Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson survive Round 5 of Hurley Pro – 2011 ASP World Tour
The Association of Surfing Professional (ASP) World Tour promises nothing but the most intense battles between the top surfers from all around the globe and that is exactly what was delivered to fans during the third and fourth heat of Hurley Pro’s Round
5, which went down at Lower Trestles in California, America, on Wednesday, September 21.
Australia’s Mick Fanning completely dominated America’s Damien Hobgood in the third heat to make his way through to the Quarter-Finals, consequently removing his opponent from the contention for the event-title.
The fourth heat saw the progressive Australian, Julian Wilson, clinch a convincing victory over his compatriot, Adrian Buchan, to move into the Quarter-Finals, while bringing the current stop of the ASP World Tour to a pre-mature end for his rival.
Surfing conditions turned out to be pretty decent at the iconic point-break of Lower Trestles on the fourth consecutive day of the competition, much to the delight of surfers and fans alike.
The former two-time ASP World Champion, Fanning, found himself in a relegation round for the second time during the course of the competition, signalling a strong inconsistency in the performance. Pitted against Hobgood in Round 5, the 30-year-old Australian
needed to bring his A-game to the battleground if he intended to stay alive in the competition.
As the heat kicked-off, Fanning got-off to a superb start, locking a juicy wave right in the opening minutes to unload a series of impressive tricks and posting 9.00 on the scoreboard. Hobgood immediately responded with a 6.17-point wave, though that hardly
served to ease the pressure off him.
Almost halfway through the heat, Fanning put up yet another outstanding show on a wave to add an additional 9.23 points to his account and moved to a heat-total of 18.23 points. With victory already pretty much out of his reach, Hobgood scored 5.30 points
off his second wave to finish with a heat-total of 11.47 points, allowing his rival to win by a huge margin.
The final heat of the relegation Round 5 saw Wilson go against Buchan in a battle for survival. Over the last few months, Wilson had proven himself to be quite a formidable force and despite faltering in front of Australia’s Joel Parkinson in Round 4, he
was a heavy favourite in his battle against Buchan.
As the heat commenced, Buchan got himself a head-start by scoring 6.00 points off his first wave, but Wilson soon stripped him-off the advantage by responding with a 7.17-point wave. Remaining quite selective, Wilson took his time before catching a wave
to add another 8.50 points to his account, moving to a heat total of 15.67 points. Buchan succumbed to the pressure of requiring 9.68 points off the last wave for the win and ended up finishing with a heat-total of 12.37 points instead, consequently conceding
victory to his rival.
For updates on the Hurley Pro Quarter-Finals, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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