Words: Max Smetts // Photos: @devindmedia
We got right into the action at the 2nd day of the Zap World Championships with the Professionals kicking off the day. The conditions were completely different with tropical storm Debbie making her exit. The waves were very fun in the 2-3’ range and super glassy to start out in the morning. The Professionals made the most of it with many rides scoring in the 7+ category. It was not a fun day to be a judge with there being many tightly contested heats! There was 4 rounds of Men’s Professional and 2 rounds of Women’s Professional run today.
In the first round Zap team riders Sonny Boy, Leo Freitas, Gerardo Valencia, Mason Broussard, Dylan Duncan, Zeke Williams, and Sam McCoy al advanced to the second round. Top heat score from the team came from Sonny Boy who was on fire catching long rides and busting out big airs.
Moving to the 2nd round Sonny Boy, Leo Freitas, Gerardo Valencia, Mason Broussard, and Sam McCoy all advanced through to the third round. Top heat score came from Leo Freitas who had a tightly contested heat with fellow team rider Gerardo Valencia and Zac Henderson. There was only a point separating all 3 riders.
In the 3rd round, Mason Broussard and Sam McCoy were the Zap Riders that advanced to the quarter finals. Sonny Boy, Leo Freitas, and Gerardo Valencia all had very tough heats where scores were in the excellent range among all the riders. When you make it this far in an event, it seems like any of these riders could pull away with the Win given their talent levels.
In the Quarter Finals (4th round), Sam McCoy took the win over Chad Wadsworth advancing to the Semi Finals. Mason Broussard lost a heat to Timothy Gamboa to end his quest on the weekend. He was a standout rider all day and has nothing to hang his head about. That leaves a Semi Final consisting of Dane Cameron vs. Timothy Gamboa and Lucas Fink vs. Sam McCoy.
On the Women’s Professional side, Zap Team Riders Alex Yokley and Sydney Pizza both killed it today which finds them in the Semi-Finals tomorrow. The heats stack up with Alex Yokley vs. Julia Santos Machim Sosa Dias and Sydney Pizza vs. Isabel Blanco Fuentes. Should be a very exciting finish!
Outside of the Professional divisions, Graham Shelton was killing it as usual making it to the Finals in the Men’s and Semi Pro divisions. Kate Warrington advanced to the Semi Finals in the Women’s division. Kaleb Perkins advanced to the finals in the Grandmasters division. Et Beaugrand advanced to the finals in both Sr Men and Semi Pro divisions. These guys and girls are so consistent at all the contests! It’s very impressive.
We are looking forward to finals day tomorrow! It’s setting up to be another great day of waves and weather wise. There should be a lot of tightly contested heats with World Champions being crowned.
Link to results - https://liveheats.com/events/216925/schedule