Pancho Sullivan and Koa Smith prevail in Round 1 at Vans World Cup of Surfing
Hawaii’s Pancho Sullivan and his fellow countryperson Koa Smith advanced to Round 2 (Round of 96) at the Vans World Cup of Surfing, second jewel on the 30th anniversary Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, after clinching the win in their respective
Round 1 (Round of 128) heats that went down at Sunset Beach in Oahu, Hawaii, on Tuesday, November 27, 2012.
Australia’s Heath Joske finished behind Sullivan in runner-up place during the 15th heat to move alongside the latter into the next round. America’s Dane Reynolds and France’s Adrien Toyon finished in third and fourth place respectively, which
resulted in their premature elimination from the competition.
While Smith clinched the win in heat 16, his compatriot Mason Ho finished just behind him in second place, thus allowing him to accompany the winner of the heat to Round 2. Hawaii’s Joel Centeio and Australia’s Nic Muscroft rounded out the bottom-two positions,
which resulted in their removal from the contention for the event title.
The new double-overhead swells gracing the main event site on the first active day of the competition presented a solid challenge to the surfers, but irrespective of how demanding the conditions were, there was very little doubt that the day would be filled
with exciting performances and thrilling contests.
Sullivan found himself pitted against Joske, Reynolds and Toyon during the 15th heat. With much more familiar to the waves than his rivals, the local talent capitalised on the advantage to get himself the desired result.
Locking his first business-wave, Sullivan posted an 8.73 on the score-board to take an early lead and went on to strengthen it by backing it up with a 6.77-point ride. The resultant heat-total of 15.50 points kept him in the end until the end to eventually
seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
Joske managed to make the Round 2 cut as well after securing second place with a heat-total of 10.87 points, which included a 6.30 and 4.57-point ride.
Reynolds finished third with a heat-total of 9.67 points, while Toyon had to settle for the bottom spot after registering a two-wave total of 8.03 points.
The final heat of the opening round as well as the day saw Smith squaring-off with Ho, Centeio and Muscroft.
Smith got off to a really impressive start, scoring a 7.17 off his first business-wave and later backed it up with a 5.67-point ride, thus finishing with a winning heat-total of 12.84 points.
Ho finished in second place with a heat-total of 12.63 points, which included a 6.53 and 6.10-point wave.
Centeio finished third with a heat-total of 12.33 points, while Muscroft made a bottom finish after concluding the heat with a two-wave total of 12.07 points.
Tags: