James Wood : photo Steve Robertson

Balin / Snickers®  Pro Junior 2006

Surfing Australia
Gunnamatta Beach (Boneo- End of Truemans Rd)
18 - 22 January 2006

www.balin.com.au

Surfers Flying to heat wins at Balin /Snickers Pro  with Gunnamatta delivering carvable surf!

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 January, 2006 : - - Gunnamatta Beach lived up to it's incredible reputation of delivering waves at today's Balin/Snickers Pro  when most other beaches in the state were completely flat! Yesterday the event had to be postponed due to even Gunnamatta being flat but overnight saw a nice half to 1m swell come through and Saturday was an excellent day of surf for Australia's top Pro Junior (20 year and under) male and female surfers.
 
Phillip Island surfer Carl Wright proved the best of the Victorian's today taking a strong round three win and defeating highly rated  Sunshine Coast surfer Wade Goodall with Sydney surfer Caleb Reid finishing 3rd and Jan Juc's Troy Carollo 4th. In these four man heats both Wright and Goodall progressed to the fourth round.
 
Wright, at just 17 years of age took on and defeated  Goodall (Caloundra/Qld, 19) at what is regarded as Goodall's strength by powering through some impressive aerial moves early in the heat. Wright scored an excellent 8 point ride for his air move and Goodall quickly tried to match Wright by scoring two strong 7 point rides , both incorporating successful aerial moves and took the lead , then Wright scored another 7.5 ride late in the heat to take the win.
 
After his win Wright said - "I'm really trying hard to improve my small wave surfing and  those waves were sort of fun and the aerial moves sort of suited the conditions - Aerial's will always score big in small surf and really they are an essential part of surfing small waves in competition." In his next round Wright is certain to again call on his aerial moves to help him as he faces Japanese surfer Hideoshi Tanaka who is widely regarded as one of the best small wave surfers in the world!

Carl Wright : photo Steve Robertson

 
Lennox Head surfer  James Wood had a welcome return to form today taking a strong win in his round three heat - The former World Junior Champion trailed for most of the heat but in the final 5 minutes produced two excellent waves, again going for and successfully landing some big air moves to take the win.
 
While the waves were small today, their shape and power allowed plenty of scope for good surfing and a number of the larger recognized power surfers in this event, who are often at a disadvantage in very small waves, won through today and posted some of the biggest scores of the day - West Australia's Tom Wimmer , Narrabeen's Dean McColl and Sunshine Coast's Mitch Coleborn are all stocky surfers who scored big and took easy wins today.
 
The standout today however was again one of the youngest surfers in this event - Fifteen year old Sth Coast NSW surfer Owen Wright - The very talented goofy foot surfer scored an outstanding 9.67 ride to win his round four heat and to date at this event he's looking like the surfer to beat - After his heat he said - " I like the waves here at Gunnamatta - even on small days it's a fun and powerful wave which allows you to go for big moves - I hope it gets bigger but even when it's small the waves are good!"
 
The Balin/Snickers girls early round  divisions were  also run today - Good surfing from Jan Juc's Amy Stewart saw her progress along with event favourite Arini Mason from New Zealand. Other girls to impress and progress today included new Zealand's Mischa Davis and the younger sisters of Owen Wright - Tyla and Kirby Wright who both progressed through to round three with strong performances.
 
Organizers made the most of today's conditions and were planning to run well into the evening with finals of both 20 and under male and female divisions scheduled for tomorrow around noon --- Strong offshore winds, heat wave conditions and great fun small waves are expected at Gunnamatta tomorrow in what should be a great day of competition!

Previous reports:
# 1 : Balin/Snickers Pro Junior Gunnamatta Beach Jan 2006
# 2 : Balin Junior Pro Day 1 : Wind & unpredictable waves..
# 3 : Balin Pro postponed as Gunnamatta has flat moment
# 4 : Coming soon  

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Kate McDonell
Steve Robertson

Junior Contests - Surfersvillage