Cory Lopez and Jonathan Gonzalez move into Round 3 of Burton Toyota Pro at Newcastle’s Surfest
America’s Cory Lopez took top honours in the 19th heat, while Cayman Islands’ Jonathan Gonzalez too the win in the 20th heat of Round 2 (Round of 96) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Burton Toyota Pro at Newcastle’s
Surfest at Merewether Beach in Australia on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
Both Lopez and Gonzalez advanced through into the third round (Round of 48) due to their success in the second round. Australia’s Alexandre Chacon and Chris Friend also made the Round 3 cut after taking runner-up place in the 19th and 20th
heat respectively.
In the final heat of Wednesday, March 14, Lopez took on Chacon, Brazil’s Flavio Nakagima and Australia’s Mitchel Coleborn in a four-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
The American surfer adjusted quite well to the two-to-three foot wave on offer, setting himself up nicely to catch the juiciest waves that appeared during the course of the 19th heat. After a series of average score, he locked his first business-wave
to collect a 6.10 off it and went on to back it up with an impressive 7.03-point wave in the dying minutes of the heat to finish with a two-wave total of 13.13 points.
Chacon finished one place behind Lopez after scoring a heat-total of 10.67 points, which comprised of a 4.50 and 6.17-point wave.
Nakagima barely missed out on the Round 3 spot after finishing 0.01 short of the required score, while Coleborn rounded out fourth place with a two-wave total of 8.97 points. Both the surfers were consequently eliminated from the competition.
As the ASP 6-Star event resumed on Thursday, March 15, the 20th heat pitted Gonzalez against Friend, Basque County’s Hodei Collazo and Brazil’s Jadson Andre.
Gonzalez wasted no time in getting down to business as the heat got underway and locked his first wave in the opening minutes to post a 5.67 on the score-board. After a lengthy search, he managed to add an additional 7.27 points to his account for a heat-total
of 12.94 points, which held up until the end to put him in first place.
Friend finished in second place with a heat-total of 12.40 points, which included a 6.83 and 5.57-point wave, to advance through into the next round as well.
Collazo finished third with a heat-total of 11.50 points, while Andre rounded out the bottom-position with a heat-total of 8.94 points. The bottom-two result led to the removal of both the surfers from the contention for the event title.
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