Drew McPherson, Laura Enever win Newcastle Pro Jr.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 11 March, 2007 : - - Local lad Drew McPherson (Nords Wharf, NSW) has beaten 159 other surfers to score a dream win in the Newcastle Pro Junior at the 2007 Maitland Toyota Surfest.

A former Newcastle regional Open champion, McPherson defeated form surfer of the event Heath Joske (Nambucca Heads, NSW) with a score of 13.25 to Joske's 9.15. Joske had earlier stopped current Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Australasian Pro Junior number one Mitchell Coleborn (Wurtulla, QLD) from bagging a hat-trick of wins in the series.

Despite 18-year-old Joske holding the top three best heat scores for the entire event, he was no match for McPherson, whose confidence was boosted by a vocal and local cheer squad consisting of his family and friends. They erupted into spontaneous hugging and high-fives on the closed off street opposite Merewether beach when the final hooter signalled McPherson was the 2007 winner.

"It's absolutely amazing to win here. It's a dream come true to do it in front of a home crowd at Newcastle," McPherson said. "Heath has been on fire all comp and all season, but in the finals he took a while to get a good wave," he added. The win was a significant milestone for 19-year-old McPherson, who jumped to number 15 on the ASP Australasian Pro Junior ratings.

McPherson pocketed $2800 for his effort, a step up from the measly $100 that comprised his highest career winnings before this event. In a nail-biting finish to the Girls' Pro Junior, wildcard entrant Laura Enever (Narrabeen, NSW) put on a stunning performance in the dying seconds of competition to edge out leader Kirstie Jones (Ulladulla, NSW) by one point and claim the $1000 victory cheque.

Needing a score of 4.25 to take the lead from Jones, 15-year-old Enever kept the crowd on the edge of their seats until the last 30 seconds of the event when she secured the win with a ride judges deemed to be worth 5.25.

Currently the U/16 Australian Grommet Champion, the natural footed Enever took an early lead in the finals with a terrific 9.5 from Merewether Point – the highest scoring wave of the girl's competition- but was slow to follow it up and left the door open for Jones to take the lead.

"I knew I had to get a good second wave – I couldn't get a 9.5 and not get another good one," an ecstatic Enever said."I was glad I got it in time - I just had to wait for that second wave and luckily it came through and I got the 5.5 which was good enough for the win."

Final scores were Enever (14.75) and Jones (13.75). The win has catapulted Enever into number three on the ASP Junior Girls' ratings, behind number one Sally Fitzgibbons who was knocked out in this morning's semi-finals.