After three consecutive lay-days, the ASP 4-Star Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido roared back to life with firing six-to-eight foot barrels at Playa Zicatela to decide all but two of the event’s Quarterfinalists.
With time in the waiting period dwindling rapidly, event organizers opted to run as many heats as possible today and all but the last heat of the Round of 32 were completed before onshore conditions forced the event off. Today’s proceedings should offer up the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the maxing swell expected to ignite the Mexican Pipeline for the final day of competition.
Brett Barley (Outer Banks, NC), 21, built momentum throughout his Round of 64 heat and locked in to a long righthand barrel before driving through a lefthand cave. The two combined rides earned the East Coaster the day’s highest heat total of 16.80 (out of 20) and a Round of 32 berth.
“The other guys caught waves right away and got scores, so I was thinking it was going to be tough because some heats have had waves and others have been inconsistent,” Barley said “I got that one right and got a 7, but knew I needed a backup. I wasn’t even looking for lefts out there, but it must have shifted and I got that good one at the end.”
Barley will compete in Heat 8 of the Round of 32 tomorrow morning.
Manuel Selman (CHL), 22, was responsible for the upset of the day when he eliminated top seed Thiago Camarao (BRA), 23. The charging Chilean took a come-from-behind victory when he wove through a big lefthand barrel at the end of the heat, earning an 8.33 (out of 10) for the ride while securing his position in the Quarterfinals.
“That was a hard heat because it’s the end of the morning and the conditions have changed,” Selman said. “It’s hard to find the good ones now, but I just stayed out front and waited for the lefts, because I’m not as good with backside barrels. Luckily I found one at the end.”
Selman, who earned a Quarterfinals finish at the Copa Quiksilver El Salvador with high-performance backhand surfing, has matched his result at the Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido and is happy to build momentum in the recent string of Latin American ASP events.
“I’m super stoked to make the Quarterfinals here in Puerto,” Selman said. “I made the Quarterfinals in El Salvador as well and have had a few good results, so I’m happy.”
Olamana Eleogram (Maui, HI), 25, earned two heat victories today, putting on equally impressive performances in both the flawless morning conditions and tricky afternoon onshores to advance into the Quarterfinals.
“It was really, really hard to find a good one out there this afternoon,” Eleogram said. “Conditions changed so much from this morning. In the first heat, everyone was just stoked to be out there and surfing perfect barrels”
