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McGillivray, Bulard and Beukes Take Vans Surf Pro Classic & Jeronimo Wins El Gringo

McGillivray, Bulard and Beukes Take Vans Surf Pro Classic & Jeronimo Wins El Gringo

Date: 2018-06-08

Matt McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay), Cannelle Bulard (Reunion Island) and Eli Beukes (Kommetjie) took the Men's, Women's and Junior Men's titles respectively at the 2018 Vans Surf Pro Classic in Lamberts Bay on the past weekend.

The final day produced incredible high-scoring encounters as YoYos delivered pumping 1.5 to 2 metre waves in clean offshore conditions and even though the wind freshened into a Southerly crosswind later in the day, the final heat of the day saw the event's highest score.

The men's event was upgraded to a World Surf League Qualifying Series, 1,500 rating for 2018 and the field was whittled down to the last eight all of whom had hopes of taking home the R40,000 prize purse and the precious 1,500 points on the international leaderboard.

The final saw Jeffreys Bay buddies and training partners Dylan Lightfoot and Matt McGillivray go head to head with Lightfoot starting the stronger, leaving McGillivray needing to better 14 points before he'd even caught a good wave.

But once McGillivray did get his first lined up righthander, he went ballistic with a couple of strong turns on the outside and then going for broke with a high risk aerial on the inside. The country's highest QS rated surfer then went from strength to strength, overtaking Lightfoot with a 7.5 and then slamming the door with another gigantic aerial that the judges rewarded with a 9.65.

Meanwhile in Arica, Chile the El Gringo produced stellar conditions and amazing barrel rides throughout the week culminated in an explosive Final that saw Jeronimo Vargas (BRA) win his first-ever WSL event by a score of 17.50 to 17.17 over Jacob Willcox (AUS) at the QS 3,000 Maui and Sons Arica Pro Tour in Chile. The Finalists went blow for blow and exchanged high scores as sets bombarded the line-up at El Gringo, which included an amazing 10-point ride by Vargas.