Shaun Joubert : photo courtesy Billabong

2006 Billabong Junior Series J-Bay

Surfing South Africa
Jeffreys Bay
5 - 8 August 2006

Damien Fahrenfort & Tammy-Lee Smith win 2006 Billabong Junior Series titles

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 10 August, 2006 : - - Damien Fahrenfort and Tammy-Lee Smith were crowned the 10th annual Billabong Junior Series champions in the premier Pro Junior (U20) boys and girls divisions at a well attended awards function in Jeffreys Bay on Tuesday evening after the completion of the fifth and final event of the 2006 series.

They were joined as 2006 series champions by future super star Shaun Joubert, who clinched the U16 title, while Michael February took the U14 crown and Max Armstrong triumphed in the U12’s.

The final day at J-Bay started with small surf but by the third heat the predicted swell started arriving and the business end of the event enjoyed epic conditions at the Point with overhead waves brushed clean by an offshore wind.

With each surfer’s best four out of five results determining the series rankings, Fahrenfort (Kommetjie) and Pro Junior boys runner-up Keegan Nel (East London) had done enough in earlier events to secure their positions so they chose to compete in the ASP events in Europe.

However, 2005 series champ Brandon Jackson was on fire throughout the final day, winning five heats in row including the final, where he defeated fellow Durbanite Kyle Beach, to pocket the R7 000 first place prize-money and force his way into third place in the rankings.

Brandon Jackson : photo courtesy Billabong
 

An elated Rory Beach, older brother of finalist Kyle, was eliminated in the quarter-finals but his haul of 732 points was enough to clinch fourth place overall in the rankings and the last of the four coveted invitations to the R315 000 Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia in January.

The Pro Junior girls race was a cliffhanger, going all the way to the final of the last event where reigning series champ Smith (Salt Rock, KZN), who had jetted back from the UK after early elimination in a WQS event there, narrowly beat 2006 ratings leader Nikita Robb despite the 17 year-old East Londoner recording the highest single ride.

Lisa Mace (Kommetjie) and 12 year-old Sarah Baum (Athlone Park, KZN) claimed third and fourth spots on the day with Baum showing talent way beyond her years by defeating a host of older and higher ranked surfers on her way to the final.

Smith matched Stacey Guy’s record of successive series titles and earned the girls’ invitation to the world champs event in January for the second time, with Robb, who has three years left in this division, the runner-up in the series rankings and fellow national junior teammate Tarryn Chudleigh (Scarborough, CT) getting third for the second time.

Mossel Bay based phenomenon Shaun Joubert, another who had just returned from campaigning in Europe, blitzed the U16 field to record his third straight event win and captured the series title with the highest ratings points in all the divisions. Opening his account 25 seconds into the final with a near-perfect 9.0 point ride that included a ‘double-grab’ aerial, Joubert went on to combo his three opponents with a 17.25 point heat tally.

J-Bay Surf Club champ Nic Godfrey (Cape St Francis) gave the locals plenty to cheer about by taking second place ahead of Chad du Toit (Durban) and Shawn Dennis (Scottburgh). Du Toit and St Francis Bay standout Dale Staples, who was eliminated in the semis, made it a clean sweep for Billabong team riders in top three of U16 series rankings.

Tammy Lee-Smith : photo courtesy Billabong
 

U14 series champ Michael February (Kommetjie), who was ousted from the J-Bay event in his first heat, had a nail biting final two days as his closest rival Beyrick de Vries charged into the final. However, needing to win this contest to snatch the crown from February and having secured a new sponsor just before the final, the vastly improved Umhlanga teenager could do nothing right and finished fourth on the day.

Winkelspruit’s Ryan Klynsmith ripped the J-Bay waves to shreds and secured his first U14 event title ahead of crowd favourite Remi Peterson (J-Bay) and last year’s U12 series champ Davey Brand (Kommetjie). The victory saw Klynsmith leapfrog de Vries into second place on the U14 series rankings and a bigger share of the R35 000 series prize-pool.

?The U12 division produced another full house of the top three series positions for the Billabong team when J-Bay local Steve Sawyer, who competed for the first time in the series at last year’s final event, had the crowd on their feet as he dominated the final and grabbed the runner-up spot in the rankings behind champion Max Armstrong (Kommetjie) and ahead of Mikey Venter (Warner Beach, KZN)

Benji Brand (Kommetjie) showed his potential as a future star by adding another second place to the first and second spots he recorded in three U12 events he contested this year while Armstrong, who already had the title in the bag going into this event, finished third on the day with another rapidly improving talent in Dylan Lightfoot (J-Bay) taking fourth.

Solid overhead waves provided an outstanding setting for the spectacular Von Zipper Air Show and again it was the aerial prowess of Shaun Joubert that prevailed and he pocketed the R1 800 winner-takes-all purse to go with his U16 event and series winnings along with his fifth place in the Pro Junior boys.

