Michel Bourez and Matt Wilkinson secure place in semi-finals at O’Neill Coldwater Classic
French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez and Australia’s Matt Wilkinson clinched top honours in their respective quarter-final heats at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, the ninth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship
Tour, which went down at Santa Cruz in California, America, on Tuesday, November 6.
Bourez took the win over France’s Jeremy Flores in the third quarter-final to make his way through into the next stage of the competition, while sending his rival packing in the process.
The fourth quarter-final saw Brazil’s Adriano de Souza bow out to Wilkinson, thus getting eliminated from the event while sending his rival into the semi-finals.
With the best in the best contending for the top honours in the demanding waves on offer at the point-break of Steamer Lane, a heavy dose of thrilling action was definitely in store for the fans.
Bourez, who was looking in great touch during the past week, found himself pitted against Flores, also exhibiting an impressive form, during the third quarter-final.
As the battle got underway, Flores did not waste any time to make his charge. The French surfer locked his first wave in the opening minutes to pull off a string of powerful turns and consequently earning a 7.17 for the effort to take the lead.
He backed his solid opening wave with a 5.33 in the dying minutes of the heat to finish with a heat-total of 12.50 points.
Bourez, on the other hand, did not get off to the best of starts. However, he built momentum as the heat progressed before eventually breaking free of the shackles a few minutes before the buzzer was due.
The French Polynesian surfer collected 6.60 off his first business-wave and went on to backed it up with a near-perfect and decisive 9.67-point ride to get to a heat-total of 16.27 points. The effort was good enough to earn him a convincing victory over
his rival.
The fourth quarter-final featured an impressive win by Wilkinson over De Souza, who had eliminated the reigning 11-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater from the competition earlier in the day.
As the heat got underway, the Australian surfer locked his first business-wave to post an 8.00 on the score-board and added an additional 5.07 points to his account in the final minutes to take himself to a heat-total of 13.07 points.
De Souza failed to respond adequately and only managed to get to a heat-total of 11.83 points, which comprised of a 5.33 and 6.50-point ride.
Tags: