Marc Lacomare and Alain Riou surge into Round 2 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
Billabong Azores Islands Pro, the ninth of eleven Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Events scheduled for the year continued to deliver a heavy dose of thrilling action with the fifth heat of Round of 96 (Round 1) that went down at Praia de
Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal, on Wednesday, September 28.
The fifth heat turned out to be a one-sided affair, with France’s Marc Lacomare completely stealing the show with his outstanding performance to walk away with top honours and securing his place in the Round of 48 (Round 2). Tahiti’s Alain Riou successfully
made his place in Round 2 as well after taking runner-up place. Portugal’s Tiago Pires and Chile’s Manuel Selman made an early exit from the competition after finishing in third and fourth places, respectively.
Just a heat ago, surfing conditions had looked extremely promising at the primary event site. However, by the time the fifth heat got underway, the quality of the waves seemed to have declined and the off-shore winds were back once again, much to the dismay
of the surfers.
The fifth heat of Round 1 pitted Lacomare against Rio, Pires and Selman in a battle for the Round 2 spot. While the rest of the pack struggled to find good scores, the 21-year-old Lacomare managed to adjust to the conditions just in time to seal the fate
of the contest in his favour.
As the heat kicked-off, the Frenchman did not have much luck with the waves. However, he refused to let the conditions get the better of him and continued to search for a good score. His prayers got answered in the final minutes of the heat. A relatively
juicy wave appeared which he utilised to score 7.50 points. In the dying minutes of the four-man battle, Lacomare locked yet another promising wave and this time unloaded a string of exquisite tricks, earning 9.43 points for the wave and moving to a heat-total
of 16.93 points. The last-minute effort carried him-off to victory and consequently confirmed his place in the next round.
Riou had managed to set himself up for a win almost halfway through the heat, when he locked a wave to score 7.83 points off it. He immediately followed it up with a 5.20-point wave, climbing to a heat-total of 13.03 points. He was well on his way to victory,
until the last-minute charge by his French rival. He did, however, successfully extend his life in the event by clinching runner-up place.
Pires, the ‘Portuguese Tiger’, failed to make use of the local knowledge of the waves and was unable to find a good score throughout the entirety of the 30-minute heat. He finished with a heat-total of 12.33 points in the end to round out third position,
which brought the latest ASP Prime event to a pre-mature end for him.
Selman came up with an extremely disappointing performance during the fifth heat and only managed to get to a heat-total of 8.23 points. This resulted in his fourth-place finish, consequently elimination from the competition.
For more updates on Round 1 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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