Mick Fanning and Adrian Buchan survive Round 2 of Hurley Pro – 2011 ASP World Tour
The latest stop of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Hurley Pro, resumed with the first and second heat of Round 2 on Monday, September 19, at the iconic point-break of Lower Trestles in California, America.
The first heat saw Australia’s Mick Fanning take a convincing victory over America’s Rob Machado to secure his place in Round 3, consequently eliminating the latter from the competition.
Australia’s Adrian Buchan defeated America’s Conner Coffin, though just barely, in the second heat to confirm his place in the next round, removing his rival from the contention for the event-title in the process.
With two-to-four foot waves on offer at the primary event site, the second day of Hurley Pro kicked off with the first heat, featuring an elimination man-on-man bout between Fanning and Machado. The former two-time ASP World Champion may have faltered a
day earlier, but it seemed rather unlikely that he would succumb to the local surfer, Machado, in the sudden-death battle.
As the heat got underway, the 30-year-old Fanning struggled to find a good score in the early stages of the heat, but eventually collected a 6.87 and 7.40 off his last two waves to finish with a heat-total of 14.27 points.
Machado only managed to score 5.00 and 5.40 points off his top-two waves during the 30-minute heat and eventually finished in a 3.87-point deficit. As a result, he was forced to concede victory to his rival.
The second heat pitted the 29-year-old Buchan against the event wildcard, Coffin. Despite the difference in the experience of the two surfers, the match-up turned out to be real intense. Coffin got off to a great start, locking a wave early in the heat to
score 7.50 points off it. Buchan immediately responded with a 6.83-point wave to narrow down the lead to some extent.
As the battle progressed, Coffin caught another wave to earn 7.93 points it and moved to a heat-total of 15.43 points. It seemed that the score would be enough to carry the young American off to victory, but Buchan managed to rise up to the challenge and
locked a wave to throw down a string of exquisite tricks, earning 8.67 points for the effort and moving to a heat-total of 15.50 points. The 0.07 lead over Coffin eventually carried the Australian to victory.
Commenting on the heat and his rival’s performance later on, Buchan said, “You always get those close ones when the heat goes on hold and that was a close one. Conner [Coffin] is a great surfer. It was just exciting to win a close heat. He’s put in a 15
plus heat total and that’s a great score and it’s got to give him a lot of confidence. I’m really looking forward to watching his career develop over the years. I think he’s got a really good base which sets him apart from his generation.”
With his victory over Coffin, Buchan advanced to the third round to face his compatriot, Chris Davidson, in yet another battle for survival.
For more updates on Round 2 of Hurley Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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