Well Played

{youtube}7M0ZtIkQ0-4{/youtube}

Player was faced in the final against fellow Australian and defending champion Dave Winchester who opened up the heat with a clean barrel followed by a massive back flip into the flats and finishing up with an ARS on the dry section of the reef. However, Player quickly responded with a deep clean barrel to a big invert that was awarded 8.7 points. After this, it was all in Players favor when he got a clean open barrel that was awarded 6.83 points. Unfortunately for Winchester, things did not go that well and could not find the 7.79 needed to beat Ben Player’s total combined score of 15.53 points out of a possible 20 points.

Final Heat Results
Ben Player (AUS) 8.87 + 6.83 = 15.53 pts.
Dave Winchester (AUS) 7.75 + 4.08 = 11.83 pts.

Once on the shore, Player was greeted by hundreds of fans “This is the best stage for a contest, people here are great, you don´t see this anywhere else” stated the winner. “I´m so happy with this win, it puts me in a really good spot for the World title race” He added.

It was not an easy road for the 2005 and 2007 World Champion, who almost saw his dreams shattered by Ryan Hardy (AUS) in quarter final number 3. Player, who was in 2nd place for most of the heat, managed to escape on an inside wave and get a long barrel right before the buzzer went off. He was awarded the 7.53 points needed to make it through the heat. Then, in semifinals, he found a very determined Dallas Singer on what ended up being the best heat of the contest, with total combined heat scores of 18.85 and 17.88 points respectively

Dave Winchester on his part, had to take on a high flying Jacob Romero (HAW) in quarter finals to face against his longtime rival Guilherme Tamega in the semis, on what seemed to be a rematch of last year’s final. After the event ended, Winchester mentioned “I am stoked with the results, I´ve been coming here for the past 8 years. I have won twice, had two 2nds, three 3rds and a 9th, yes, I really like this break”

Third place was occupied by Dallas Singer who showed excellent skills riding the “El Gringo” barrels and Guilherme Tamega who made very clear that he is still at the top of his game.

Highest single scoring ride of the event
9.7 : Ben Player [AUS] SEMI-FINAL Heat 34
9.5 : Dallas Singer [AUS] SEMI-FINAL Heat 34
9.4 : Eder Luciano [BRZ] QUARTER-FINAL Heat 32
9.38 : Mike Stewart [HAW] Round 01 Heat 06
9.38 : Diego Cabrera [CNY] Round 02 Heat 10
9.38 : Dave Winchester [AUS] Round 04 Heat 21
9.2 : Jacob Romero [HAW] Round 04 Heat 22
9.15 : Ben Player [AUS] SEMI-FINAL Heat 34
9.13 : Yoan Florentine [REU] Round 03 Heat 17
9.13 : Dallas Singer [AUS] QUARTER-FINAL Heat 32

Highest total heat score of the event
18.85 : Ben Player [AUS] SEMI-FINAL Heat 34
17.88 : Dallas Singer [AUS] SEMI-FINAL Heat 34
17.5 : Dave Winchester [AUS] SEMI-FINAL Heat 33
17.13 : Dallas Singer [AUS] QUARTER-FINAL Heat 32
17.08 : Dave Winchester [AUS] Round 04 Heat 21
16.36 : Guilherme Tamega [BRZ] Round 04 Heat 24
16.21 : Yoan Florantin [REU] Round 03 Heat 17
15.96 : Mike Stewart [HAW] Round 01 Heat 06
15.9 : Eder Luciano [BRZ] QUARTER-FINAL Heat 32
15.86 : Yoan Florantin [REU] Round 01 Heat 08

GSS Arica Price Grab
1st : 2000 points. US $6.000
2nd: 1720 points. US $4.000
3rd: 1460 points. US $2.500
5th: 1220 points. US $1.500
9th: 1000 points. US $1.000

GSS Ranking After Arica
1 Ben Player Australia 4900
2 Jeff Hubbard Hawaii 3940
3 Amaury Lavernhe Reunion 3900
4 Dave Winchester Australia 3840
5 Pierre Louis Costes France 3680
6 Jake Stone Australia 3060
7 Dave Hubbard Hawaii 3020
8 Dallas Singer Australia 2980
9 Ryan Hardy Australia 2920
9 Eder Luciano Brazil 2920
11 Alex Uranga Basque 2860
12 Mike Stewart Hawaii 2810
13 Magno Passos Brazil 2800
14 Yoan Florantin Reunion 2720
15 Guilherme Tamega Brazil 2680
16 Jacob Romero Hawaii 2660
17 Jones Russell Australia 2520
17 Alan Munoz Chile 2520
19 Jared Houston Sth Africa 2500
20 Lachlan Cramsie Australia 2440
21 Sacha Specker Sth Africa 2400
22 Brahim Iddouch Morocco 2160
23 Andrew Lester Australia 2010
24 Uri Valadao Brazil 1940