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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.youtube.com\\/embed\\/jqt1QG12e6M?enablejsapi=1\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"360\\\" frameborder=\\\"0\\\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;\\/iframe&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Taj Burrow Tames The Lane, Wins The O\\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Steamer lane. It\\u2019s gotta be one of the trickiest, hardest-to-figure-out stops on the World Tour. You\\u2019ve got massive elephant seals barking at you, a treacherous leap off the cliff to get into the water, and a dash up slippery boulders to exit the water. And oh yeah, the wave breaks all over the place, making for a huge playing field.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;While these factors played a role in most of the top-ranked surfers, there was no slowing down savvy tour veteran Taj Burrow. He dealt with the fin-catching kelp and territorial sea lions like a true West side local. In the final against Matt Wilkinson (Wilko&amp;#8217;s first ever), Taj used huge frontside hacks and searing cutbacks to take down Wilko. Adopted by the town of Santa Cruz (they love their eccentric characters up here) and a former Coldwater Classic winner, Wilko nearly pulled the upset off but just couldn\\u2019t muster up a mid-range score in the pumping, six-to-eight foot surf on tap at the Lane. He seemed to be rushing his bottom turns and not tapping into the power source of the waves. Still, it was a crucial result for Wilko and one the guaranteed him a slot on the 2013 World Championship Tour.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Back to Taj. While everyone had their eyes on the World Title drama, Taj quietly worked his way through the event, allowing the spotlight to focus on the looming Kelly Slater\\/Joel Parkinson\\/Mick Fanning showdown that\\u2019s gonna go down at the Pipe Masters in late December. His mastery of Steamer Lane was impressive throughout the whole event, especially considering a guy of Kelly Slater\\u2019s stature looked completely lost out there at times. The win marked Taj\\u2019s second of the year (the first being the season opening Quiksilver Pro) and vaults him up several spots in the overall rankings but not enough to be in World Title consideration.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Congrats to Taj and O\\u2019Neill, it was a great event with excellent surf, perfect weather, and showed what us Californians always knew\\u2014there\\u2019s no better place to be in the fall! Thanks as well to Ryan Augenstein for hosting TransWorld SURF, you da man Auggie!&lt;strong&gt;\\u2014Justin Cot\\u00e9&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Final Results For The 2012 O\\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n1st Taj Burrow&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n2nd Matt Wilkinson&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n=3rd Michel Bourez, Travis Logie&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n=5th Joel Parkinson, Jeremy Flores, Adriano De Souza, Gabriel Medina&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;figure id=\\\"attachment_1000154268\\\" style=\\\"width: 640px\\\" class=\\\"wp-caption aligncenter\\\"&gt;&lt;img class=\\\"size-full wp-image-1000154268\\\" title=\\\"Taj Burrow Coldwater Classic\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.grindtv.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2012\\/11\\/Taj-Burrow-Coldwater-Classic.jpg\\\" alt=\\\"Taj Burrow Coldwater Classic\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"360\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;figcaption class=\\\"wp-caption-text\\\"&gt;2012 O&amp;#8217;Neill Coldwater Classic winner Taj Burrow. Photo: ASP&lt;\\/figcaption&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ASP Press Release:&lt;\\/strong&gt; 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 metre) waves at Steamer Lane.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;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. 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.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\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&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;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. \\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&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Wilkinson, 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. \\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&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Wilkinson was in desperate need of a result entering the O\\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic ranked 30th on the ASP WCT rankings.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\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 Today\\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.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Michel 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. \\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&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Travis 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.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\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 Logie, 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.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\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 Kelly 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.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\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&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Heading 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. The final stop on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour will be the Billabong Pipeline Masters from December 8 \\u2013 20, 2012. For more information, log onto &lt;a href=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.ASPWorldTour.com\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\"&gt;www.ASPWorldTour.com&lt;\\/a&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;O\\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC FINAL RESULTS:&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n1 \\u2013 Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.10&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n2 \\u2013 Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.70&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;O\\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC SEMIFINALS RESULTS:&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nSF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.57 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.40&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nSF 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 17.73 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.10&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;O\\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nQF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.83 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 8.60&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nQF 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.83 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.00&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;O\\u2019NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 5 RESULTS:&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nHeat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.16 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 6.70&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nHeat 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.50 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 8.90&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nHeat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.00 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.00&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nHeat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.50 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 9.40&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CURRENT ASP WCT TOP 5 (After O\\u2019Neill Coldwater Classic):&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n1. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 53,900 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n2. Kelly Slater (USA) 50,700 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n3. Mick Fanning (AUS) 47,000 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n4. John John Florence (HAW) 44,350 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,350 pts&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.grindtv.com/surf/taj-burrow-tames-the-lane-wins-the-oneill-coldwater-classic/?pid=67883>