Evan Geiselman (USA)

GRANDE PLAGE, Lacanau Ocean – France (Wednesday, August 17, 2011) – Three rounds of competition were completed at the ASP 6-Star Sooruz Lacanau Pro during another marathon day of competition with new breed standout surfers Garret Parkes (Byron Bay, AUS) 20, Evan Geiselman (USA) 17, and Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 19, pushing the limits in the small 2ft (0.5m) waves at Grande Plage. Double bank format was used again to gain time against a small swell forecast that shows a slight improvement for tomorrow and the running of Round Five.

Parkes took top honours with the highest combined two-wave total of the day, 16.64 out of 20 with blitzing aerial punts and carving snaps in the tricky wind affected conditions late this afternoon. Following a brilliant performance last week in Newquay finishing equal 5th, the young Australian looks set to raise the level even higher in the remainder of the Sooruz Lacanau Pro.

“I am feeling good and my boards feel good as well and these rights suit my surfing a lot. I pulled a couple of front-side airs which helped me out there. Newquay was also similar to this so both these waves are very similar and hopefully I will get another good result here.”

Evan Geiselman (Florida, USA) 17, was another standout today with consistent displays in all his matchups. Advancing comfortably with solid scoring rides on both the left and right peaks, Geiselman used his potent back-side attack to string together turns through the flatter sections of the waves.

“I am really glad to keep going in this event after doing okay in the previous contest. I’m from Florida originally so it is like this all the time so I am loving it. I am through to the Round of 16 and it is always good when you can come overseas and get a good result so I am pretty excited about the rest of the event.”

Geiselman, one of North America’s most promising junior surfers, is on his debut tour of European summer events and is out to capitalize on the experience to help him in his upcoming final junior contest as well as looking ahead to the 2012 season.

“I am here to gain experience and then next year I want to try and have a full run at the Star events so I am trying to get a better seed for next year. Actually I’m still doing the juniors so after this I am going to Virginia to do that one.”

Maxime Huscenot, former ASP World Junior champion (2009), capped off the trio of up-and-comers dominating Day Two of the Sooruz Lacanau Pro to find himself amongst the remaining 16 surfers left in contention for this year’s title. Despite matchups against many more experienced competitors, Huscenot showed his class by grafting out solid scores to advance.

“I have been surfing well for a while now and I just couldn’t make my heats because there was always something missing. Little things and it didn’t go my way for a while. So I am happy to be still in the run here in Lacanau, in France so it is really cool.”

Huscenot will be up against wunderkind Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17, in their first man-to-man matchup in heat nº1 of Round Five when action resumes tomorrow. Both surfers will be out to claim victory in what for Huscenot will be a crucial heat in his bid to build on his seed points for the second half of the season and the upcoming ASP World Pro Junior series.

“I have surfed twice against him (Medina) this year in 4-man heats and we both lost. It is going to be our third matchup and also man-on-man. The conditions are kind of looking better for him but hopefully I can find the right wave and put pressure on him.”

Event officials will make a first call at 08.00am tomorrow for a possible start shortly after for Round Five of competition. The ASP 6-Star Sooruz Lacanau Pro is getting down to the business end of the competition and further decisions regarding running order and scheduling will be made determined by wave conditions at Grande Plage.

The ASP 6-Star Sooruz Lacanau Pro is scheduled from August 16 -21, 2011and will be LIVE web cast. For more information, and all upcoming results, photos, video highlights, press releases and LIVE webcast log-on to;
www.aspeurope.com

Upcoming ASP 6-Star Sooruz Lacanau Pro Round Five Matchups
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) Vs Maxime Huscenot (FRA)
Heat 2: Kiron Jabour (HAW) Vs Heath Joske (AUS)
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) Vs Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 4: Sebastien Zietz (HAW) Vs David do Carmo (BRA)
Heat 5: Mitch Coleborn (AUS) Vs Vincent Duvignac (FRA)
Heat 6: Ryan Callinan (AUS) Vs Evan Geiselman (USA)
Heat 7: Garret Parkes (AUS) Vs Nate Yeomans (USA)
Heat 8: Mitch Crews (AUS) Vs Miguel Pupo (BRA)

ASP 6-Star Sooruz Lacanau Pro Round Four Results
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.40, Kiron Jabour (HAW) 12.20, Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.77
Heat 2: Heath Joske (AUS) 15.66, Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 11.74, Glen Hall (IRL) 10.57
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.00, Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 11.26, Flavio Nakagima (BRA) 9.26
Heat 4: David do Carmo (BRA) 12.06, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 10.70, Roy Powers (HAW) 10.50
Heat 5: Mitch Coleborn (AUS) 12.13, Ryan Callinan (AUS) 11.90, Adam Robertson (AUS) 10.73
Heat 6: Evan Geiselman (USA) 12.34, Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 11.37, Alan Donato (BRA) 10.06
Heat 7: Garret Parkes (AUS) 16.64, Mitch Crews (AUS) 14.83, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.83
Heat 8: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 14.50, Nate Yeomans (USA) 12.96, Dimitri Ouvre (GLP) 10.73