Jatyr Berasaluce and Gordon Fontaine claim victory in Round 2 heats at Cabreiroa Pantin Classic Pro
Basque Country’s Jatyr Berasaluce and Great Britain’s Gordon Fontaine qualified for Round 3 (Round of 64) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 3-Star Cabreiroa Pantin Classic Pro after claiming top honours in their respective Round 2 (Round
of 96) heats that went down at the main event site of Playa de Pantin in Galicia, Spain, on Wednesday, September 12.
Japan’s Nobuyuki Osawa was succeeded in extending his life in the event as well after finishing behind Berasaluce in second place during the seventh heat. France’s Romain Laulhe and Norway’s Yoackim Guichard were forced to make a premature exit from the
competition after rounding out the third and fourth position respectively.
The eighth heat sent Fontaine into the next round after he clinched the win, while France’s Adrien Valero accompanied him after finishing in second place. Portugal’s Filipe Jervis finished third, while Venezuela’s Denny Mendoza had to settle for fourth place.
Both the surfers were eliminated from the competition as a result.
Things continued to remain interesting as the surfing young-guns took each other on in four-man battles, competing for the best of the two-to-three foot waves that were on offer.
The seventh heat saw Berasaluce get the better of Osawa, Laulhe and Guichard after putting on an impressive performance. Adjusting well to the conditions on hand, the Basque Country-based surfer scored a 6.57 and 6.50 off his best-two waves to finish with
a winning heat-total of 13.07 points.
Osawa made the Round 3 cut as well after scoring an impressive 7.17 off his very first wave and following it up with a 5.77-point ride to reach a heat-total of 12.94 points, which allowed him to secure a second-place finish.
Laulhe finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.30 points, while Guichard finished fourth after failing to do any better than a two-wave total of 5.50 points.
The next heat saw Fontaine claim the win through an extremely determined performance. The British surfer started off slow, but then caught his first business-wave halfway through the heat to post a 5.13 on the score-board. He continued to hunt for another
opportunity to let loose and got rewarded for his determined hunt with an 8.50-point ride that took him to a winning heat-total of 13.63 points.
“I had a hard time at the beginning there, but then I caught a first wave and scored 5 something and it got me into it.” Fontaine said. “Then I got that bomb, and I tried both to surf safely and not fall but at the same time I wanted to score good. It was
a really good left and I was right in the spot. I had to paddle hard to get it and I thought I might want to keep some energy for the wave, but I got it! “
Valero finished second after scoring a 6.50 and 4.53 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 11.03 points, which put him in second place to see him through into the next round.
Jervis finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.16 points, while Mendoza had to settle for a heat-total of 6.03 points.
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