Heitor Alves and Adam Melling emerge triumphant in Round 2 at 2012 Hurley Pro
Brazil’s Heitor Alves and Australia’s Adam Melling bounced back from a disappointing Round 1 performance to earn a successful Round 2 result at the 2012 Hurley Pro, the latest stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship
Tour, which continued at the high-performance Lower Trestles in California, America, on Monday, September 17.
Alves managed to get the better of America’s Kolohe Andino in the seventh heat, thus securing his place in the third round while removing the latter from the contention for the heat-title.
The eighth heat saw America’s Damien Hobgood succumb to Melling after finishing just short of the score posted by his rival, getting eliminated from the competition while sending the latter into the next round.
With the best surfers from around the world in contention for top honours at the iconic event site of Lower Trestles, the crowd in attendance as well as the global audience following the action live through webcast expected nothing short of a thrilling contest
throughout the course of the day.
Squaring-off with Andino in the seventh heat, Alves got off to slow start, having a tough time to get his hands on a juicy wave. In the later stages of the heat, the Brazilian surfer posted a 5.50 off his first business-wave and immediately followed it up
with an excellent 9.00-point ride, thus finishing with a heat-total of 14.50 points.
Andino put on an energetic performance as well, but failed to find the required score. Scoring a 6.93 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 7.40-point ride, the American surfer finished with a heat-total of 14.33 points. As a result, he was
forced to surrender victory to his rival.
The next heat saw a thrilling battle take place between Melling and Hobgood, with both the surfers putting on a superb performance and fighting tooth-and-nail until the end.
Hobgood only managed to get his hands on a couple of waves, but made the most out of these opportunities, scoring an 8.43 and 8.70 off his best-two waves to waves to reach a heat-total of 17.13 points.
However, Melling managed to surpass his rival’s performance after getting his hands on a 9.73 and 7.57-point ride to eventually finish with a heat-total of 17.30 points.
“I thought there were going to be waves in that heat but there was so much waiting and trying to scrap into those little ones,” Melling said. “I knew I had to turn it on against Damien (Hobgood). I’m just so glad that wave came through in that last 10 seconds.”
With his win in Round 2, the Australian surfer advanced to the third round to face his next challenge.
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