Ian Gouveia and Frederico Morais prevail in Round 4 of CHIKO Pro Junior at Newcastle’s Surfest
Brazil’s Ian Gouveia and Portugal’s Frederico Morais put on superb performances in their respective Round 4 (Round of 32) heats of CHIKO Pro Junior at Newcastle’s Surfest that continued at the renowned Merewether Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday,
March 10.
Brazil’s Jesse Mendes and South Africa’s Michael February also successfully ensured their survival in the event by securing runner-up position in the fifth and sixth heat of Round 4 respectively, consequently advancing through into the next round.
With the surfing conditions turning out to be quite favourable on the latest day of the 4-Star Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s Junior Qualifying event, the crowd got treated to a heavy and fulfilling dose of exciting surfing action.
Gouveia made use of the four-foot waves on offer at the event site to exhibit his impressive surfing skills during the fifth heat. As the four-man battle got underway, he locked his first business-wave to unload a series of exquisite tricks, earning an 8.75
for the effort. He continued the momentum to add an additional 7.05 to his account, taking his heat-total to a decisive 15.80 points and thus confirming his place in Round 5 (Round of 16).
Mendes collected a 6.90 and 5.15 off his best-two waves to secure runner-up place and consequently join his compatriot in the next round.
Australia’s Josh Hay and Connor O’Leary found their pursuit of the event-title coming to an end as they rounded out the bottom-two positions once the battle concluded, scoring a heat-total of 10.75 and 9.00 respectively.
The sixth heat saw a remarkable performance by Morais as he downed South Africa’s February and the two local surfers Cooper Chapman and Mitchell James to grab victory.
Morais scored a 6.20 off his first business-wave and soon backed it up with a spectacular 8.00-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.20 points. The score put him in the lead that held up until the end to take him through into the next round.
February clinched runner-up place with a heat-total of 7.50 and 4.25-point wave for a heat-total of 11.75 points, consequently advancing through into Round 5 as well.
Chapman and James were eliminated from the competition after finishing in last-two positions after scoring an over-all wave-total of 11.15 and 8.50 points respectively.
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