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

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Julian Wilson Leads Hurley Burleigh Charge

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 25 January, 2008 : - - Coolum surfing sensation Julian Wilson stamped his mark on the Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior today, raising the high performance bar after impressing in 0.5-1-metre right-hand point break waves at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast.  

Wilson, 18, was one of eight surfers who booked a spot in the quarterfinals of the prestigious ASP Australasian Pro Junior series tournament, after settling the score with Tahitian powerhouse Tamaroa McComb (Coolangatta, formerly Tahiti) in round five before sweeping past inform local lad Dan Pryor (Currumbin) in his round 6 clash.   

“I knew I couldn’t drop my guard against these guys,” said Wilson. “I had a pretty bad run of heats leading up to my first heat today, so I knew that I had to stay selective. In the end I got some good waves that set me apart.”  

Continuing on with an innovative mix of high-flying surfing, Wilson crunched Pryor by posting the day’s highest wave score, a near perfect 9.5 to join the likes of top seed Stuart Kennedy (Lennox Head), Central Coast ripper Matt Wilkinson (Copacabana), No.4 seed Nick Riley (Fairlight) and highly rated Heath Joske (Nambucca Heads) at the business end of competition. 

The exciting natural foot thrilled the large crowd that gathered at Burleigh Point on day four, pounding Pryor with a dominating performance to notch a combined two-wave heat score of a 15.43 (out of a possible 20). Wilson, who will now take on McComb (Coolangatta, formerly Tahiti) for a place in the semi-finals, said he couldn’t wait for tomorrow’s clash.  

“I’m feeling pretty good heading into the final day,” “The waves are pretty easy to pick out there, so I can’t wait to take him on. I guess whoever gets the good waves will win.”  

Central Coast goofy foot Matt Wilkinson was just as electrifying in his opening round six heat, unleashing some backhand mastery en route to eliminating reigning event champion Jayke Sharp (Sandy Beach) from competition. Wilkinson, who is the junior series highest ranked World Qualifying Series (WQS) surfer, amassed a 15.00 total to Sharp’s meager 5.36 combination.  

He‘ll now face top seed Stuart Kennedy, who accounted for North Stradbroke Island surfer Lincoln Taylor, in tomorrow’s first quarterfinal.  

Gold Coast surfers didn’t fair so well today with only Coolangatta’s Ben Webb progressing into the next round. Showing no signs of nerves in the 25-minute heat, Webb outclassed fellow Gold Coaster Blake Ainsworth (Coolangatta) to setup a meeting with Sawtell’s Billy Kean.  

Meanwhile, Fairlight’s Nick Riley made his intentions clear that he’s out to win the $25,000 tournament by ousting highly ranked Gold Coast surfer Brendan Leckie (Palm Beach).  

Quarterfinal Clashes: 

Q1) Matt Wilkinson vs Stuart Kennedy
Q2) Ben Webb vs Billy Kean
Q3) Heath Joske vs Nick Riley
Q4) Julian Wilson vs Tamaroa McComb 

Bolstering to the unparalleled competition format is the Hurley 'Burleigh Battle' presented by Nike 6.0, which will be staged tomorrow to coincide with Australia Day.  

The 'Burleigh Battle' will bring surfers from different territories together in an entertaining team-style format to determine which is the strongest in pro surfing.

Six teams of two surfers will compete over three, 30-minute heats. Teams will be from Australian states (QLD, NSW, VIC, WA, SA) along with a sole international team.

Team members will be judged on their highest scoring ride, plus a “shared” wave, where surfers from the same team have to ride a wave together. The concept was created to encourage teams to work together, and judging was set up to favour teams that have both surfers on the same wave-face, surfing in the same direction at the same time.  

The action doesn’t stop there with teams slugging it out across a Ping-Pong tournament as well as a Pie Eating contest in the multidisciplinary battle.

The team with the highest amount of points at the end of the battle will walk away with a pair of limited edition Nike 6.0 shoes plus $1000. Too easy! 

The Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior is the 3rd of 12 stops on the 2008 ASP Australasian Pro Junior Series and offers a seven-day surfing window, from Tuesday 22nd January to Monday 28th January, 2008, for only five days of competition surfing. The main event site will be at Burleigh Heads, however the tournament has the option of going to the best surf from Southport Spit to Duranbah. 

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 : Hurley Burleigh Pro Jr Day 1 scores big Burleigh barrels
# 3 : Stuart Kennedy flares at the Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior
# 4 : Tamaroa McComb annihilates Hurley Burleigh Pro Jnr. 

www.hurley.com
www.surfingqueensland.com

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