Islas Canarias Santa Pro Junior

ASP Grade 3 Junior Mens event
Realejos, Tenerife
2 - 6 September 2009

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

Laborde Leads Charge as Santa Pro Junior Witnesses Top Seeds’ Action

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 3 September, 2009 : - - Los Realejos, Tenerife -- Day 2 of the ASP Grade-3 Santa Surf Pro Junior, final event of this year’s ASP European Pro Junior tour, saw performances and upsets take place in consistent four to five foot (1.2 to 1.5 meter) waves at El Socorro beach, north shore of Tenerife island.

With all top seeds getting on with business to try and battle for the valuable points on offer, current ratings’ leaders and potential hierarchy trouble-makers were all on the front-line to display their best performance but it was once again the favorites who led the pack with solid surfing.

Finding his way to the day’s top statistics with the best heat result was 18-year-old Pierre-Valentin Laborde (Hossegor, FRA), the long-time Pro Junior top surfer posting 15.50 points to advance. Laborde, who is desperately in need of a big result to jump back in the Top 4 to hope of any ASP World Junior Championships (WJC) qualification. Former ASP World Junior No. 5 at Narabeen, Laborde hasn’t won an event this year thus far but could create some upset in the upcoming days.

“I had a pretty stressful heat today and had to wait the last ten minutes to get a first significant score,” Laborde said. “I was just falling all the time and I had to leave the water to get another board and start from scratch in the second half of the heat. I got a few scores and even found a cover-up and got a couple of high-seven pointers.”

Laborde, who is considered one of the best French competitors aged Under-21, comes from the Hossegor Surf Club talent pool and remains a solid contender for the crown at Tenerife.

“I am sitting pretty far down in the ratings so I have no pressure for that event,” Laborde said. “I just want to do well and a win would be really exceptional but I’ll take things as they come and enjoy this final event as much as possible. I have a tough heat with Marcos Sansegundo (EUK) and David Leboulsh (FRA) next so I will be focused and try to go as far as possible.”

Ranked No. 4 on the regional ratings before flying-out to Tenerife, Medi Veminardi (REU), 18, who remains with a small chance to climb up the ratings and clinch the crown, was focused enough today to get his campaign started in a good way posting an excellent 8.00 point ride to seal the deal and advance through to Round 3 of competition.

Veminardi, who recently got his best result ever at the ASP WQS 6-Star event in Lacanau, showed he was in good form for the final event of the year knowing the end-of-the-year Top 4 would mean a qualification for the ASP World Junior Championships (WJC) at Narabeen next January.

“I’ve been here before and I felt good in those conditions today, » Veminardi said. “It’s a pretty tricky beachbreak because it breaks fast and it’s not easy to get the right positioning out there so there is a bit of luck involved today. I changed boards for that heat but it wasn’t very comfortable and I don’t feel like I showed my best surfing but it’s good to be through. I’ll have another one tomorrow.”

Veminardi, one of France’s spear leaders of the rising generation, is a favorite in the ASP Grade-3 event at Tenerife and will have to keep his surf up if he wants to claim the event title and remain inside the coveted Top 4 as several surfers are in reach of the WJC qualification group.

“Marc (Lacomare) is untouchable up there but scores are very tight between the rest of us and I am looking at a big result to keep the closest threats away,” Veminardi said. “I am aiming at qualifying for Narabeen and at the same time I am trying to gain seed points for the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) where I will start competing next year.”

With the French contingent shining on the second day of competition, the other nations stepped-up to grab their tickets for Round 3 where eight 4-Man heats will get things into action tomorrow before the event reaches its One-to-one rounds starting from the Quarterfinals.

Mathematically in contention for the regional crown, Jatyr Berasaluce (Sopelana, EUK), 20, managed to advance again today to keep a firm grip on his Pro Junior career end willing to qualify for his third consecutive ASP World Junior Championships (WJC). Berasaluce, who has been flying the Basque flag across ASP sanctioned Pro Junior events for three years now, has been a major motivation for the rising contingent from the Basque Country and will try and wrap up his exceptional 2009 season this week at Tenerife in style.

Advancing today were ratings’ leaders Marc Lacomare (FRA) and Charles Martin (GLP), along with Fransisco Alves (PRT), Frederico Morais (PRT) and Jayce Robinson (GBR), the British surfer being in his last Pro Junior season as well and looking to confirm his obvious rise in 2009.

The event is getting closer to its business end and thirty-two surfers only remain in the race for the prestigious ASP Grade-3 Pro Junior event while three men are mathematically in reach of the ASP European Junior champion with Marc Lacomare leading the pack by over a thousand points at this stage.

Previous reports:
# 1 : Junior revolution returns to Tenerife for Santa Pro Junior
# 2 : Santa Surf Pro Jr kicks off at Tenerife, Bulard rips Rnd 1
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

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