Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro & Gallaz Surf Jam Results

• January 17 2006
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ASP 4 Star WQS Mens event #1/2006
ASP 4 Star WQS Womens event #1/2006
Sebastian Inlet, Florida, USA
5 - 12 January 2005

The second annual Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro ASP 4 Star WQS Men’s event wrapped up with the Hobgood twin brothers taking first and second places. Damien Hobgood took the winners place with a total score of 16.16 followed by CJ Hobgood in 2nd with 14.00 points and who ultimately needed a 8.67 wave score to take first place. Both surfers are sponsored by Globe, the event sponsor. Asher Nolan came in 3rd with 9.97 points and Aaron Cormican took 4th place with 9.60 points.

The finals for the second Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro surfing contest lined up just the way contest organizers hoped it would. Twin brothers C.J. and Damien Hobgood, the top seeds in the event from Satellite Beach, went head-to-head, along with Asher Nolan and Aaron Cormican. C.J. led early, posting a 7.50 on his third wave to go along with a 6.5. But Damien scored a 7.33 and later in the heat scored an 8.83 to clinch the victory.

It was a great ending for Damien Hobgood who, like a cat, used up two of his lives earlier in the day and then scratched and clawed his way past twin brother C.J. to win the second annual $75,000 Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro. More than 1,200 spectators lined the beach and pier Thursday afternoon to watch two of the sport’s greatest surfers, who grew up in Satellite Beach, perform blow-by-blow, jaw-dropping aerials and 360s.

“I was stoked to be battling my brother,” said Damien, 26, the top seed who won the heat 16.16-14.00 to collect the $10,000 top prize. “We were messing with each other out there, but he got me fired up the way he was surfing. “I knew what I needed to do.” It was the first World Qualifying Series victory for Damien, who last season finished a career-best fourth on the elite 46-man World Championship Tour.

It also was the first time Damien had beaten his brother, the 2001 world champion, in a pro heat. They once reached the finals of a WQS event in France, where C.J. placed third and Damien was fourth. In their only meeting on the WCT circuit, in Japan, “C.J. smoked me,” Damien said. “He’s going to rub this one in, which stinks,” said C.J., who won $5,000. “So I’ve got to put up with him for a while.”

Official Results of the Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro

Final

1, Damien Hobgood USA
2, Hobgood USA
3. Asher Nolan USA
4. Aaron Cormican USA

Melanie Bartels Wins Gallaz Surf Jam

Melanie Bartels devoured the competition Wednesday afternoon to win the $3,500 top prize in the inaugural $20,000 Gallaz Surf Jam claiming victory over Rebecca Woods 2nd, Caroline Sarran 3rd, and Leilani Gryde 4th.

The native of Makaha, Oahu ripped off waves of 6.67 and 7.50 with an assortment of smooth turns, cutbacks and even a tailside snap to grab such a big advantage in the four-woman heat that runner-up Rebecca Woods of Australia needed better than a 9.0 wave to catch her with nine minutes left.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” said Bartels, 23, who says she’s been missing her family back home. The former World Qualifying Series champion, who struggled through an injury-plagued, last-place finish on the elite World Championship Tour last season, admitted she “was lucky” catching the key waves during her 14.17-10.60 victory against Woods.

Woods, who won the WQS last season to re-qualify for the WCT, said she’s enjoyed the rivalry with Bartels, one of her friends on the circuit. “She’s a great competitor who also encourages many of the other surfers,” said Woods, who collected $2,200. “It’s just hard to beat her when I got so far behind. I needed the perfect wave to come through.”

European champion Caroline Sarran, who had beaten Bartels in their semifinal heat, finished third. Hawaii’s Leilani Gryde placed fourth, although she pocketed an extra $500 for winning the Long Doggers Big Dog/Biggest Heat award with a two-wave total of 15.50 earlier in the event.

“Considering tthe (small) waves, the girls did a good job,” said celebrity guest Frieda Zamba of Flagler Beach, who won the last of her four world championships in 1990. “It was very entertaining.”

In the semifinals, Gryde helped eliminate Atlantic Beach’s Karina Petroni on a board she had borrowed from her best friend. “It was really funny,” Petroni said. “We were yelling, trying to kill each other out there. As soon as she heard I needed a 4.6 to catch her, she parked herself right next to me. She just looked at me and said, ‘What do you want me to do? It’s a heat.’

“She’s a little witch in the water. I think I’ll remember this for the rest of my life. She beat me on my own board.”

Official Results of the Gallaz Surf Jam

Final

1. Bartels,Melanie HAW
2. Woods,Rebecca AUS
3. Sarran,Caroline FRA
4. Gryde,Leilani USA