Travis Southworth, Ricky Whitlock and Chris Tucker survive day 2 at Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco
Mexico’s Travis Southworth, America’s Ricky Whitlock and his fellow countryperson Chris Tucker secured their place in the third round (Round of 64) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco after claiming top
honours in their respective Round 2 (Round of 96) heats that went down at Playa Revolcadero in Acapulco, Mexico, on Wednesday, July 18.
Mexico’s Cesar Petroni, Peru’s Sebastian Correa and Argentina’s Marcelo Rodriguez made the Round 3 cut as well after managing to get their hands on the runner-up positions in their respective Round of 96 heats.
With clean two-to-four foot waves on offer at the primary event site, the day promised to deliver plenty of thrilling action as the local and international surfers took each other on in a series of battles for survival.
The 14th heat saw Southworth walk away with the win in what turned out to be a low-scoring heat. He struggled to get his hands on a couple of decent waves and eventually had to settle for a heat-total of 8.20 points, though that proved to be more
than sufficient to earn him victory.
Petroni secured runner-up place after registering a heat-total of 6.80 points, thus advancing into the next round as well.
Mexico’s Julio Quinones Camacho and Venezuela’s Victor Coppolone were forced to leave the race for the event title after rounding out the bottom-two finish owing to their respective heat-totals of 6.40 and 5.90 points.
Whitlock emerged triumphant in what turned out yet another low-scoring contest. The conditions continued to trouble the surfers, making them work really hard to get their hands on even low scores. A heat-total of 6.90 points was all it took for Whitlock
to claim victory and advance to the next round.
Correa got hold of the runner-up place after finishing with a heat-total of 5.57 points, thus joining the winner of the heat in the next round.
America’s Alex Kamkoff and Mexico’s Abel Estopin got eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 5.16 and 4.50 points respectively.
The final heat of Round 2 saw Tucker walk away with the win after registering a heat-total of 9.90 points, whereas Rodriguez accompanied him into the next round after finishing with a heat-total of 8.03 points.
Hawaii’s Makana Eleogram finished with a heat-total of 7.56 points, while Mexico’s Tazaui Poo rounded out the bottom position with a two-wave total of 5.07 points. The bottom-two finish led to their elimination from the competition.
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