Ian Gouveia and Jesse Mendes continue solid run of form in Round 3 of CHIKO Pro Junior
Brazil’s Ian Gouveia and Jesse Mendes claimed victories in their respective Round 3 (Round of 64) heats at CHIKO Pro Junior, part of the Newcastle’s Surfest, which went down at the Merewether Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Friday, March 9.
Australia’s Cooper Chapman and Mitchell James also survived the day after securing runner-up position in their respective Round 3 heats.
With a huge field of talented young surfers from around the world competing for the coveted $20,000 prize money and coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Junior rating points, the 4-Star ASP Junior Qualifying event continued to deliver a heavy
dose of thrilling action.
While the first-two rounds of the competition had taken place in challenging surfing conditions, the condition of the waves had improved considerably on Day 2.
Gouveia made use of the four-to-five foot waves on offer to unleash a phenomenal performance. Scoring an 8.00 off his first business-wave and later backing it up with a near-perfect 9.25-point wave, the Brazilian completely stole the show during the heat
and eventually walked away with the win, confirming his place in Round 4 (Round of 32) in the process.
Chapman’s performance seemed rather ordinary in front of Gouveia’s onslaught. However, the Australian heat-total of 9.75, comprising of a 3.50 and 6.25-point wave, proved adequate to put him in runner-up place.
New Zealand’s Benjamin Poulter scored a heat-total of 7.65 points to finished third, while Australia’s Jack Duggan rounded out the fourth place after getting to a heat-total of 5.90 points off his best-two waves. Both the surfers got ejected from the contention
for the event title due to their lacklustre performance.
The 10th heat featured a spectacular performance by Mendes as he took down the local talent James, Mitchell Parkinson and Max Longhurst.
The Brazilian surfer locked his first business-wave to unload a string of exquisite tricks, earning a 9.00 for the effort and soon backed it up with a 6.10-point wave. The resultant heat-total of 15.10 points remained unbeatable until the end to seal the
fate of the contest in his favour, consequently adding him to the Round 4 line-up.
James exhibited a promising form during the course of the battle as well and eventually took runner-up place with a heat-total of 11.50 points, which included a 4.50 and 7.00-point wave.
Parkinson and Longhurst got eliminated from the competition after rounding out the bottom-two positions with a heat-total of 8.85 and 4.85 respective.
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