Alejandro Moreda and Colin Moran survive Round 1 of ASP 4-Star Vans Pier Classic – Surfing News
Puerto Rico’s Alejandro Moreda and America’s Colin Moran walked away with top honours from their respective Round 1 (Round of 144) heats of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Vans Pier Classic that continued at the Huntington Beach Pier
in California, America, on Wednesday, March 28.
The successful result in Round 1 served to add both Moreda and Moran to the Round 2 (Round of 128) line-up. America’s Jensen Callaway and his compatriot Bobby Morris accompanied the winners into the next round after securing first runner-up place in the
seventh and eighth heat respectively.
The difficult surfing conditions prevailing at the primary event kept the surfers on their toes. Even though the size of the waves were pretty decent, lying in the two-to-four foot range, the frequency served to put the skills, experience and luck of surfers
to test.
The seventh heat saw Moreda take on Callaway, his compatriot Michael Bailey and Japan’s Kaisa Kawamura in a four-man battle.
Even though there were very few opportunities to collect a decent score during the course of the event, Moreda managed to find a 5.23 and 5.63-point ride to finish with a heat-total of 10.86 points. The score moved him in the lead that held up until the
end to take him through into the next round.
Callaway advanced through into the next round of the event as well after finishing with a heat-total of 7.70 points, which included a 4.10 and 3.60-point wave.
Kawamura collected a couple of scores in the three-point range to finish with a heat-total of 6.34 points, whereas Bailey rounded out the bottom-position with a two-wave total of 3.53 points, which included a 1.90 and 1.63-point wave.
The eight heat of Round 1 pitted Moran against his compatriots Morris and Willie Safreed, along with Hawaii’s Morgan Faulkner in a four-man battle.
The trouble with the low frequency of scoring opportunities continued, though Moran managed to score a 4.53 and 4.70 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 9.23 points. The score proved to be a decisive one, sealing the fate of the battle
in his favour.
Morris made his way into the next round as well after finishing with a heat-total of 8.80 points, which included a 4.70 and 4.10-point wave.
Safreed scored a 4.17 and 3.67 off his top-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 7.84 points, whereas Faulkner rounded out the bottom-position with a heat-total of 2.60 points. Both the surfers consequently found themselves removed from the contention
for the event-title.
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