The Zigzag Performance Award of a replica hand-grenade trophy and R1 000 for the surfer who ‘blows up’ during each event went to dark horse Mark Shepperson (Umhlanga) whose outstanding surfing saw him overcome some of the country’s highest rated surfers to reach the semi-finals of the Pro Junior boys division.

Max Armstrong : courtesy Billabong
 

The Best Kustomised Manoeuvre awards of R500 and a pair of Kustom purpose built footwear went to locals Remi Peterson and Kate Matthews (Cape St Francis).

The 10th annual Billabong Junior Series distributed in excess of R200 000 in prize-money during 2006 and started at St Mikes on the KZN South Coast in February followed by Durban in March, Cape Town in May and Victoria Bay in the Southern Cape in June before all the champions were crowned at the final event in Jeffreys Bay on Tuesday.

Sanctioned by Surfing South Africa, with the Pro Junior divisions also accredited by ASP Africa, the series is proudly supported by First National Bank who take the opportunity to educate the competitors on banking facilities by providing half the series prize-pool in the form of six month fixed deposit accounts for the top 3 in each division, along with covering the travel costs for the four Pro Junior boys and top Pro Junior girl to Australia for the world junior champs in January.

Further support for the series comes from Red Bull; Capri Sun juices for those under 14; Mentos sweets; Mrs Palmers surf wax; Von Zipper eyewear; Kustom purpose built footwear; Drench hair-care products for the girls; Salt Water Girl and Zigzag magazines and Blackfoot Productions who record, produce and flight the 30 minute television show on SuperSport covering each of the five events.

Billabong Junior Series 2006 Final Series ratings

U/20 Boys
1. Damien Fahrenfort (Kommetjie) 3590 R4 000
2. Keegan Nel (East London) 3060 R2 000
3. Brandon Jackson (Durban North) 2930 R1 000
4. Rory Beach (Durban) 2812

U/20 Girls
1. Tammy-Lee Smith (Salt Rock) 1795 R4 000
2. Nikita Robb (East London) 1725 R2 000
3. Tarryn Chudleigh (Kommetjie, CT) 1310 R1 000

U16 Boys
1. Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay) 3670 R4 000
2. Chad du Toit (Durban) 3340 R2 000
3. Dale Staples (St Francis Bay) 2945 R1 000

U/14 Boys
1. Michael February (Kommetjie) 3340 R4 000
2. Ryan Klynsmith (Winkelspruit, KZN) 3200 R2 000
3. Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) 3120 R1 000

U/12 Boys
1. Max Armstrong (Kommetjie) 3460 R4 000
2. Steve Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay) 3390 R2 000
3. Mikey Venter (Warner Beach, KZN) 2950 R1 000


Billabong Polar Ice Junior Series Event # 5, Jeffreys Bay

U20 Boys
Brandon Jackson (Durban North) R7 000
Kyle Rory Beach (Durban) R4 000
Brandon Roberts (Sun Valley, CT) R2 500
Brett Shearer (Kommetjie) R2 500
5. Klee Strachan (Amanzimtoti) R1 200
Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay) R1 200
7. Mark Shepperson (Umhlanga) R 800
Josh Redman (Durban) R 800

U20 Girls
Tammy-Lee Smith (Salt Rock, KZN) R2 000
Nikita Robb (East London) R1 000
Lisa Mace (Kommetjie) R 750
Sarah Baum (Athlone Park, KZN) R 550

U16 Boys
Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay) R2 000
Nicholas Godfrey (Cape St Francis) R1 000
Chad du Toit (Durban) R 750
Shawn Dennis (Scottburgh) R 550

U14 Boys
Ryan Klynsmith (Winkelspruit, KZN) R1 500
Remi Peterson (Jeffreys Bay) R 850
Davey Brand (Kommetjie) R 550
Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) R 350

U12 Boys
Steve Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay) R1 000
Benji Brand (Kommetjie) R 750
Max Armstrong (Kommetjie) R 500
Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay) R 350

Von Zipper Air Show
Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay) R1 800

Zigzag Performance award
Mark Shepperson (Umhlanga) R1 000

Best Kustomised Manoeuvre Award for best local surfers
Remi Peterson (Jeffreys Bay) R500
Kate Matthews (Cape St Francis) R500  

www.billabong.com
www.billabong.com/africa

Previous reports:
# 1 : Billabong Jr Series 2006 champs to be crowned at J-Bay
# 2 : Solid waves for start of Billabong Junior Series in J-Bay
# 3 : Ideal weather but small surf at Billabong Junior at J-Bay

More African Surfing News available here
Check the latest Africa Surf Reports and Forecasts

New! Get the latest news with Surfersvillage News-Alerts

Life's a Beach Communications

Junior Contests - Surfersvillage