After struggling to find good scores for most part of the heat, he manage to break free of the shackles in the final minutes of the four-man battle and posted a 5.67 on the score-board. He immediately followed it up with a spectacular 8.93-point wave to move to a winning heat-total of 14.60 points.
Cathels collected a 5.60 off his first business wave and soon added another 4.97 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 10.57 points. The score allowed him to secure runner-up place and sent him through into the next round.
Palmboom finished in third place with a heat-total of 9.83 points, while a two-wave total of 6.17 points put Alexander in last place. The disappointing performances by the two surfers put them out of contention for the event title.
For more updates on Round 1 of the Reef Hawaiian Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
Tags: