{"id":37685,"date":"2012-11-06T15:49:56","date_gmt":"2012-11-06T23:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=37685"},"modified":"2012-11-06T16:33:32","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T00:33:32","slug":"taj-burrow-takes-the-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=37685","title":{"rendered":"Taj Burrow Takes The Lane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Burrow2013Oneill12Kirstin\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The last minute of the 2012 O’Neill Cold Water Classic<\/a><\/strong> was set up for the history books. Taj Burrow<\/strong>, the seasoned tour veteran with 10 ASP Tour victories, was leading Matty Wilkinson <\/strong>in his first ever final appearance. Wilko needed a 5.9 and even with priority it looked impossible. Then the crowd began to hoot. On the horizon a bump began to peek up out of the surrounding ocean and Burrow knew that his lossless event hung in the balance of this last wave. While Burrow sat, Wilko paddled in, got two turns and launched a backside floater. But he didn’t land it. The judges gave Wilco a 5.5 and the win when to Burrow.<\/p>\n

\"Taj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis win feels incredible,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cIt happens sometimes where you never feel like you have the best heats. I was kind of in the zone. I never really had a good heat the whole event, but I still felt good. It\u2019s such a tricky wave and I guess the only thing that helped was my wave count. That Final was the battle of the back-ups. We both stacked it on a couple and we were in a fluster. Wilko (Matt Wilkinson) fell on that last one and he would have got the score, but I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the official word from the ASP follow the jump.STEAMER LANE, Santa Cruz\/California (Tuesday, November 6, 2012) \u2013 Taj Burrow (AUS), 34, has won the O\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic, Stop No. 9 of 10 on the ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), over Matt Wilkinson (AUS), 24, in solid six foot (2 metro) waves at Steamer Lane.<\/p>\n

Burrow quietly advanced through the opening rounds of competition, building momentum throughout the latter rounds while punctuating his efforts on the final day with an amazing variety of forehand maneuvers. Burrow toppled young Brazilian Gabriel Medina (BRA), 18, and goofy-footer Travis Logie (ZAF), 33, en route to the Final against compatriot Wilkinson.<\/p>\n

