BOOST MOBILE PRO DAY TWO

CJ Hobgood: Hot on Irons' trail. PHOTO: ASPWORLDTOUR.COM/KAREN

Surf: Head-high and erratic.

Events Held: Round Two.

Nature's Call: Is it on yet? Then let's do this thing.

Predicted: Kelly Slater on fire. CJ Hobgood on a mission. Occy backhand crackin' lips. Dane Reynolds ruining dreams. And heaps of classic surfing, Lowers style.

Oh, it's on now.

Round one is over so now this shit counts for realio. Man on man. Elimination heats. Rising swell. Dropping tide. If you don't have your game face on, you might as well go home.

Andy did. Straight to the airport. He was seen cursing and storming up the trail (with poor Lindy 10 yards behind carrying his stuff) after he couldn't find a wave to overturn wildcard Dane Reynolds' .1 point lead in the first heat of the day. It's on all right.

CJ Hobgood was up next. Fresh off a win in Japan, he just may be the guy to give chase to Andy's fricken' ridiculous 1104 point domination over everyone else. CJ came out blazing, chasing a long, drifting floater with a huge no-handed frontside air. Machado's clean, classic style was in full effect, but he was just no match for Hobgood's sheer competitive drive. Did we mention it's on, already? Cause it is.

Parko edged out Jamie O'Brien in a burger of a heat. Occy combo'd Eric Rebiere with a backhand '80s flashback wave that posted a 9.6 on the memory-lane-o-meter. The crowd was loving it. Sunny Garcia blew the roof off a couple of beef-cake set-waves too, but when the points were tallied, Darren O'Raffety came out on top. What? How'd that happen? Oh, well. But it does go to show, if you want to do well on tour these days, bring your kid. Parko. Occy. Sunny. Beschen. If this keeps up we'll need a day-care center next to the judging tower (as if those guys need any more distractions).

Speaking of kids, Taj Burrow got out of the water a few minutes before his heat was over. Had he seen Fluffy out there? Nope. Ol' Taj had local hero Shane Beschen so damn combo'd he decided to take the rest of the heat off. And you can tell he's just getting started too. Slater and CJ better watch out -- Taj likes Trestles.

And then there was Bruce Irons, who, with few 'QS points to his credit this year, needs to score big if he wants to keep his well deserved place on the 'CT tour. Brucey was up against former event winner Luke Egan, and there was plenty of anticipation around the heat. The fans were out. The sun came out. The Fosters oil-cans came out. Only thing that didn't come out for the show was the waves. A half hour later, with only three waves surfed in the entire heat, Egan had Bruce combo'd with a measly pair of 6's. What a rip-off! What's going on here? Is it on or what?

Oh, it's on. Don't worry about that.

Both the fans and the ocean woke up for the next heat, where Taylor Knox tore Beau Emerton a new orifice or two with a classic array of Knoxian cutlery and a rail-grab tailslide that drifted way beyond the boundaries and back again.

The wind was kicking up now. It blew through the scaffolding, whispering in anticipation, "Oooooon. It's sooooooo oooooooooon." The foam climbs and racey sections were getting troublesome, but the sets were getting bigger too. Further outside.

Willsy put the hurt on Toby Martin. Winkler nail-bitered his way past Noodles. Paulo Mauro, Kalani Robb and Tim Curran all advanced. Guilherme Herdy. Everyone's just getting started. Kelly stayed home to study his playbook today. Damo and Pat O were pounding their chests in anticipation. Dean Morrison's got a deadly serious look in his eye. If you're not watching this already, it's time to download your media player and call in sick to work, 'cause it's on. Boost Mobile Pro Round Two Heats (1st>Rnd3; 2nd=33rd receives US$3,400)
H1: Dane Reynolds (USA) 15.5 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 14.6
H2: CJ Hobgood (USA) 17.67 def. Rob Machado (USA) 14.57
H3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.16 def. Jamie O'Brien (HAW) 9.17
H4: Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 17.96 def. Eric Rebiere (FRA) 12.67
H5: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.67 def. Shane Beschen (USA) 11.56
H6: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 14.77 def. Michael Lowe (AUS) 12.84
H7: Luke Egan (AUS) 12.17 def. Bruce Irons (HAW) 5.0
H8: Taylor Knox (USA) 17.4 def. Beau Emerton (AUS) 12.37
H9: Daniel Wills (AUS) 16.77 def. Toby Martin (AUS) 15.0
H10: Lee Winkler (AUS) 14.6 def. Nathan Webster (AUS) 12.5
H11: Darren O'Rafferty (AUS) 16.4 def. Sunny Garcia (HAW) 16.07
H12: Paulo Moura (BRA) 14.16 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 9.83
H13: Kalani Robb (HAW) 16.0 def. Neco Padaratz (BRA) 9.53
H14: Tim Curran (USA) 17.37 def. Phil MacDonald (AUS) 4.27
H15: Guilherme Herdy (BRA) 15.56 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 14.5
H16: Peterson Rosa (BRA) 13.3 def. Victor Ribas (BRA) 11.83

 

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