Manning Gregory wins another shot at Surfest's best as Callinan lifts late at Sunset

Gregory was a wildcard last year to start in the 5000-point qualifying series contest's round of 64, where he bowed out in a heat won by clubmate and then-Championship Tour surfer Jackson Baker. He will start in that round against the top seed after winning trials at Birubi Beach on Saturday.

Gregory (11.54) beat Macka Hazard (9.94), Fred Carmody (8.33) and Shane Cadden (8.27) in the men's division. No women's section was held because of a lack of entries.

Spots in Surfest's Sanbah Cadet Cup on March 2-3 at South Bar Beach were also won on Saturday by Jessie Boylan (under-14 girls), Kade Kelly (under-14 boys), Mia MacMahon (under-16 girls) and Noah Hartney (under-16 boys).

On Sunday (AEDT), Merewether's Ryan Callinan found his rhythm late to win through to the round of 32 at the Sunset Beach Pro in Hawaii.

Callinan sat second in his opening round heat and needed a 5.11 to better countryman Liam O'Brien when he fell on a bumpy wave with 10 minutes to go. He hit back with a vertical finish 90 seconds later for a 5.07 before an even better one for a 5.93 with 3:30 left. His tally of 11.0 edged out O'Brien (9.4) and Moroccan Ramzi Boukhiam (2.43). He next takes on Hawaiian injury replacement Brodie Sale, who beat Griffin Colapinto and Seth Moniz in his first CT heat.

Callinan was relieved to get through after a long wait for competition to start at the second stop on the Championship Tour. He won his first heat at Pipeline to open the season before losing in the round of 32 to Jake Marshall.

"It was really challenging out there actually," Callinan said.

"We've been here for five weeks or something and I've probably surfed Sunset 15 times of so, and it's never once looked like that.

"So to be out there and trying to find the line-up that's going to work for the day ... I guess I felt like I just had to lower my standards on wave selection and manoeuvres and just get some scores on the board and see where the heat went."