Glenn Hall and John John Florence prevail in Round 4 of 2011 Reef Hawaiian Pro
The first of three events in the 2011 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing series, Reef Hawaiian Pro, continued at Haleiwa, the renowned North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on Wednesday, November 23, with the Round of 32 (Round 4). The third heat of Round 4 pitted Ireland’s
Glenn Hall against Hawaii’s Kekoa Bacalso, his compatriot Sebastien Zietz and Brazil’s Leonardo Neves, whereas Hawaii’s John John Florence found himself facing Brazil’s Thiago Camarao, along with Australia’s Taj Burrow and Daniel Ross.
The third heat went down to the wire as both Hall and Bacalso refused to stop fighting until the very end. As the battle concluded, it was Hall who stood victorious, while Bacalso had to settle for second place. Both the surfers secured a place in the Quarter-Finals.
Zietz and Neves got eliminated from the competition after finishing in third and fourth positions respectively.
The fourth heat saw the local favourite Florence walk away with top honours after winning an intense battle against the vastly experienced Burrow, forcing the latter to settle for runner-up place. The third and fourth-place finish by Camarao and Ross resulted
in their ejection from the event.
With strong off-shore winds adding to the challenge of riding waves, the contest only got more interesting as the surfers sought to make a place for them in the Quarter-Finals.
The nail-biting contest battle between Hall and Bacalso remained the highlight of the third heat. Neither of the surfers was ready to accept defeat and thus put forward a real determined effort to collect a couple of competitive wave-scores.
Almost half-way through the heat, Hall caught his first business-wave to post an impressive 7.50 on the score-board, but Bacalso comfortably took a lead over him with an 8.00-point wave, pushing his Irish rival on the back foot.
As the heat progressed, Bacalso added another 6.37 points to his account, taking his heat-total to 14.37 points. With hardly any time left on the heat-clock, Hall made a desperate last-minute effort to earn 7.93 points off his final wave and consequently
sealed the fate of the contest in his favour.
Zietz and Neves did not look too comfortable in the waves during the four-man battle and merely finished with 10.34 and 10.00 points respectively. Their lacklustre performances led to their removal from the race for the event-title.
The fourth heat did not turn out to be short on thrill and suspense either as the crowd-favourite Florence battled hard with Burrow. Florence got down to business immediately with an outstanding 9.00-point wave. Burrow responded a few minutes later with
a 5.83-point wave to reduce the gap to some extent and eventually added an additional 9.43 points to his account to move to a heat-total of 15.26 points.
Florence remained below Burrow on the score-board for most part of the heat despite getting an excellent start. It was the 7.27 points off his final wave in the dying minutes that carried Florence off to victory and confirmed his place in the Quarter-Finals,
where Burrow is expected to be present as well due to his second-place finish.
Camarao finished in third place with a heat-total of 7.77 points, while Ross rounded out the bottom position with 7.70 points. Both the surfers were eliminated from the competition due to their bottom-two finish.
For more updates on Round 4 of the Reef Hawaiian Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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