Gavin Gillette and Jose Trujillo power into Round 5 of ASP 4-Star Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco
Hawaii’s Gavin Gillette and Mexico’s Jose Trujillo advanced to the fifth round (Round of 16) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco after walking away with a successful result from their respective Round 4
(Round of 32) heats that took place at the main site of Playa Revolcadero in Acapulco, Mexico, on Friday, July 20.
America’s Dane Anderson and Mexico’s Diego Cadena managed to avoid elimination and qualify for the next round as well after clinching runner-up positions in their respective Round 4 heats.
The up-and-coming surfing talent was indeed doing pretty good to remain alive in the contention for the event title despite the demanding surfing conditions on hand. The two-to-four foot wave and off-shore winds made it pretty tough to even reach a double-digit
heat-total, leave alone getting a big score off a single wave.
Facing Anderson, his compatriot Phillip Goold and Mexico’s Blas Bacardo in the third heat of Round 4, Gillette wasted very little time to stamp his authority. The 26-year-old Kauai-based surfer put on an energetic performance, pulling off a massive back-side
air-reverse in the final minutes of the heat to post an 8.83 on the score-board, which backed up a 4.93-point ride to take him to a winning heat-total of 13.76 points.
“I was pretty nervous because second place is not a good spot to be in,” Gillette said. “I knew the Mexican guys could get barreled or do an air and they didn’t need much of a score. I knew I had to come back and battle with those guys and I’m glad I did.”
Anderson was nothing short of impressive during the heat either and managed to reach a heat-total of 12.93 points, which served to put him in second place and consequently add him to the Round 5 line-up.
Bacardo finished third with a heat-total of 5.47 points, while Goold rounded out the bottom-position with a two-wave total of 4.60 points. The failure to make a significant impact in the four-man heat and resultant bottom-two finish led to their elimination
from the competition.
The fourth heat of Round 4 pitted Trujillo against Cadena, Hawaii’s Dylan Goodale and Chile’s Camilo Hernandez.
Making the most of his local knowledge of the waves, Trujillo managed to reach a heat-total of 10.40 points, which served to seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
Cadena finished just behind his compatriot in runner-up place with a heat-total of 9.83 points, which took him through into the next round as well.
Goodale and Hernandez rounded out the bottom-two positions with a heat-total of 9.57 and 6.10 points respectively, getting ejected prematurely from the competition as a result.
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