Raoni Monteiro and Owen Wright survive challenging Round 2 heats at O’Neill Coldwater Classic
Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro and Australia’s Owen Wright emerged triumphant in their respective Round 2 heats at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, the ninth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which continued
at Steam Lane in Santa Cruz, California, on Sunday, November 4, 2012.
Monteiro got the better of Australia’s Julian Wilson in the fifth heat, consequently advancing through into the third round while bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The sixth heat saw Portugal’s Tiago Pires surrender victory of Wright, getting eliminated from the competition as a result while allowing his rival to make his way into the third round to continue his pursuit of the event title.
The demanding conditions on offer at the primary event site on Sunday morning were really roughing up the elite ASP surfers, asking them to do something extra before awarding them desirable results.
Monteiro and Wilson found themselves pitted against each other in a man-on-man battle for the Round 3 spot after failing to do well in Round 1.
With the pressure of elimination hanging over their heads, both the surfers pushed hard to try outperforming each other.
Once the dust settled, it was Monteiro who stood victorious with a heat-total of 14.44 points, which included a 5.57 and 8.87-point ride, against his Australian rivals’ 13.67 points, comprising of a 7.27 and 6.40-point wave.
The sixth heat saw Wright squaring-ff with Pires in surfing conditions that had deteriorated even further.
As the battle got underway, both the surfers got off to a modest start, apparently struggling to adjust to the demanding waves.
Wright eventually managed to find himself a couple of decent waves, which he utilised to post a 5.03 and 5.60 on the score-board, thus moving to a heat-total of 10.63 points.
Pires, on the other hand, only managed to register a couple of scores in the four-point range, thus having to settle for a heat-total of 8.27 points. The effort just was not enough under the circumstances and consequently resulted in his defeat, thus bringing
his competition to a premature end.
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