ASP Grade 2 Mens Pro Junior
Burleigh Heads, Queensland Australia
22 - 28 January 2007

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Burleigh Barrels Served Up For Day One Of Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 January, 2008 : - - ‘Burleigh Heads, the birthplace of professional surfing, was again in the firing line today with a hot international field of the best junior men’s surfers shredding its waves to pieces on day one of the Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior.

With a pulsing 4-foot ground swell generating ideal ‘Burleigh Barrels’ for competitors, contest organisers decided to proceed with the opening 8 heats of round one along with 16 heats of round two. Gold Coast young gun Kane Powell (Palm Beach) led an ‘All-Aussie’ assault on the first day of competition, cruising to victory in the second round.

“I was lovin’ it out there,” said Powell. “I was riding a new board and it went amazing.  The speed I was generating really helped me squeeze out some big moves.” 17-year-old Powell made his mark on the Burleigh Heads line-up, unleashing multiple explosive maneouvres to convincingly defeat the international trio of Maxime Huscenot (France), Dale Staples (South Africa) and Tom Cloarec (France).

“I was a little worried before my heat,” he said. “Staples (Dale Staples) had been rippin’ all day, so I knew I had to be on top of my game heading into the heat.” Clearly in sync with the superb conditions, Powell jagged a set wave before tucking into a series of clean carving moves to land a high-scoring 6.17 mid-heat.

To back it up, the stylish natural foot showcased his incredible competition repertoire to net another 6.17 to finish with a two-wave total of a 12.34 (out of a possible 20) and book himself a spot in round three. Final Scores: Powell 12.34, Huscenot 9.90, Staples 9.00 and Cloarec 4.56.

Staples, who had earlier set the pace for day in the morning’s first round with multiple long tube rides, failed to lock in high scoring rides and exited the event prematurely. Staples, 17, represents the ‘new brigade’ of South African surfers following in the footsteps laid by World Tour debutant Jordy Smith.

Sunshine Coast junior Jasper Endersby (Peregian Beach) continued the ‘Aussie’ domination of today’s opening rounds, overpowering the Gold Coast’s Jack Freestone, Victoria’s Tom Allan and Queensland’s Brenton Mazey in his round two heat.

On the back foot in the early stages, Endersby made the most of the freight training conditions to lock in a 6.3 on his second ride. With five minutes remaining, Endersby put the result beyond doubt with an even better 6.33 to finish on a total of 12.56 to Freestone’s 12.27. 

Meanwhile, the internationals didn’t let the ‘Aussies’ take all the glory, with New Zealand’s Matt Hewitt upstaging talented World Qualifying Series (WQS) campaigner Matt Wilkinson (Copacabana) to earn a spot in the next round.

After a slow start, Hewitt hit back to land a two-wave total of a 11.33 to finish in front of Wilkinson, who also progressed into the next round with a score of 11.83. “I got a good first wave, and than backed it up with a keeper,” said Hewitt. “With talent like Wilko (Matt Wilkinson) in my heat I knew I would have an up hill battle to secure victory. In the end, I got the better waves.”

Other round two winners today included Raditya Rhondi (Bali), Chris Bennetts (Main Beach), Chris Drake (Newcastle) and Tim Bilmon (Thirroul). With a building southeasterly swell expected to produce epic point break waves at Burleigh Point tomorrow, contest orgainsers are likely to finish the remaining round two heats before starting round three heats.

The Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior is proudly supported by Nike 6.0, Electric, Redbull, Brothers Neilsen, Australian Surfing life, Surfing Queensland and ASP Australasia.

Previous reports:
# 1 : The Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior ready to rock Gold Coast
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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Jake White

Contests - Surfersvillage