Owen Wright and Damien Hobgood advance to Round 4 of Hurley Pro – 2011 ASP World Tour
The third consecutive day of the Hurley Pro of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour saw some great action as the seventh and eighth heat of Round 3 got underway at the point-break of Lower Trestles in California, America, on Tuesday,
September 20.
The seventh heat saw Australia’s Owen Wright defeat Hawaii’s John John Florence, though just barely, to walk away with top honours. The outcome of the heat resulted in the confirmation of Wright’s place in Round 4, while marking the end of the competition
for the latter.
America’s Damien Hobgood came up with an impressive performance during the eighth heat to down Australia’s Kieren Perrow, securing his place in Round 4 while removing his rival from the contention for the event-title.
The 21-year-old Wright is currently No.2 on the ASP World Title Rankings and seems to be in the form of his life over the last month or so. Getting to the Finals to face America’s Kelly Slater in both the previous events, he proved his mettle by defeating
the greatest surfer in the sport’s history in the waves of New York to collect the win. He evidently carried his momentum from the previous competition to Lower Trestle and comfortable made it into Round 3 without as much as a scratch.
Competing against the ASP World Tour rookie, Florence, in the seventh heat of Round 3, Wright got off to a blazing start and earned 8.07 points off a wave in the opening minutes. The 18-year-old Hawaiian rose to the challenge quite impressive and responded
with an 8.50-point wave to take the lead.
Florence added another 8.63 points to his account to move to an intimidating two-wave total of 17.13 points. Just when it seemed that he had managed to bring an end to Wright’s winning streak, the Australian caught a right-hander in the dying minutes to
pull off a string of furious back-hand blasts, earning a near-perfect 9.77 for the effort and moving to a heat-total of 17.84. The last-minute effort carried him off to victory and brought an end to Florence’s first elite tour event.
The eighth heat pitted Hobgood against Perrow in a battle for survival. The latter had seemed a little inconsistent in the earlier rounds of the event and needed to step up his game if he wished to take down the American surfer and remain alive in the race
for the event-title.
As the heat started, Hobgood drew first blood by locking a wave to unload a series of impressive manoeuvres, earning 7.70 points for the effort. Perrow came up with a poor response, scoring just 4.50 points off his first wave.
A few minutes later, the Australian caught his second business-wave to add 3.67 points to his account, reaching a heat-total of 8.17 points. Only a miracle could have allowed Perrow to take the win with this performance, but Hobgood successfully kept that
from happening with an impressive second buseiness-wave. He moved to a heat-total of 14.13 points after earning 6.43 points off a wave, consequently securing his place in Round 4 while eliminating the out-of-rhythm Australian from the competition.
For more updates on Round 3 of Hurley Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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