Balaram Stack Gets Wildcard for Quiksilver Pro New York

Balaram Stack making his way through a New York barrel. Photo: Mike Nelson

In a press release I recieved this morning, Quiksilver has made it official that the first of two wildcard spots for the Quiksilver Pro New York will be New York’s own Balaram Stack. While this is what most of us expected, I’m pumped to see it be official and that Bal will have a chance to compete with the world’s best surfers in his backyard. The second wildcard spot will be determined between 16 surfers during the Quiksilver Pro New York ASP World Tour Trials. We’ve got the lineup for that below.

The trials event will take place at National Blvd in Long Beach from September 1st – 3rd. I may be just as excited to watch the guys below battle it out for a wildcard spot as I am to watch the main event.

Craig Anderson (Australia)
Masatoshi Ohno (Japan)
Garrett Parks (Australia)
Clay Marzo (Hawaii)
Fisher Heaverly (USA)
Tyler Newton (Hawaii)
Marc Lacomare (Europe)
Alain Riou (Europe)
Aritz Aranburu (Europe)
Leif Engstrom (USA, winner of the Empire State Championships, Trials of the Trials, presented by Quiksilver)
Ryan Carlson (USA)
Sam Hammer (USA)
Asher Nolan (USA)
Jeremy Johnston (USA)
Keanu Asing (Hawaii, winner of the UnSound Pro Junior)
Ian Gentile (Hawaii, vitaminwater selection)

Missing from this list is Floridian, Aaron “Gorkin” Cormican. This guy seriously rips and stays true to the East Coast so I’m bummed to see that he’s not getting a shot. Even outside of Gorikin, there are a lot of other East Coast surfers that should have gotten a spot in these trials.

Comments