Nat Young and Ezekiel Lau advance to Round 5 of ASP 4-Star Vans Pier Classic – Surfing News
America’s Nat Young and Hawaii’s Ezekiel Lau made their way through into the fifth round (Round of 32) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Vans Pier Classic after claiming top honours in their respective Round 4 (Round of 64) heats that
went down at the Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, on Friday, March 30.
America’s Asher Nolan and Hawaii’s Gavin Gillette confirmed their place in the fifth round as well after securing runner-up position in the ninth and tenth heat of Round 4 respectively.
The competition field, which comprised of both international as well as local talent, continued to battle demanding surfing conditions on Friday. The medium-sized waves were quite promising, though the sea was not being too generous with them. This in turn
kept the surfers on their toes, ready to pounce on whatever scoring opportunity appeared.
Pitted against his fellow countryman Nolan, Andrew Doheny and Aaron Cormican in the ninth heat, Young came up with a strong performance to steal the show. The young Californian surfer made use of his local knowledge of the waves to post a 6.77 on the score-board
early in the heat and later added an additional 6.40 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 13.17 points.
Nolan made the Round 5 cut as well by clutching runner-up place with a heat-total of 11.50 points, which comprised of a 6.00 and 5.50-point wave.
Doheny finished third with a heat-total of 9.23 points, whereas Cormican rounded out the bottom position with a heat-total of 5.50 points. Both the surfers were consequently eliminated from the competition.
The tenth heat saw Lau put on a spectacular performance to down his fellow Hawaiian Gillette and Olamana Eleogram, along with Peru’s Miguel Tudela.
Lau got off to a solid start, unloading a string of exquisite tricks on his first business-wave to post an 8.00 on the score-board and went on to add another 5.60 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 13.60 points.
Gillette was unable to challenge his rival’s score, collecting a 5.83 and 5.27 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 11.10 points.
Eleogram and Tudela got eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 10.70 and 6.43 points respectively.
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