Exquisite performances take Jay Thompson and Jack Freestone to Round 3 at Vans World Cup of Surfing
Australia’s Jay Thompson and his fellow countryperson Jack Freestone were able to successfully secure their place in the third round (Round of 64) at the Vans World Cup of Surfing, second jewel on the 30th anniversary Vans Triple Crown of Surfing,
after walking away with the win from their respective Round 2 (Round of 96) heats that went down at Sunset Beach in Oahu, Hawaii, on Friday, November 30, 2012.
While Thompson took the win in the seventh heat, his compatriot Lincoln Taylor took second place to accompany the winner into the next round. Brazil’s Willian Cardoso and Hawaii’s Love Hodel finished in third and fourth positions respectively, which resulted
in their premature elimination from the competition.
The eighth heat sent Freestone, along with Hawaii’s Granger Larsen who finished in second place, into the next round. Hawaii’s Makai McNamara finished in third place, while America’s Cory Arrambide had to settle for fourth place. The bottom-two finish resulted
in their ejection from the contention for the event title.
With the face heights of waves going as high as 15 feet on the latest day of the competition, the day presented the surfing talent from around the globe with a heavy dose of challenge.
The seventh heat saw Thompson squaring-off with Taylor, Cardoso and Hodel in a four-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
The Australian surfer locked a 9.73 off his first business-wave to take a comprehensive victory and went on to back it up with a 6.83-point ride, thus finishing with a decisive heat-total of 16.56 points.
“Sunset’s built for a bigger bloke like myself,” said Thompson. “We grow up on a lot of right hand points. In Australia there’s a lot of big waves and a lot of power. We spend a lot of time out here too, whenever there’s swell. I just like coming here. Big
waves are something we don’t get to surf all year round in events and everyone just looks forward to it. Perfect Haleiwa, perfect Sunset, and perfect Pipeline… at the end of the day it’s what we’re here for and it’s just beautiful to surf here in waves like
that.”
Taylor clinched a couple of scores in the five-point range to finish with a heat-total of 11.14 points. The score earned him second place and thus carried him through into the next round.
Cardoso finished third with a heat-total of 8.57 points, while Hodel finished four after registering a two-wave total of 7.27 points.
Freestone stole the show during the next heat through his stunning performance.
The Australian surfer got off to a confident start, looking very much at home in the wild waves. Locking his first business-wave, he posted an 8.17 on the score-board. He kept the momentum going to back it up with a 7.93-point ride, thus moving to a winning
heat-total of 16.10 points.
Larsen made it through into the next round as well after finishing with a heat-total of 11.57 points, which included a 7.00 and 4.57-point ride.
McNamara and Arrambide finished with a heat-total of 11.36 and 7.40 points respectively. The score was not enough to keep them alive in the contention for the event title.
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