Sebastien Zietz and Damien Hobgood shine in Round 3 at Billabong Pipe Masters
Hawaii’s Sebastien Zietz and America’s Damien Hobgood advanced to the fourth round at the Billabong Pipe Masters after claiming victory in their respective Round 3 heats that went down at the Banzai Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii, on Sunday, December 9, 2012.
Zietz got the better of fellow compatriot John John Florence in the first heat to make his way through into the next round, while bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The second saw Australia’s Owen Wright failing to hold his own against Hobgood, consequently getting eliminated from the competition while sending the latter through into the next round.
Billabong Pipe Masters, which serves as the final stop on both the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour and the 30th anniversary Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, had the surfers pumped up as there were plenty of
rewards up for grabs.
The first heat pitted Zietz, who was already flying high following his Round 2 win that had earned him this year’s Vans Triple Crown, against Florence, one of the frontrunners for this year’s ASP World Title.
As the battle got underway, the 24-year-old Zietz wasted very little time to assert his dominance over his rival through an 8.67-point ride and went on to back it up with a 6.33-point wave, this took him to a heat-total of 15.00 points.
Florence failed to offer much of a challenge, getting to a dismal heat-total of 7.83 points only after collecting a 4.83 and 3.00 off his best-two waves, thus forcing him to surrender victory to his rival.
“I kind of wasn’t ready for it,” Zietz said. “I was still celebrating it with two minutes left. John John (Florence) is my favourite surfer at the moment. He missed that first one and I got priority from him. He was looking at that backdoor one, so I knew
it must have been good. I saw him fall on that last one and it was lucky for me and unlucky for John. I’m still focused on the contest, this all hasn’t really sunk in yet and I’ll celebrate everything after it’s over.”
The second heat saw Wright, one of the star performers during the 2011 ASP World Championship Tour, failing to hold his own against Hobgood.
The Australian surfer got off to a solid start, posting an 8.33 on the score-board off his first business-wave, while backing it up with a 2.50-point ride for a two-wave total of 10.83 points.
Hobgood managed to claim a comfortable victory over him after a near-perfect 9.67 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 6.43-point wave for a heat-total of 16.10 points.
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