The second day of the Viana Pro got underway today in glassy 2 footers with the IBA Top 16 taking on the inform qualifiers.
In heat 1 Mike Stewart (Hawaii) snuck through with Rui Pereira (Portugal) dominating the sets waves.
“Wow, that was tough” said Stewart.
“When Joao Pinheiro got that last set I thought I was gone for sure. I am feeling pretty lucky”
In the second heat the European Top 16 seeds were Hugo Pinheiro and Manuel Centeno (Portugal) and they both paddled for the same peak with Pinheiro picking up interference. Andre De Silva continued his giant killing run with a win and moved through with Centeno to tomorrow’s man on man heats.
Heat 3 was a torrid battle with the two former world champions Jeff Hubbard (Hawaii) & Damian King (Australia) prevailing over a determined Gastao Entrudo (Portugal) and Joao Neiva (Portugal)
The 4th heat was equally entertaining when Eder Luciano (Brazil) flipped and tweaked his lanky frame into some of the best scores of the day finishing with a pair of 8’s in first place over Pierre Luis Costes (France)
The next heat saw current World Champion Uri Valadao (Brazil) set a new standard for the day when he hurled himself into some high-speed jaw dropping flips to progress along with Benat Elosua (Spain)
Heat 6 was dominated by the boys from Brazil with Lucas Nogueira and Luis Villar proving too strong for the Euro duo of Ricardo Rico (Portugal) and Francisco Aguilar (Spain)
In the second last heat Guilherme Tamega (Brazil) showed amazing versatility to blast into first place over Joao Barciela (Portugal)
The final heat featured Jacob Romero (Hawaii) and Mark McCrathy (Sth Africa) with Dave Hubbard (Hawaii) having to settle for Stephan Stamm (Brazil) forth.
Tomorrow the event goes man-on-man and we will finish the day with a World Teams Challenge that will feature Hawaii, Spain and the World Teams taking on the might of Portugal.
The third day of the Viana Pro had a late start as a localized sea mist made identifying the riders virtually impossible.
The event was up to the man-on-man stage so organizers decided to offer the competitors a 25-minute time frame to select the best waves.
Its mid Summer here in Europe and the beaches are packed by lunchtime so an army of hardcore spectators lined the beaches for the day creating a great atmosphere.
The first heat was a classic. Portugals favourite son Manuel Centeno got an early lead on Rui Pereira and looked on-song for the quarters until Rui pulled an 8.0 out of the bag and claimed victory. Exit Centeno.
The next heat was equally as entertaining as Mike Stewart got off to a great start on Portugals Andre De Silva. De Silva almost got back on track but Mike used his tactical skills to secure a win. Andre was one of the form riders going into the round and turned a lot of heads with his snappy style and will be sure to be a star of the future.
Heat 3 was saw Jeff Hubbard (Hawaii) eliminated by an in-form Pierre Louis Costes (France) with Pierre selecting the superior waves to rack up the bigger points.
Former World Champion Damian King (Australia) could only sit and watch as Eder Luciano (Brazil) blew minds again as the best performer of the round in heat 4. Eder is setting new standards for small wave riding and the crowd were blown away with his jaw-dropping moves in the tiny waves. Kingy had beaten Luciano in Peru so it was a pay-back for Eder and Kingy walked away happy with an equal 9th.
The boys from Brazil went head to head in heat 5 with Luis Villar defeating Uri Valadao. Uri is the current World Champion and was one of the warm favourites going into the event. Luis however had other plans and he worked the small waves to perfection and secured a berth in tomorrow’s quarters.
heat 6 Spaniard Benat Elosua continued his good role with a win over Lucas Nogueira (Brazil) Benat is gaining momentum heat by heat and is now proving himself against the worlds best.
The second last heat of the day was a hard-hitting battle of the heavy weights with Mark McCarthy (Sth Africa) and Guilherme Tamega (Brazil) swapping the lead several times before Tamega used his enhanced small wave riding technique to sneak in front with a few minutes remaining.
The final heat of the round saw Hawaiian Jacob Romero with a comfortable win over Joao Barcieia (Portugal). Romero normally surfs in trunks but made the transition to cold water look easy as he blasted into the quarters with his best result in a IBA World Tour event to date.
The event is now up to the man on man quarterfinals and the forecast is for a small increase in the swell overnight.
Tomorrow will also feature a Tow-out session and a International Tag-Team event along with all the finals so be sure to log into www.ibaworldtour.com/live or www.surfingviana.com for all the live action
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