Michael Dunphy and Cory Arrambide prevail in Round 4 at Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco
America’s Michael Dunphy and his fellow countryperson Cory Arrambide tasted success during the morning session of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco on Saturday, July 21, as they claimed top honours in their
respective Round 4 (Round of 32) heats that went down at the main site of Playa Revolcadero in Acapulco, Mexico.
Both the surfers consequently qualified for the fifth round (Round of 16). Accompanying them into the next round were America’s Taylor Clark and Costa Rica’s Carlos Munoz, who finished in second place in their respective Round 4 heats.
The latest day of the competition saw a significant improvement in swell, with four-to-six foot waves on offer at the primary event site. The conditions seemed much more promising than the previous days and therefore expectations for a series of thrilling
performances were high.
The fifth heat saw Dunphy take on his fellow countryperson Clark, Chile’s Manuel Selman and Venezuela’s Rafael Pereira in a four-man battle for the Round 5 spot.
After getting off to a prominently slow start, Dunphy gradually built momentum and eventually managed to get hold of a couple of decent waves, which he utilised to pull off a series of turns, thus reaching a heat-total of 10.83 points. The score kept him
in the lead until the end to see him through into the next round.
Clark finished with a heat-total of 7.60 points, which proved sufficient to put him in second place. This consequently led to an extension of his life in the event.
Selman finished in third place with a heat-total of 7.54 points, while Pereira rounded out the bottom-position to finish with a two-wave total of 2.87 points, resulting in a premature exit from the competition for both the surfers.
The final heat of Round 4 saw Arrambide get the better of Munoz, Brazil’s Alan Saulo and Venezuela’s Jean s******r. He collected a couple of decent scores to reach a heat-total of 11.60 points, which kept him in front on the score-board until the end.
Munoz accompanied his American rival into the next round after securing runner-up place through a heat-total of 10.17 points.
Saulo and s******r finished with a heat-total of 7.56 and 2.74 points respectively, which was clearly not enough to get them through into the next round and consequently led to their ejection from the contention for the event title.
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