Taj Burrow Wins O’Neill Cold Water Classic

TAJ Burrow wins O'Neill O'Neill Coldwater Classic over Matt Wilkinson. The title race tightens, now it could all come down to the final heat at Pipeline. Matt Wilkinson was a inches away from a maiden victory, in what would have seemed a fitting redemption for the rediscovery of his explosive heat winning ways. But it wasn't to be and the perennial grom Taj Burrow took the heat with what amounted to one rip-stomping turn, Mr Burrow's speciality. "This win feels incredible," Burrow said. "It 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's 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 fell on that last one and he would have got the score, but I'll take it." Missed any action? Check out the heats on demand. © 2013 O'Neill

Burrow's win marks his second of the season after snatching the opening event on the Gold Coast of Australia. Western Australia's favorite son now sits at No. 6 on the 2012 ASP WCT rankings. "I really wanted to win another event this year, especially since I'm out of the race for the title," Burrow said. "That's pretty depressing, but I'm really happy that it just fell in to place here in Santa Cruz. To get two wins in a year, I've only done that once before so I'm really happy with that." © 2013 O'Neill

Wilkinson, a former winner at the venue in 2010, continued his lethal backhand assault at Steamer Lane, belting the day's highest heat total of 17.73 while defeating Adriano de Souza, and Michel Bourez, to attain his first ASP WCT Final appearance. "I was stoked when I made it through the third round," Wilkinson said. "Every heat after that, I just kept building. I felt amazing. I was getting 9s and backing them up. All year I've 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." Wilkinson was in desperate need of a result entering the O'Neill Coldwater Classic ranked 30th on the ASP WCT rankings. "I was starting to freak out," Wilkinson said. "I didn't want it to be left up to Hawaii needing points. Anything can happen there. There's a bunch of locals in the contest so it's 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'm definitely happy to have these points heading in to Hawaii." © 2013 O'Neill

Kelly Slater, current world number 2, struggled to find a rhythm in his Round 4 bout against Adriano de Souza, finishing equal 9th overall. Despite Slater's early exit from the event, a 9th place finish replaces his last-place injury points from Brazil, narrowing the ratings' gap with current frontrunner, Parkinson. "I haven't looked at the numbers, but it's funny enough, I gained a couple thousand points," Slater said. "Joel dropped a 9th and gained a 5th and I dropped a 500 and gained about 3,000 points. It's a huge opportunity lost for Joel Parkinson." © 2013 O'Neill

© 2013 ASP