Royden Bryson and Marc Lacomare qualify for the Hainan Classic Quarter-finals
South Africa’s Royden Bryson claimed victory in the third heat, whereas France’s Marc Lacomare prevailed in the fourth heat of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Hainan Classic’s Round 3 (Round of 16) that went down at Riyue Bay in Wanning,
China, on Friday, January 13, to move into the Quarter-finals.
The third heat further saw Joan Duru make the Quarter-final cut after securing runner-up place. Peru’s Cristobal De Col and America’s Chris Ward, however, got eliminated from the competition after rounding out the third and fourth positions respectively.
Japan’s Kenta Hayashi made it into the Quarter-finals as well after finishing behind Lacomare in the fourth heat. Australia’s Chris Friend and his compatriot Heath Joske finished in third and fourth place respectively, consequently getting ejected from the
contention for the event title.
With four-to-six foot waves gracing the primary event site, the third day of Hainan Classic moved on to the third heat of Round 3, pitting Bryson against a handful of in-form competitors.
After collecting a series of average wave scores, the South Africa-based Bryson began his charge in the final minutes of the heat. He locked his first business-wave to unload a combination of exquisite tricks, earning 8.27 points for the effort. A few minutes
later, he followed it up with another impressive wave, this time adding a 7.70 to his account, to move to a decisive heat-total of 15.97 points.
Duru, who had been quite phenomenal during his Round 2 heat a day earlier, scored a 6.63 and an 8.50 off his top-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 15.13 points. The commendable performance put him in runner-up place, thus moving him into the Quarter-final.
Coming into the third round with a confident victory in Round 2, De Col was expected to make a significant impact in Round 3. However, he failed to advance through into the next stage of the competition after finishing in third place with a heat-total of
12.00 points, which included an impressive 8.50-point wave followed by a rather disappointing 3.50-point wave.
Ward also got removed from the contention for the event title after finishing in fourth place with a two-wave total of 10.16 points.
Lacomare stole the show during the fourth heat through his sensational surfing. The Frenchman went through a series of average-to-decent scores before locking a wave to post an 8.00 on the score-board. In the dying minutes of the four-man battle, he added
another 8.67 points to his account to move to a heat-total of 16.67 points, which eventually served to seal the fate of the contest in his favour.
Hayashi advanced through into the Quarter-finals after securing runner-up place with a heat-total of 12.20 points, which comprised of a 6.07 and 6.13-point wave.
Friend finished in third place with a heat-total of 11.17 points, while Joske followed an impressive Round 2 performance with some disappointing stuff in his latest heat, finishing at the bottom position after scoring a mere 8.50 off his best-two waves.
The inaugural ASP 4-Star Hainan Classic is the second event of the Hainan Wanning Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival Presented by Quiksilver.
Tags: