Michel Bourez and Adriano de Souza secure place in quarter-finals at O’Neill Coldwater Classic
French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez and Brazil’s Adriano de Souza made it through into the quarter-finals at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, the ninth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after emerging
triumphant in their respective Round 5 heats that went down at Santa Cruz in California, America, on Tuesday, November 6.
Facing-off against America’s Damien Hobgood in the third heat, Bourez put on a superb performance to claim victory and thus the quarter-final spot, bringing the contention for the event title to an end for his rival in the process.
The fourth heat saw De Souza remove America’s Kelly Slater from the competition to get his hands on the last quarter-final spot that remained.
With demanding conditions on offer at the point-break of Steamer Lane on the final day of the competition, the stage was set for a battle of wits and skills between the elite ASP surfers.
The third heat of Round 5 pitted Bourez against Hobgood in a man-on-man battle for the quarter-final spot.
As the heat got underway, the French Polynesian surfer got off to an excellent start, locking a juicy wave to unleash a series of exquisite tricks and thus earning an 8.50 for the effort. He later backed it up with an impressive 6.50-point ride to get to
a heat-total of 15.00 points.
Hobgood did not look in rhythm during the course of the battle and despite displaying immense desperation during his hunt for a couple of decent scores, the American surfer only managed to score a 6.00 and 2.00 off his best-two waves, thus finishing with
a heat-total of 8.00 points.
The fourth heat saw De Souza take on the greatest surfer in history, reigning 11-time ASP World Champion and current No.2 Slater in a battle for the quarter-final spot.
With two such formidable talents in contention for a place in the next round, heavy fire-works were promised.
However, the challenging conditions kept both the surfers from really unleashing their true potential and thus it turned out to be a relatively low-scoring heat.
This, however, did not prevent De Souza from getting the better of his intimidating rival through a heat-total of 10.50 points, which comprised of a 2.67 and 7.83-point ride, against Slater’s two-wave total of 9.40 points, which included a 5.00 and 4.40-point
ride.
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