Hobgood, Pupo, Otton and Perrow survive Round 1 of Volcom Fiji Pro – Surfing news
America’s Damien Hobgood, Brazil’s Miguel Pupo, Australia’s Kai Otton and his fellow countryperson Kieren Perrow walked away with the desired result from their respective Round 1 heats of the Volcom Fiji Pro, stop No. 4 on the 2013 Association of Surfing
Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which commenced at Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji, on Tuesday, June 4.
The four-to-six foot waves on offer on the latest day of the competition allowed the Round 1 proceedings to finally begin, much to the relief and joy of the surfing fans and contenders for the ASP World Title.
With an opportunity to advance straight to the third round without having to compete in Round 2, Hobgood was determined to hold his own against former two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning from Australia and America’s Alex Gray in the fifth heat of Round
1.
Fanning put on a great performance, earning a 9.40 and 7.83 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 17.23 points, but Hobgood somehow managed to outperform with and get to a heat-total of 17.47 points, courtesy of an 8.87 and 8.60-point ride. The superb
performance served to earn him the win.
Fanning, along with Gray who finished in third place with a heat-total of 6.23 points, were relegated to the second round.
The sixth heat saw Pupo take on the local talent Aca Lalabalavu in a man-on-man heat. 12-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater from America was supposed to be part of the line-up, but he skipped the heat.
The Brazilian surfer claimed a comfortable win over Lalabalavu after registering a heat-total of 12.00 points against his rival’s two-wave total of 8.50 points.
Both the Fiji surfer and Slater would surf in the second round to try and keep themselves alive in the competition.
Otton put on an exquisite performance in the seventh heat to finish on top of Hawaii’s Dusty Payne and Brazil’s Gabriel Medina.
The Australian surfer scored earned an 8.93 off his first business-wave and later backed it up with another impressive 8.50-point ride, thus finishing with a decisive heat-total of 17.43 points.
Payne and Medina finished with a heat-total of 14.36 and 10.53 points respectively, consequently finding themselves relegated to the second round.
The eight heat pitted Perrow against Australia’s Julian Wilson and Bede Durbidge.
The all-Australian affair turned out to be pretty one sided, with Perrow taking control of the heat in the opening minutes with a 7.50-point wave. He later went on to add a 5.07 to his account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 12.57 points.
Wilson and Durbidge failed to come up with an adequate response, registering a rather modest heat-total of 8.50 and 7.60 points respective. As a result, they found themselves pushed into the relegation round.
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