Ricardo Christie and Luel Felipe claim victory in Round 2 at San Miguel Pro Zarautz
New Zealand’s Ricardo Christie and Brazil’s Luel Felipe made the Round 3 (Round of 48) cut at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star San Miguel Pro Zarautz after walking away with top honours from their respective Round 2 (Round of 96) heats
that went down at the primary event site of Zarautz in Basque Country, Spain, on Thursday, August 30.
Chile’s Manuel Selman accompanied his Kiwi rival Christie into the next round after securing second-place finish in the 19th heat. France’s Romain Cloitre and Brazil’s Peterson Crisanto finished in third and fourth place respectively, consequently
getting eliminated from the competition.
The 20th heat saw Brazil’s Willian Cardoso advance into the next round of the competition as well after finishing behind his compatriot Felipe in runner-up place. Argentina’s Lucas Santamaria finished in third place, while France’s Adrien Toyon
had to settle for fourth position. Both the surfers were removed from the contention for the event title as a result.
The conditions prevailing at the main event site on the latest day of the competition were not very forgiving, but ht exciting surfing talent made them look otherwise. Expertly navigating their way through the three-to-four foot waves to get their hands
on the potent scoring opportunities, the surfers treated the crowd in attendance to a series of enthralling performances.
The 19th heat saw Christie claim a comprehensive victory over Selman, Cloitre and Crisanto, thus advancing to the net round. After going through a series of average scores while building momentum, the Kiwi surfer eventually stepped up to post
a 7.33 on the score-board. Adding an additional 7.33 to his account, Christie finished with a heat-total of 14.66 points.
Selman collected a couple of scores in the five-point range to finish with a resultant heat-total of 11.36 points. The score proved just enough to earn him second position and thus carry him through into the next round.
Cloitre finished in third place with a heat-total of 11.10 points, while Crisanto had to settle for last position after concluding the heat with a two-wave total of 8.57 points.
The next heat featured an intense battle between Felipe and Cardoso, with both the surfers fighting tooth-and-nail right until the end.
Felipe scored a 6.83 early in the heat, though Cardoso soon closed the gap by responding with a heat-total of 6.27 points.
As the heat progressed, Felipe added an additional 7.57 points to his account, thus moving to a heat-total of 14.40 points.
Cardoso made a desperate effort on his final wave of the heat and though he managed to score an impressive 7.20 off it, it just was not enough to take him past his rival’s score, leaving him in a 0.93-point deficit.
The heat also had Santamaria and Toyon in contention for the Round 3 spot, but the two surfers failed to make a significant impact during the course of the four-man battle, finishing with a heat-total of 9.17 and 5.00 points respectively.
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