Cristobal De Col and Ian Gouveia clinch victory in Round 3 of ASP 4-Star Vans Pier Classic
Peru’s Cristobal De Col and Brazil’s Ian Gouveia made their way through into the fourth round (Round of 64) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Vans Pier Classic after claiming top honours in their respective Round 3 (Round of 96) heats
that went down at the Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, on Thursday, March 29.
Japan’s Hiroto Arai and America’s Christian Saenz earned their place in the next round of the event as well after clinching runner-up positions in the fifth and sixth heat of Round 3 respectively.
The crowd anticipated plenty of thrilling action on the second day of the ASP 4-Star event as the local and international surfing talent continued to battle it out for survival. The surfing conditions prevailing at Huntington Beach Pier had not turned out
to be great, but that did not keep the action from becoming exciting and intense.
The fifth heat saw De Col put on an impressive performance while squaring off with Arai, French Polynesia’s Steven Pierson and Mexico’s Travis Southworth.
As the four-man battle got underway, the Peruvian surfer locked his first business-wave in the opening minutes to post a 4.67 on the score-board. After a lengthy hunt, he managed to add an additional 7.83 points to his account in the dying minutes of the
heat to finish with a two-wave total of 12.50 points.
Arai failed to challenge De Col’s lead, but successfully secured the runner-up place after finishing with a heat-total of 10.27 points, which included a 5.17 and 5.10-point wave. As a result, he advanced through into the next round as well.
Pierson finished in third place with a heat-total of 9.83 points, whereas Southworth rounded out the fourth position with a two-wave total of 6.64 points. The lacklustre performance led to the elimination of both the surfers from the competition.
The sixth heat saw Gouveia get the better of Saenz, Hawaii’s Dege O’Connell and his compatriot Koa Smith to confidently step into the fourth round.
The 19-year-old Brazilian scored a 5.67 off his first business-wave and backed it up with a 7.00-point wave to finish with a decisive heat-total of 12.67 points.
“This event is really good for my experience and I’m trying to surf as many heats as possible,” Gouveia said. “It’s a good event for me to get some points for my World Ranking too.”
Saenz remained pretty impressive during the four-man heat as well. Scoring a 6.10 and 5.43 off his best-waves, the American surfer took runner-up place to confirm his place in the next round.
O’Connell and Smith got removed from the contention for the event title after rounding out the bottom-two positions with a heat-total of 9.57 and 8.03 points respectively.
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