Zietz, Florence and Young prevail in Round 2 at Volcom Fiji Pro – Surfing news
Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz, his compatriot John John Florence and America’s Nat Young emerged triumphant in their respective Round 2 heats at Volcom Fiji Pro, stop No. 4 on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which
continued at alternate venue of Restaurants in Tavarua, Fiji, on Thursday, June 6, 2013.
While the three aforementioned surfers successfully extended their life in the competition, they ended up removing their rivals from the contention for the event title in the process.
The barrelling four-to-six foot waves, coupled with the windy conditions presented the world’s top surfing talent with a daunting task of surviving their Round 2 heats and securing their place in the third round.
After tasting defeating in their Round 1 heats, Zietz and Australia’s Adrian Buchan found themselves locking horns in the 10th heat of Round 2.
It turned out to be a tantalising contest, with both the surfers adjusting extremely well to the challenging conditions.
Buchan got himself an upper hand in the heat with an 8.93 and 8.13-point ride, which took him to a heat-total of 17.06 points.
However, Zietz responded to the challenge really well and found himself a couple of juicy waves, which he utilised to post an 8.93 and 8.17 on the score-board. The consequent heat-total of 17.10 points held up until the end to seal the fate of the contest
in his favour.
The 11th heat pitted saw Florence taking on Australia’s Bede Durbidge in a man-on-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
Determined to make amends for an ordinary Round 1 performance, the 20-year-old Hawaiian unleashed his true potential during the heat. He locked his first-business wave to post a perfect-10 on the score-board and soon backed it up with a near-perfect 9.80
to finish with a heat-total of 19.80 points.
Durbidge never really had any real chance of surviving his rampaging rival’s onslaught. Scoring an 8.00 and 4.83 off his top-two waves, he finished with a heat-total of 12.83 points to suffer a comprehensive defeat at the hands of his Hawaiian rival.
“That’s the best the waves have been since I’ve been here,” Florence said during his post-heat interview. “The waves just turned on for my heat. Restaurants is just a perfect wave. It’s such a machine and with these winds every wave’s just perfect. You can
really just sit in the barrel the whole way.”
The battle for the last-remaining Round 3 spot took place between Young and Brazilian talent Filipe Toledo.
It turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair, with the young American sensation taking complete control of the heat with a couple of scores in the nine-point range to register a heat-total of 18.23 points.
Toledo only managed to get to a heat-total of 7.60 points, which included a 5.67 and 1.93-point ride, which consequently resulted in his elimination from the competition.
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