Paige Hareb : photo courtesy ASPAustralia

Billabong Pro Junior

ASP Pro Junior boys
ASP Pro Junior girls
Port Stephens, NSW, Australia
4 - 7 September 2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Raging winds kick off day one at One Mile Point / Semi Finalists decided in the Pro Junior Women's

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 September, 2008 : - - Freezing onshore 40 knot winds along with a stormy 1.5m swell greeted Australasia's top young surfers for the ASP Australasia Billabong Pro Junior Series at One Mile Beach, Port Stephens NSW. In rugged conditions like today's,skills, fitness and endurance were all put to the test and there were many outstanding performances.

The Girls opened the day and surfed through three entire rounds to decide their semi finalists. Outstanding New Zealand surfer Paige Hareb signaled her intentions here by taking a convincing quarter final win to set up a vital clash with Northern Beaches Sydney surfer Laura Enever in the semi finals.

"It's really tough out there with hurricane like winds and rain but at least there's waves in amongst all the weather and I was able to win through. All the girls in the semi finals are surfing well - It looks like bigger waves tomorrow which I hope will suit me - With the ratings so close there's a lot to surf for here and the final event of the season at Bells!" said Hareb after her quarter final win

With the top two rated female surfers on the ASP Pro Junior Series 2008 ratings qualifying for the Billabong World Pro Junior Championships in January, a lot rides on the results here and Hareb will be super keen to eliminate Enever in the semi's and go on and win this event.

Enever presently holds that number two rating position behind Sally Fitzgibbons who has already has an unassailable lead on the series, but with Hareb in third position on the ratings, second place is definitely up for grabs with a number of surfers also well in range to take that spot from Enever.

Tyler Wright (Culburra/Sth Coast NSW) is also through to the semi finals and at 14 years of age is the youngest of the four semi finalists. Wright posted an outstanding 9 point ride late in her quarter final to jump from third to first to advance, eliminating her sister Kirby in the process.

Tyler Wright came into this event at number four on the ratings and is also well in the ratings race chasing that number two slot. Wright will face Sunshine Coast surfer Dimity Stoyle in her semi final. Stoyle (16 years old/ Maroochydore) was shocked to hear she had advanced in second place in her four surfer quarter final.

"I couldn't hear a thing out there and just assumed Tyler and Kirby both advanced – they seem to always get through so I'm amazed. This is my best result ever in a Pro Junior event and to beat one of the Wright's in the quarter finals is great for me - I sort of knew I had one good ride early but still figured they would beat me."

The first eight heats of the Pro Junior Men's were also run today and number one seed Stuart Kennedy survived a very close opening round heat where he placed second in his four surfer heat to advance behind the days standout Ryan Hawker (New Zealand).

Hawker was unstoppable today, displaying a dare to win attitude, pulling massive moves at will and appearing to thrive at the challenge of taking on the number one seed. Hawker's opening two rides in the heat were a 9.5 and a 9.1 and his lead was never challenged.

Kennedy had to fight hard to take 2nd place, averting what would have been a major upset elimination by finding a reasonable 5.6 ride late in the heat to advance to round three.

Sensational Tahitian surfer Tamaroa McComb was the other standout later in his round two heat posting an 8.9 and a 7.75 (both out of 10) to easily win through to round three.

Everyone at the event will be hoping for some finer weather conditions at One Mile Point tomorrow. Hopefully winds will moderate and slowly turn offshore in the coming two days to set up what are expected to be perfect surf conditions for the weekend's finals.

Round two of the Pro Junior Men's will resume early tomorrow morning at One Mile Point with some of round three also expected to be completed.

The Billabong Pro Junior Series welcomes Virgin Blue as Billabong’s official airline partner and also acknowledges tremendous support from Panasonic, VZ, Kustom, Port Stephens Council, Samurai Beach Resort and Surfing NSW.

Previous reports:
# 1 : Coming soon
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

More Australasian Surfing News available here
Check the latest Australasian Surf Reports and Forecasts

New! B2B News ASBE-Surf   |  Receive News-Alerts

ASP Australia

Junior Contests - Surfersvillage