Colin Moran and Tanner Hendrickson punctuate day 3 of Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco with victory
America’s Colin Moran and Hawaii’s Tanner Hendrickson continued their solid run at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco, successfully securing their place in the fifth round (Round of 16) after emerging triumphant
in their respective Round 4 (Round of 32) heats that took place at Playa Revolcadero in Acapulco, Mexico, on Friday, July 20.
America’s Jeffrey Lukasik and his fellow countryperson Michael Powell made it into the next round as well, courtesy of their runner-up finish in their respective Round 4 heats.
With two-to-four foot waves accompanied by off-shore winds prevailing at the primary event site, the young surfing talent had struggled to cope with the conditions throughout the course of the day. There had been very few remarkable performances as decent
scores kept eluding the local and foreign talent.
The first heat pitted Moran against his compatriots Lukasik and Jeremy Johnston, along with Peru’s Cristobal De Col in a four-man bout for top honours and a place in the next round.
The battle got off to a slow start, with all four surfers apparently struggling to find their rhythm. Moran eventually managed to break free of the shackles by finally locking a decent wave and utilising it to pull off a series of turns. He followed it up
with another respectable score to reach a heat-total of 11.23 points. The score received no serious threat from the other three surfers and therefore allowed him to walk away with the win.
Lukasik successfully extended his life in the event as well after finishing with a heat-total of 6.87 points to secure runner-up place, while both De Col and Johnston got eliminated from the competition after rounding out the bottom-position with a two-wave
total of 5.94 and 4.60 points respectively.
The second heat featured an intense battle as Hendrickson, Powell and Chile’s Guillermo Satt went neck-to-neck for most part of the heat. America’s Tim Reyes was also in contention for victory, but hardly made any serious impact during the four-man battle.
Hendrickson barely managed to grab the win after finishing with a heat-total of 11.23 points, forcing Powell to settle for runner-up place after the latter stood with a heat-total of 11.17 points at the conclusion of the proceedings. The American surfer
had little to mourn about as his result was good enough to take him through into the next round.
Satt finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.17 points, not quite getting the score required to land in top-two, while Reyes finished with a two-wave total of 8.87 points. Both the surfers were therefore forced to make their way towards the exit
from the competition.
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