Hodei Collazo and Kevin Sullivan survive opening round of 2011 Hawaiian Reef Pro
Northern Spain’s Hodei Collazo came up with an impressive performance in the Round of 128 (Round 1) of Reef Hawaiian Pro, the first stop of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, that went down at Haleiwa, north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on Monday, November 21.
The perfect result by the Basque surfer served to secure his place in the next round, the Round of 96. Hawaii’s Kevin Sullivan struggled during the four-man battle but still managed to clinch the runner-up position, consequently advancing through in the
next round. His compatriot Billy Kemper and Marcus Hickman rounded out the third and fourth position respectively, making a premature exit from the competition as a result.
The Reef Hawaiian Pro had been on hold for nine days due to the absence of surfable waves at the primary event site. However, Mother Nature graced Haleiwa with head-high waves on Monday, allowing the event organisers to finally get the competition under-way.
As the second heat of the competition pitted the extremely skilled Association of Surfing (ASP) surfers again each other in a four-man battle, the 27-year-old Collazo wasted no time in making a strong charge and locked a wave in the early minutes to post
6.50 points on the score-board. The early aggression allowed him to push his rivals on the back-foot and placed them under pressure.
Collazo later added another 6.10 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 12.60 points. The score served to seal the fate of the contest in his favour, carrying him off into the next round.
Sullivan got off to a slow start, but eventually managed to find a wave to squeeze 4.10 points off it, creating an opportunity for himself to take top honours. While he failed to find a score required for first position, he did manage to collect 5.57 points
off his second business-wave to take second place with a heat-total of 9.67 points, successfully extending his life in the competition.
Kemper scored 3.93 points off his first and 4.07 points off his second business-wave to move to a heat-total of 8.00 points. The two-wave total resulted in his third-place finish, consequently getting him eliminated from the competition.
Hickman rounded out the fourth position after finishing with a heat-total of 7.33 points, which comprised of a 4.40 and 2.93-point wave. The disappointing performance led to his early ejection from the first stop of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.
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