Mick Fanning and Owen Wright survive Round 2 of Quiksilver Pro New York – 2011 ASP World Tour
Australia’s Mick Fanning defeated America’s Balaram Stack in the first heat, while Australia’s Owen Wright defeated America’s Asher Nolan in the second heat of Quiksilver Pro New York’s Round 2 on Wednesday, September 7, at Long Beach, New York.
The victory allowed both Fanning and Wright to advance to the third round, while removing Stack and Nolan from the competition in the process.
With four-to-six foot waves on offer at the event site on Wednesday, the first heat kicked off with Fanning taking on Stack in a head-to-head battle. The 30-year-old Australian took control of the heat early on, locking a wave to score 7.83 points off it
to put his opponent under pressure. In the final minutes of the stage, Fanning added an additional 7.37 points to his account to move to a heat-total of 15.20 points.
The wild-card entry, Stack was unable to put up a decent fight and ending up succumbing to Fanning’s impressive performance, eventually conceding victory to his rival. He finished with a heat-total of 7.06 points, which included a 3.83 and 3.23-point wave.
Commenting on the heat later on, Fanning said, “It's always hard when you lose that first round, you've got to go back and pick up the pieces and go again. Wildcards are difficult because they're usually locals and they know spot. I tried to get moving early
and keep moving. The tide was dropping out and I just tried to get them in early. My board yesterday wasn't working to well, so I went back to my normal short-board that I've been riding all year.”
The second heat pitted Wright against the local surfer, Nolan, in a battle for survival. Wright manage to walk away with a comfortable win after earning 6.50 points off his first business-wave and adding another 7.57 points to his account later on to finish
with a two-wave total of 14.07 points.
Nolan struggled to catch waves throughout the 30-minute heat and eventually finished with a heat-total of 11.33 points, which included a 5.83 and 5.50-point wave.
Despite surviving the Round 2 heat, Fanning and Wright get no time to relax as they head into Round 3, which also happens to be a sudden-death round.
Tags: