Mick Fanning downs Damien Hobgood to enter Volcom Fiji Pro quarter-finals – Surfing News
Australia’s Mick Fanning got the better of America’s Damien Hobgood in the opening heat of Round 5 once the Volcom Fiji Pro resumed at the main venue of Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji, on Sunday, June 10.
The success in the fifth round served to take Fanning into the next stage of the competition, while bringing the fourth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour to a premature end for his rival in the process.
Returning to Cloudbreak after running the third and fourth round at the alternate venue of Restaurants on Saturday due to disorganised swell at the primary event site, the surfers were welcomed by four-to-six foot waves and unfavourable winds. The massive
swell that had arrived on Friday had died down a bit, but there was still enough juice for the surfers to go all out and unload the most technical tricks in their arsenal. The world’s best surfers were expected to have a tough time in navigating through the
waves due to the winds.
Both Fanning and Hobgood faltered in their Round 4 battle a day earlier to find themselves relegated to the fifth round, where they got pitted against each other in a man-on-man battle for the quarter-final spot.
As the battle got underway, both the surfers got off to a modest start, apparently struggling to adjust to the demanding surfing conditions on hand. The skills and experience of the surfers was being put to test as they made a determined effort to hold their
own.
Hobgood drew first-blood in the opening minutes of the heat with a 3.67-point ride to grab an early lead, though it seemed pretty volatile and was not expected to hold up for long. He went on to back it up with a 4.87-point ride, thus reaching a heat-total
of 8.54 points.
Fanning, a former two-time ASP World Champion, did not have a huge score to beat, though the conditions were never going to make it easy for him to surpass his rival. Bringing his experience into play, the Australian sensation posted a 4.50 on the score-board
and immediately backed it up with a 5.67-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 10.17 points. While the performance could hardly be considered as something to write home about, it proved effective and brought desirable results for Fanning.
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