The Latin American surfing circuit will hold its fifth stage of the year on the waves of Peñascal between October 11 and 14 with a key five-star men's and four-star women's tournament. It will be a return to combined tournaments with the WSL South America QS that will award 1500 points for men and 1000 for women, ALAS reported in a press release published on its website.

In addition, the note talks about two more possible tournaments, one in El Salvador and another in Mexico, which would close one of the most important ALAS circuits in history with eight stages (for the first time surfing enters the Pan American Games and ALAS gives direct access to them).

The Junior, Longboard, SUP Surf and SUP Race divisions will also be contested.

The Peñascal Pro Cup will be decisive in determining the ALAS 2018 champions and runners-up in the men's and women's open divisions. Four stages have been completed and only two were three-star (and the other two, if they are completed, are expected to be two and three-star).

The open men's and women's champion and vice-champion gain direct access to the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, which gives them access to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

At the moment the situation looks very good for Ecuador, which has Jonathan Chila and Dominic Barona as leaders of the ranking.

This is how the ranking looks now:

Open Men:
1. Jonathan Chila (ECU) 6830 pts
2. Samuel Igo (BRA) 5990 pts
3. Roberto Araki (CHI) 5880 pts
4. Marcelo Rodríguez (ARG) 5770 pts
5. Martín Passeri (ARG) 5720 pts
6. Danilo Cerda (CHI) 5110 pts
7. Roberto Rodriguez (ECU) 5080 pts
8. Alex Suarez (ECU) 5000 pts

Open Women:
1. Dominic Barona (ECU) 3000 pts
2. Karol Ribeiro (BRA) 2930 pts
3. Natalia Escobar (CHI) 2595 pts
4. Paloma Santos (CHI) 2450 pts
5. Coco Cianciarulo (ARG) 2140 pts
6. Josefina Vidueira (CHI) 1665 pts
7. Ana Laura Gonzalez (MEX) 1610 pts
8. Susana Berrezueta (ECU) 1560 pts