Huge Upsets And Big Scores At The Estoril Coast Pro

It was a windy day in Guincho, Portugal as the ASP 6- Star Estoril Coast Pro went underway with three-foot difficult waves.  Twenty hard battled heats were completed especially in Round 4 with a 3-man heat round.  Unfortunately for Michael Bourez and Glen hall, their elimination opened the door for Marlon Lipke to swipe the regional crown from current leader Tim Boal if he wins the event. 

A series of big upsets took place that meant there were even bigger scores.  Eighteen year old phenom Tonino Benson of Hawaii was a major stand out scoring one of the day’s highest score with an 18.00 out of 20, which included an almost perfect 9.83 ride in heat 6 of round 3.  Benson had the momumental task of having to take on ASP World Champion Sunny Garcia and Damien Fahrenfort in order to advance. 

“It was very windy and hard to surf but I just found the waves with more wall and surfed them well,” Benson said. “I had some excellent surfers in my heat so I tried to do whatever I could. I really think that the combination of progressive and more classic surfing is the key and I am trying to do both.”

Benson, who had up-and-down results in Europe this year, is finishing his first year ever among the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) and has a chance to finish in the Top 100, looking forward to end up the year as good as he started it, with a second place at the ASP World Junior Championships. He will attend the two last events of the year in Hawaii.

“I am really happy with the year since I got second in the ASP World Junior Championships (WJC),” Benson said. “I had a couple of bad results in France but did well in Portugal last August and it seems like Portugal is being good to me again this time. I used to be a bit nervous at the beginning of the year coming to WQS events but I am feeling good now and I have nothing to lose.”