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Caption: Heremoana Luciani (PYF) powers through round 5 of competition.
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Location: |
Grande Plage, Lacanau – France |
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Holding period: |
12 – 17 August 2014 |
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Call: |
Next Call – 9.30 a.m. Saturday / Round 6 |
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Conditions: |
3-4Ft windy |
GRANDE PLAGE, Lacanau / France (Friday, August 15, 2014) – The fourth day of competition in Lacanau didn’t disappoint with excellent surfing from Europe’s best in 3-4Ft waves. The ASP 5-Star Soöruz Lacanau Pro ran through eight heats deciding the last 16 surfers who still have a shot at the prestigious Lacanau trophy.
Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 22, current No.23 on the QS rankings and fresh off an excellent 5th place at the Vans US Open of Surfing, came out on top of the first heat of the day. Opposed to good friends and traveling companions Marc Lacomare (FRA), Frederico Morais (PRT) and Gony Zubizarreta (ESP), Huscenot worked his magic to find the winning score in the last seconds of their exchange.
“Super happy to take this one, it was a tough heat,” Huscenot admitted. “On tour we’re all supporting each other so it’s not easy to eliminate your friends from competition. Even though low tide seems to offer more potential with that long right, we’ve been surfing in the early heats everyday on the high tide and we’ve had fun waves closer to shore. ”
Evidently the most popular surfer this week in Lacanau, Huscenot has been engaging with fans on and off the beach, leading a promotional campaign with his sponsor.
“I’m stoked to give back to the people who support us all year,” he continued. “Sosh and I wanted to do something special here, it’s our only contest in France. They’re really active on the social networks and I love to work with them and find new ideas to promote ourselves and our sport. I’m giving away some of my stuff here and it’s great to see some people’s happy faces when they win.”
Steven Pierson (PYF) 30, qualified for the Round of 16 alongside fellow Tahitian Heremoana Luciani (PYF). The two polynesian surfers continued to outsurf their competition with powerful gauges and a great read on the changing conditions.
“I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the conditions, I closely watched the last ten minutes of the previous heat and noticed those lefts that started breaking..” Pierson analyzed. “I got the two bigger sets that broke wide and managed to surf good on my backhand.”
A past winner of the 3-Star event in Galicia, Pierson admits to dreaming of taking out a bigger QS event. Humble and aware of the level of performance in Lacanau, he knows the road ahead is tough but will try to advance heat by heat into the final stages of the competition.
“Obviously winning is on everyone’s mind,” Pierson said. “There are a few international surfers here but not all of them so we hope to take advantage of local knowledge and I’m stoked to see all the Europeans do so well and especially Heremoana who’s ripping too.”
Jack Freestone (AUS) 22, is one of only four international surfers remaining in contention in Lacanau. The two-time World Junior Champion now in the hunt for a coveted spot on the Samsung Galaxy ASP World Championship Tour, took command of Heat 7 and advanced ahead of California’s Tanner Gudauskas (USA).
“I thought I was in third or fourth, and walking up the beach hearing everyone’s scores I thought – oh my god am I actually getting knocked out ?-” Freestone commented. “It’s scary, we have really high and low tides and it feels like it’s changing everyone 20 minutes.”
Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 16, the youngest of four juniors still advancing in Lacanau, created the biggest upset of the day, eliminating QS No.19 Alex Ribeiro (BRA) in a tight 25-minute battle.
“That was a big heat for me, Vasco and Alex surf really well,” Fioravanti stated. “I decided to let them do their thing and stay on the side. I was lucky enough to find a couple good waves at the end there. I’m super happy to get through this one.”
Fioravanti has built himself a strong entourage and coaching crew with pro surfer Jake Patterson, former Pipe Master winner, and the work the two have undertaken seems to have lifted Fioravanti’s game.
“Jake was one of the best surfers in the world for a long time, and probably the most intelligent one,” he added. “We’ve known each other for a while but only started working together recently and I’m stoked to have him on my side. His insights on everything from placement in the lineup, technical feedback and wave selection are priceless.”
Surfers will reconvene Friday at 9:30am local time for a potential start of the sixth round of competition.
The 2014 Soöruz Lacanau Pro is scheduled from August 12-17, 2014 at Grande Plage, Lacanau – France. For all results, photos and press releases, log on to aspworldtour.com.
The Sooruz Lacanau Pro and Lacanau Pro Junior are made possible with the support of the following event partners: Soöruz and NRJ amongst others.
UPCOMING SOÖRUZ LACANAU PRO RD OF 16 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Maxime Huscenot (FRA), Vasco Ribeiro (PRT), Lucas Silveira (BRA), Marlon Lipke (PRT)
Heat 2: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA), Marc Lacomare (FRA), Heremoana Luciani (PYF), Imanol Yeregi (EUK)
Heat 3: Steven Pierson (PYF), Tanner Gudauskas (USA), Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI), Matheus Navarro (BRA)
Heat 4: Jack Freestone (AUS), Charly Martin (GLP), Vincent Duvignac (FRA), Timothee Bisso (GLP)
SOÖRUZ LACANAU PRO RD OF 32 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 16.00, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 14.03, Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 10.57, Frederico Morais (PRT) 8.63
Heat 2: Lucas Silveira (BRA) 12.34, Imanol Yeregi (EUK) 11.80, Nic Von Rupp (PRT) 11.63, Gaspard Larsonneur (FRA) 9.47
Heat 3: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 12.87, Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) 12.57, Alex Ribeiro (BRA) 10.74, Michael February (ZAF) 9.73
Heat 4: Heremoana Luciani (PYF) 13.50, Marlon Lipke (PRT) 13.33, Rafael Teixeira (BRA) 11.50, Miguel Blanco (PRT) 10.30
Heat 5: Steven Pierson (PYF) 15.50, Charly Martin (GLP) 14.17, Balaram Stack (USA) 5.27, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 1.07
Heat 6: Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI) 12.10, Timothee Bisso (GLP) 11.63, Tommy Boucaut (FRA) 8.77, Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 6.97
Heat 7: Jack Freestone (AUS) 15.37, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 13.14, David Van Zyl (ZAF) 12.70, Ian Gouveia (BRA) 11.54
Heat 8: Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 13.56, Matheus Navarro (BRA) 12.03, Jatyr Berasaluce (EUK) 11.43, Marco Giorgi (URY) 7.07
