Anthony Walsh and Francisco Bellorin move into Round 3 at Arica World Star Tour
Australia’s Anthony Walsh and Venezuela’s Francisco Bellorin secured their place in the third round (Round of 32) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 3-Star Arica World Star Tour presented by Maui and Sons after claiming top honours in their
respective Round 2 (Round of 64) heats that went down at the reef break of El Gringo in Arica, Chile, on Thursday, June 14.
The ninth heat further saw Brazil’s Victor Ribas successfully extend his life in the event as well by managing to grasp runner-up position. Peru’s Gabriel Villaran and America’s Hunter Lysaught finished in third and fourth positions respectively, consequently
having to leave the competition field early.
Brazil’s Paulo Moura finished behind Bellorin in second place to, accompanying the latter into the next round as a result. His fellow countryperson Marcos Monteiro finished in third place, while Chile’s Alejandro Diaz rounded out the bottom-position. Both
the surfers were consequently removed from the competition field as a result.
While it was difficult to ignore the threat posed by the barrelling conditions at the event site, the four-to-six foot waves promised to deliver a heavy dose of enthralling action and exquisite performances.
Determined to survive day 2 of Arica World Star Tour, Walsh made a remarkable effort to tame the wild barrels that were on offer and successfully walked away with the win after posting a 6.25 and 7.00 on the score-board for a heat-total of 13.25 points.
“I think this wave awesome because I love heavy waves,” stated Walsh. “I’m from Australia, but I currently live in Hawaii because that’s where the waves I like are. I don’t really take part in WQS events because they’re usually run on beach breaks. But,
since this is a world-famous wave, I decided to come down and I’m loving it, even though it’s one of the most dangerous waves I’ve ever surfed.”
Ribas did not put on the most memorable performances, managing to merely collect a 3.25 and 2.35 off his best-two waves, but the effort proved sufficient to get him through into the next round.
Villaran and Lysaught finished with a heat-total of 3.65 and 2.65 points respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the race for the event title.
The tenth heat of Round 2 featured yet another set of surfers struggling to tame the wild barrels on offer at the reef break of El Gringo.
The most notable performance came from Bellorin, who finished with a heat-total of 6.00 after scoring a 3.25 and 2.75 off his best-two waves to clinch victory.
Moura’s lacklustre performance for a heat-total of 4.50 points served to put him in second place and consequently send him through into the next round.
Monteiro and Diaz completely succumbed to the demanding conditions, managing to reach a dismissal combined-total of 3.70 and 2.40 points respective. This in turn added them to the elimination list.
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