Richard Christie and Taj Burrow prevail in Round 2 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing
The eighth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the year, 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing continued to treat fans to intense surfing action with the third and fourth heat of round of 48 (Round 2) on Wednesday afternoon, August 3, at the
Huntington Beach Pier, California.
New Zealand’s Richard Christie barely edged past America’s CJ Hobgood in the third heat to clinch the win. Despite a second-place finish, Hobgood still accompanied the winner to the next round. America’s Conner Coffin finished in third place, while Brazil’s
Pedro Henrique rounded out the bottom position. Both surfers were eliminated from the competition as a result.
The fourth heat saw Australia’s Taj Burrow remind everyone why is considered among the best in the sport. He exhibited exceptional skills to claim victory and advance to the round of 24 (Round 3). Hawaii’s Joel Centeio successfully extended his life in the
event as well after making a runner-up finish. Australia’s Jack Freestone and Chris Davidson finished in third and fourth positions respectively, consequently getting ejected from the event.
The third heat turned out to an extremely thrilling man-to-man battle between the 22-year-old Christie and much more experienced 32-year-old Hobgood. The American surfer utilised his experience and local knowledge of the waves to his advantage and collected
a couple of good waves to reach a heat-total of 12.23 points.
Despite the demanding conditions, Christie managed to rise up to the challenge and edged past Hobgood with a decisive wave in the closing minutes of the four-way battle, finishing with a heat-total of 12.67 points to claim victory.
Both Coffin and Henrique failed to make a solid impact during the 30-minute heat and eventually got eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 9.43 and 8.90 points respectively.
The final heat of the day saw the 33-year-old Burrow teach the younger generation a thing or two about surfing in challenging conditions. Even though the one-to-two foot waves hardly carried enough juice for the surfers to go for technical tricks, Burrow
pulled off a combination of impressive manoeuvres on a couple of waves, finishing with a heat-total of 14.26 points to take the win.
Hawaii’s Centeio and Australia’s Freestone battled each other hard for the runner-up place. In the end, Centeio managed to secure the second position, scoring 11.70 points against his rivals’ 11.60 to advance to the next round, putting Freestone in third
place and consequently out of contention for the event-title. Davidson rounded out the bottom position after finishing with a two-wave total of 9.03 points.
With the conclusion of the fourth heat, the event organisers called it a day, leaving the Round 2 action to resume on Thursday if the conditions did not deteriorate further.
For more updates on Round 2 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing, stay tuned to bettor.com
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