Carlos Goncalves and Bino Lopes qualify for Round 3 at Arica World Star Tour
Ecuador’s Carlos Goncalves and Brazil’s Bino Lopes advanced through into the third round (Round of 32) at the Arica World Star Tour presented by Maui and Sons, a 3-Star Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) event, after claiming victory in their respective
Round 2 (Round of 64) heats that went down at the beach-break of El Gringo in Arica, Chile, on Wednesday, June 13.
Argentina’s Leandro Usuna successfully extended his life in the event as well by accompanying Goncalves into the next round following his second-place finish in the third heat. Peru’s Gonzalo Velasco and Matias Segura from Argentina got eliminated from the
competition following their bottom-two finish.
The fourth heat saw Lopes claim top honours, while Hawaii’s Luke Shepardson finished just behind him in second place to successfully make the Round 3 cut as well. Hawaii’s Liam McNamara finished in third place, while America’s Josie Graves rounded out the
bottom position. Both the surfers were consequently removed from the contention for the event title.
Some of the most promising up-and-coming surfing talent from around the world had converged to El Gringo to compete for the prize money that amounted to up to $55,000, along with the coveted ASP ranking points that were on offer.
The third heat of the second round saw Goncalves start off with an impressive 7.00-point ride. Even though he only managed to back it up with a 1.10-point wave, the Ecuador-based surfer still emerged triumphant as his heat-total of 8.10 points remained unbeatable.
Usuna made it into the third round of the competition as well after scoring a 1.75 and 3.85 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 5.60 points, a score that proved sufficient to earn him runner-up place.
Velasco and Segura finished with an identical heat-total of 3.65 points, though the higher wave-score of 1.95 served to put the former in third place, leaving the latter to settle for a bottom-place finish. However, both the surfers were forced to make a
premature exit from the competition.
The fourth heat featured one of the best sights of the day as Lopes followed a dismissal 2.85-point ride with an excellent effort. Locking a juicy wave, the Brazilian young gun unloaded a series of spectacular manoeuvres to earn a perfect 10 from the judges.
The second-wave score carried him to a heat-total of 12.85 points, which served to earn him the win.
Shepardson finished in runner-up place after collecting a 2.25 and 3.25 off his best-two waves, consequently advancing through into the next round as well.
McNamara and Graves finished with a heat-total of 2.70 and 1.20 points respectively, which resulted in their premature exit from the competition.
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