Billabong Junior Series Africa #2

Surfing South Africa
Victoria Bay, Southern Cape South Africa
7 - 10 August 2008

Huge entry for fourth stop on Billabong Junior Series at Victoria Bay

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 August, 2008 : - - Most of South Africa’s top surfers aged 20 and younger will be amongst the 136 competitors at Victoria Bay in the Southern Cape from Thursday to Sunday this week for the fourth of five stops on the 2008 Billabong Junior Series.

With the series set to crown its 12th annual champions in September, all but a handful of the top contenders in the Pro Junior (U20), U16, U14 and U12 age categories will be jockeying for positions in the Vic Bay event and ratings points on the leaderboard.

Klee Strachan from Winkelspruit will be hoping to extend his lead in the Pro Junior rankings in the absence of Rudy Palmboom Jnr. (Bluff), who is campaigning on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) in Europe, and defending event champion Dale Staples (St Francis Bay) who is enjoying tropical surf on a promotional boat-based surf surfari in Indonesia.

Likewise, U16 ratings leader Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) will be looking to benefit from arch rival Davey Brand’s participation on the Billabong sponsored island-hopping surf trip in Indo to extend his lead over the Kommetjie based surfer.

However, de Vries and the likes of highly rated Michael February (Kommetjie), Dane Staples (St Francis Bay) and Jacob Mellish (Somerset West) will have to contend with the talent of international surf star John John Florence

The 15 year-old from Hawaii was voted the World’s Top U16 surfer in the Surfer Magazine “Hot 100 Groms” back in 2006 when he was only 13 and went on to win the impromptu Billabong International Junior Showdown against SA’s top U16’s at Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay that year.

Slade Prestwich (Park Rynie), Steven Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay) and Diran Zakarian (Melkbosstrand) head the U14 division with one victory apiece in the opening three events of the year. This trio will be going all out to gain an advantage at Vic Bay ahead of the season’s finale at Jeffreys Bay in September.

In the youngest division, the U12’s, Kommetjie’s Max Armstrong will want to grab the opportunity presented by runaway ratings leader Benji Brand’s absence in Indo by taking his first win of 2008 after capturing the series gold in 2006.

Traditionally the most popular of the first four series events each year, the four-day Vic Bay event assumes added importance in 2008 as the Pro Junior division has been upgraded from 3A to 4A on the SSA Pro Surf Tour (PST) with the total prize-money at stake rising to R20 000 and all competitors earning higher ratings points.

The Vic Bay event will also feature a Von Zipper Air Show where the country’s best exponents of aerial surfing will produce another spectacular display of high flying manoeuvres as they go for broke chasing the R2 000 winner-takes-all purse.

With the vast majority of the competitors coming from out-of-town, the Southern Cape event will again host the annual Billabong Braaivleis (BBQ) Championships. This highly competitive cook-off on Saturday evening will see teams divided on regional lines going to great lengths to prepare the finest open-fire cuisine to be found on the SA coastline.

The strict criteria is based on the ASP judging system that awards points for the most radical performances on the hottest fires and includes style and variety. The likes of master chefs Ronnie Veldhuis (WP), Darryl Staples (EP) and Sean Smit (KZN) have even been known to ply the expert judging panel with frosty drinks in an attempt to gain an advantage while the well-fed participants get to meet and mingle with their peers from all over the country.

The Billabong Junior Series is sanctioned by Surfing South Africa (SSA), the national controlling body for the sport. Ratings points earned in each series event also count towards the annual SSA Pro Surf Tour (PST) rankings. The series is proudly supported by First National Bank, Palmers, Kustom and Von Zipper.

The 2008 Billabong Junior Series started at St Mikes (21-23 February) before moving to Durban (25-27 April) and Cape Town (9-11 May). After Victoria Bay in the Southern Cape (7-10 August) it concludes in Jeffreys Bay (18-21 September) where the series champions will be crowned for the 12th successive year.

The Jeffreys Bay event will feature an ASP Africa sanctioned Grade One International Pro Junior event with a US $5 000 (approx R37 500) purse and ratings points counting towards the annual ASP Africa Pro Junior titles. The top four finishers on the ASP Africa Pro Junior ratings receive coveted invitations to the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia in January 2009.

www.billabong.com
www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za

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