With the ASP Grade-2 Oakley Pro Junior Lacanau running through to the Quarterfinals, it was a day of intense battle and pressure for those still in contention for both the event title and ASP European Junior crown. Suffering a significant loss and leaving an open-door to close followers, current leader Filipe Jervis (Ericeira, PRT), No. 2 Tom Cloarec (Hossegor, FRA), No. 3 Ramzi Boukiam (Agadir, MAR) and No. 4 Medi Veminardi (REU) were eliminated from the event today.

Benefiting the unexpected results in Round 4 of competition, now favourite Charles Martin (GLP) did not miss the opportunity to keep his excellent summer campaign going the right way, the Guadeloupe native confidently letting go his best surfing to advance through three rounds today and secure his spot into the Quarterfinals.

Guillaume Mangiarotti (Hossegor, FRA), 20, has won the ASP Europe Specialty Rip Curl Air Show pres. by Renault in Hossegor last night, the local star grabbing USD 4000 for his flying performance after defeating runner-up Naum Ildefonse (Biarritz, FRA) in the final.

Mangiarotti, a longtime ASP Pro Junior competitor and progressive surfer, took the best out of the two-foot shore-break waves breaking at Hossegor’s Central beach in front of thousands of people cheering the unique jet-ski tow-out show at night, topping big names Tim Boal (Anglet, FRA), Frederic Robin (Capbreton, REU), Indonesian star Dede Suryana (Bali, IDN), Abdel El Harim (Rabat, MAR), Pablo Gutierrez (Santander, ESP) big wave charger Benjamin Sanchis (Hossegor, FRA).

“It’s great to surf in front of thousands of people at my home break and I am super happy I won,” Mangiarotti said. “We don’t get much opportunity to do tow-out surfing and eventhough the conditions were small it was just a great event. I had so much fun and to finish first makes it really special.”

The opening day of the ASP Grade-2 Oakley Pro Junior Lacanau went straight into serious business, the final event of this year’s ASP European Junior tour completing Rounds 1 and 2 as well as half of Round 3. With consistent two to three-foot sets delivering good scoring waves, athletes lost no time to step-up and battle hard to advance through their respective heats.

Dominating both his opponents and the tricky changing conditions affected by the tides, Day 1 front-runners included South African standouts Michael February and Chad du Toit followed by inform regional ratings’ men Nico Von Rupp (Praia Grande, DEU) and Tom Cloarec (Hossegor, FRA), all unleashing their best surfing to secure a Round 4 berth.

“It’s good to get things going right on the first day and the waves were pretty fun,” current ratings’ No. 2 Tom Cloarec said. “I am taking things heat after heat and looking at another good result if possible. I hope the waves remain good enough but it’s a tough event with lots of good surfers.”