Jason Harris and Lucas Santamaria advance to Round 3 at Sooruz Lacanau Pro
America’s Jason Harris and Argentina’s Lucas Santamaria advance to the third round (Round of 96) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 5-Star Sooruz Lacanau Pro after emerging triumphant in their respective Round 2 (Round of 128) heats that went
down at the Grande Plage in Lacanau, France, on Tuesday, August 14.
Japan’s Teppei Tajima finished behind Harris in second place during the ninth heat of Round 2 to accompany the winner into the next round. Guadeloupe’s Dimitri Ouvre and Great Britain’s Gordon Fontaine rounded out the bottom-two positions to find themselves
eliminated from the competition.
The 10th heat saw Portugal’s Jose Ferreira secure runner-up place to accompany Santamaria into the third round. South Africa’s David Van Zyl finished in third place while France’s Hugo Palmarini had to settle for fourth place, consequently getting
removed from the contention for the event title.
The surfing talent from around the globe had their work cut out for them as strong winds arrived at the primary event site during the afternoon session, making it tough for them to make the most of the three-to-four foot waves.
Pitted against Tajima, Ouvre and Fontaine in the ninth heat, Harris got off to an energetic start and continued the momentum to eventually post a 6.03 and 4.97 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 11.00 points.
Tajima successfully extended his life in the competition as well through a heat-total of 10.93 points, which comprised of a couple of waves in the five-point range.
Ouvre finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.80 points, while Fontaine had to settle for the bottom position after finishing with a heat-total of 9.30 points.
The next heat saw Santamaria put on a strong performance to take out Ferreira, Van Zyl and Palmarini in the 10th heat. The Argentinean surfer earned a 7.67 off his first business-wave early in the heat and later backed it up with a 6.23-point
ride to finish with a heat-total of 13.90 points.
“I’m super stoked to make this heat,” Santamaria stated. “I came to Europe and this is the first heat I could surf well so I’m really happy and I hope I can keep the ball rolling into the next round. I found some really fun waves out there and we’re lucky
cause the swell is coming and we should see some great conditions in the upcoming days, hopefully we get some barrels!”
Ferreira collected a 6.00 and 5.07 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 11.07 points, which proved sufficient to take him through into the next round of the competition.
Van Zyl finished in third place with a two-wave total of 10.33 points, while a heat-total of 8.00 resulted in fourth position for Palmarini.
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