Both Burrow and Wilkinson opened up strongly, but struggled to secure a solid backup score. Wilkinson had an opportunity in the dying moments, but couldn\u2019t hold on during a third critical maneuver and came up just short.
\n\u201cThis win feels incredible,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cIt happens sometimes where you never feel like you have the best heats. I was kind of in the zone. I never really had a good heat the whole event, but I still felt good. It\u2019s such a tricky wave and I guess the only thing that helped was my wave count. That Final was the battle of the back-ups. We both stacked it on a couple and we were in a fluster. Wilko (Matt Wilkinson) fell on that last one and he would have got the score, but I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burrow\u2019s win marks his second of the season after snatching the opening event on the Gold Coast of Australia. Western Australia\u2019s favorite son now sits at No. 6 on the 2012 ASP WCT rankings.
\n\u201cI really wanted to win another event this year, especially since I\u2019m out of the race for the title,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty depressing, but I\u2019m really happy that it just fell in to place here in Santa Cruz. To get two wins in a year, I\u2019ve only done that once before so I\u2019m really happy with that.\u201d
\nWilkinson, a former winner at the venue in 2010, continued his lethal backhand assault at Steamer Lane, belting the day\u2019s highest heat total of 17.73 while defeating Adriano de Souza (BRA), 25, and Michel Bourez (PYF), 26, to attain his first ASP WCT Final appearance.
\n\u201cI was stoked when I made it through the third round,\u201d Wilkinson said. \u201cEvery heat after that, I just kept building. I felt amazing. I was getting 9s and backing them up. All year I\u2019ve been dropping one big score. Out here, I felt like I was getting better every heat. I had that one that would have been a 9 if I made it out of that last turn.\u201d
\nWilkinson was in desperate need of a result entering the O\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic ranked 30th on the ASP WCT rankings.
\n\u201cI was starting to freak out,\u201d Wilkinson said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to be left up to Hawaii needing points. Anything can happen there. There\u2019s a bunch of locals in the contest so it\u2019s not like any other event. You have to surf more rounds than usual and the more down the list you are the harder it is because you have to surf more rounds. I\u2019m definitely happy to have these points heading in to Hawaii.\u201d
\nToday\u2019s Runner-Up finish vaults Wilkinson up to 22nd on the ASP WCT rankings and 15th on the ASP World Rankings, solidifying his requalification position for the 2013 ASP Top 34.
\nMichel Bourez (PYF), 26, marched to his best result of the year, besting veteran Damien Hobgood (USA), 33, and Jeremy Flores (FRA), 24, with an amazing array of powerful carving turns on his forehand. Unfortunately for the Tahitian, he was unable to put a stop to Wilkinson\u2019s progressive backhand approach in the Semifinals and finished Equal 3rd overall.
\n\u201cIt was a good event for more,\u201d Bourez said. \u201cI\u2019m frustrated that I didn\u2019t have a better Semifinal. I feel like I haven\u2019t had the best year and I was having a good event this week. My son is here with me and my family is my life. They have been my inspiration this week.\u201d
\nTravis Logie (ZAF), 33, was another deadly backhander at Steamer Lane, besting current ASP WCT rankings\u2019 leader Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, in the Quarterfinals while securing his best result of 2012, an Equal 3rd place finish. Logie\u2019s tear continued in the Semifinals, posting an excellent 8.33 against Taj Burrow, but the South African was unable to find a backup score against the Australian, finishing just shy of the Final.
\n\u201cI\u2019m pretty stoked with how I surfed in this event,\u201d Logie said. \u201cI\u2019m really disappointed because I had one really good one in that heat and I feel like I just needed an average one to make that heat. Taj has been ripping though and congratulations to him.\u201d
\nLogie, who entered the O\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic ranked 26th, vaults up the rankings to 17th, compliments of his 3rd place finish in Santa Cruz, revitalizing his campaign to requalify for the 2013 ASP WCT.
\n\u201cThis result is huge for me,\u201d Logie said. \u201cThese points are massive. I was looking pretty out of it going in to this event and a third place here shoots me quite a bit up the rankings. I\u2019m still not home and dry, but hopefully in Hawaii I can make up some points.\u201d
\nKelly Slater (USA), 40, current ASP WCT No. 2, struggled to find a rhythm in his Round 4 bout against Adriano de Souza, finishing equal 9th overall. Despite Slater\u2019s early exit from the event, a 9th place finish replaces his last-place injury points from Brazil, exponentially narrowing the ratings\u2019 gap with current frontrunner, Parkinson.
\n\u201cI haven\u2019t looked at the numbers, but it\u2019s funny enough, I gained a couple thousand points,\u201d Slater said. \u201cJoel (Parkinson) dropped a 9th and gained a 5th and I dropped a 500 and gained about 3,000 points. It\u2019s a huge opportunity lost for Joel (Parkinson).\u201d
\nHeading into the final event of the year, three surfers remain mathematically in contention for the 2012 ASP World Title: Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, Kelly Slater (AUS), 40, and Mick Fanning (AUS), 31.
\nHighlights from the O\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic will be available at www.oneill.com\/cwc\/
\nThe final stop on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour will be the Billabong Pipeline Masters from December 8 \u2013 20, 2012.
\nFor more information, log onto www.ASPWorldTour.com
\nO\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC FINAL RESULTS:
\n1 \u2013 Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.10
\n2 \u2013 Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.70
\nO\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
\nSF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.57 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.40
\nSF 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 17.73 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.10
\nO\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
\nQF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.83 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 8.60
\nQF 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.83 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.00
\nO\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 5 RESULTS:
\nHeat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.16 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 6.70
\nHeat 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.50 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 8.90
\nHeat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.00 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.00
\nHeat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.50 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 9.40
\nCURRENT ASP WCT TOP 5 (After O\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic):
\n1. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 53,900 pts
\n2. Kelly Slater (USA) 50,700 pts
\n3. Mick Fanning (AUS) 47,000 pts
\n4. John John Florence (HAW) 44,350 pts
\n5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,350 pts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last minute of the 2012 O’Neill Cold Water Classic was set up for the history books. Taj Burrow, the seasoned tour veteran with 10 ASP Tour victories, was leading Matty Wilkinson in his first ever final appearance. Wilko needed a 5.9 and even with priority it looked impossible. Then the crowd began to hoot. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37685"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37685"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37695,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37685\/revisions\/37695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}