Billabong Grom Series Event Two
Presented by Oceanbridge

Surfing New Zealand
Whangamata New Zealand
17 - 18 February 2007

Hewitt Doubles Up At The Billabong Grom Series Presented By Oceanbridge 

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 18 February, 2007 : - - Matt Hewitt today (Sunday) heaped more domination on the under 16 boys division of the Billabong Grom Series presented by Oceanbridge after winning the second event in a row and extending his lead in the three event series.  Hewitt remained a live wire in the tiny surf conditions to lead the final from the outset scoring a total heat score of 14.0 points leaving the other finalists requiring near perfect scores to get close to challenging for the win. 

Hewitt described the conditions as ‘shocking’ after the final.  “I don’t even know how we were surfing or how we finished the comp but I went out there and caught as many waves as possible and tried to do as man turns as I could” Hewitt went on to say of the marginal conditions after they deteriorated throughout the morning with the outgoing tide.  Hewitt’s best wave was one of few that reformed through the inside and he scored an excellent 8.25 for his troubles backing that up with a 5.75. 

When asked if he could complete a clean sweep of the series with a win at the last leg of the series in Piha in a months time Hewitt suggested he would wait and suss out the conditions before making any brash calls.  A win would assure him of a series win and a trip to Australia to compete in the Billabong Occy Grom Comp in May. 

Hewitt will travel to Australia this week to attend the Australian High Performance Centre to further his surfing in the lead up to the World Junior Championships in May.  He was one of four surfers selected for the Under 16s division of the national team.   

Hewitt’s good friend Alex Dive (Mnt) made an excellent come back from injury to place runner up this weekend.  Dive has pushed his recovery to the limit over the past month after breaking his leg at the end of last year.  His first competition back in the frey was at Mount Maunganui but this weekend he looked to be close to his best scoring 10.75 in the final. 

In form local surfer Braedon Williams placed third in the final after impressing throughout the weekend and now sits in second place on the ratings.  Buck Woods (Gis) placed fourth for the second event in a row seemingly looking frustrated with the marginal conditions.  

Auckland’s Rosa Thompson stole a double dose of victory from Grace Spiers (WGM) on her last wave in the dying seconds of the under 16 girls final when she scored 4.75 for her best wave of the final. 

Winning the final made up for her earlier performance in the under 14 girls when she finished fourth and her win has now made the race for the series title a three horse race alongside Spiers and winner of the first event Alexis Poulter (Piha).  Spiers had to settle for second place ahead of triple finalist Ella Williams (WGM) in third and Muriwai’s India Wray Murane in fourth.

Tane Wallis (Piha) reversed the roles on Ben Poulter (Piha) in the under 14 boys winning the final in a very close battle.  It was the consistency of Wallis with a pair of 5.10 point rides who pipped Poulter who got a good 6.0 on his first scoring ride but failed to back it up in the difficult conditions. 

The two surfers now have a first and second each in the series so the trip to the Occy’s Grom Comp in Australia will come down to who ever wins the last event.  Todd Doyle, a finalist at the first event in the series, placed third in the final ahead of local surfer Brad Pitcher who had an excellent run through to the finals finishing in fourth.  

Grace Spiers earlier took out the under 14 girls division.  A stellar performance had her competitors requiring excellent scores to catch up to her after scoring 13.0 in the final.  Her performance was highlighted by an excellent 8.0 point ride early in the final.  Alexis Poulter (Piha) had to settle for second pace after taking the double at the first event of the series two weeks ago.  Poulter scored 8.50 in the final to place second ahead of Ella Williams (WGM) in third and Rosa Thompson (Auck) in fourth.

Dune Kennings (WGM) took out his ever win in the under 12 boys after making his first final of the series.  Kennings stormed to the lead on his second ride of 8.50 after he surfed a long lefthander all the way to the beach completing big backhand turns.  Not long after he scored a 5.75 to lock down first place midway through the heat.  Only a close call for an ‘interference’ threatened his lead after he dropped in on closest rival Peri Matenga (Mnt) but the call was not made. 

Matenga came back into contention in the latter half of the heat but requiring a 7.51 to move into the lead only scored 5.25 to fall short and remain in second place.  Earlier Matenga won the Panasonic digital camera after scoring 16.0 in his quarterfinal heat being the highest heat score of the event.  Waretini Wano (Piha) placed third in the final for his best result of the year and Kahu Craig Te Ranga (Waihi Beach) placed fourth after being runner up at the first event of the series.

Ella Williams (WGM) exacted revenge on her opponents winning the under 12 girls division.  After placing fourth in the final at the first event of the series Williams scored a great heat total of 12.35 to win this final over event one winner and good friend Ella Spiers (WGM).  All four finalists were the same as the first event and it was Gabriella Samson (Auck) that moved up a spot to third at this event with Chloe Shutt finishing in fourth. 

Results

Under 16 Boys Finals
Matt Hewitt (Mnt), 1
Alex Dive (Tauranga), 2
Braedon Williams (Whmata), 3
Buck Woods (Gis), 4

Under 14 Boys Finals
Tane Wallis (Piha), 1
Ben Poulter (Piha), 2
Todd Doyle (Mnt), 3
Brad Pitcher (WGM), 4

Under 12 Boys Finals
Dune Kennings (WGM), 1
Peri Matenga (Mnt), 2
Waretini Wano (Piha), 3
Kahu Craig Te Ranga (Waihi Bch), 4

Under 16 Girls Finals
Rosa Thompson (Auck), 1
Grace Spiers (Whmata), 2
Ella Williams (Whmata), 3
India Wray Murane (Muriwai), 4

Under 14 Girls Finals
Grace Spiers (Whmata), 1
Alexis Poulter (Piha), 2
Ella Williams (Whmata), 3
Rosa Thompson (Auck), 4

Under 12 Girls Finals
Ella Williams (Whmata), 1
Ella Spiers (Whmata), 2
Gabriela Sansom (Piha), 3
Chloe Shutt (Mnt), 4

Billabong Grom Series Event Three – March 17th – 18th Piha Beach Auckland. For more information on the series please contact Ben Kennings at Surfing New Zealand on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.  Alternatively contact Scott Casey at Billabong on 021 728234 or email scasey@billabong.co.nz.

The Billabong Grom Series is brought to you by Billabong, Oceanbridge, Nickelodeon, Coke, Panasonic, Clearasil, UV Triple Guard, Von Vipper and Kustom.bSurfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by Corona Vodafone Hyundai SPARC Smokefree Ends

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Ben Kennings
benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz

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