Taj Burrow and Damien Hobgood triumph in Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
A number of surfers had already been removed from the line up during the second round of Rip Curl Pro Portugal. However, the process was far from over as Round 3 of the competition continued to cut off heads. The opening heat of the third round saw Australia’s
Taj Burrow take on America’s Brett Simpson, while America’s Damien Hobgood took on his compatriot, Taylor Knox, in the second heat at Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, on Monday, October 17.
The experience and skills of Burrow allowed him to comfortably prevail over Simpson and advance through into Round 4, bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The second heat turned out to be an intense affair, with both Knox and Hobgood keeping each other busy until the very last minute. In the end, however, the latter managed to clinch victory and hence advanced through into the next round, removing his rival
from the contention for the event title as a result.
With high performance six-to-eight foot waves gracing the primary event site, the day had featured a series of exciting battles between the top surfers from around the globe during Round 2. With the beginning of the third round, the action was expected to
increase even further, with the stars of Round 1 squaring off with the survivors of Round 2.
As the first heat got underway, the 33-year-old Burrow drew first blood with a 6.67-point wave to move into the lead immediately. After going through a series of average scores, he added an additional 6.90 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of
13.57 points.
Simpson got off to a slow start was seen struggling to find a good wave. He eventually got his hands on a really juice wave in the later stages of the 30-minute battle and utilised it to unload a series of impressive tricks, earning 8.43 points for the effort.
Running out of time to find another decent wave, the American ended up becoming desperate and lost concentration, which resulted in an interference call and thus a penalty. In the end, Simpson finished with a heat-total of 8.43 points, allowing Burrow to walk
away with a convincing victory.
The second heat featured a thrilling contest between the 32-year-old Hobgood and 40-year-old Knox. Winning was the only option that the two surfers had, as losing meant elimination from the competition. Therefore, both the surfers held nothing back as they
squared off in the 30-minute contest.
Hobgood made his intentions quite clear early in the heat by locking a wave to unload a string of exquisite manoeuvres and posting an 8.33 on the score-board. He soon followed it up with an 8.00-point wave, moving to a heat-total of 16.33 points.
Knox got off to a patient start and seemed quite unthreatening in the first stage of the heat. However, he decided to challenge his rival in the second half of the battle and put forth a remarkable performance, earning 7.17 points off his first business
wave and following it up with an 8.13-point wave. To his dismay, the scored proved to insufficient and left him in a 1.03-point deficit. As a result, he was forced to surrender victory to his rival while getting eliminated from the competition.
For more updates on Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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