Quiksilver Jetty Surf Pro Junior Opens ASP Australasia's Season at Jan Juc Beach
JAN JUC, Victoria/Australia (Sunday, January 3, 2010) – The 2010 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Australasia season began with a reduced day of competition in winter-like conditions at Victoria’s Jan Juc Beach today. Six Round 1 heats of the Quiksilver Jetty Surf Pro Junior were completed before organizers called competition off for the day when strong onshore winds destroyed what were good early wave conditions.
Despite the unseasonal freezing winds, swells increased throughout the morning with New Zealand surfer Alex Dive clearly very comfortable, scoring the morning’s top-scoring ride of an 8.5 out of a possible 10 which also saw him take the highest two wave combined heat tally of the day, posting 15.94 in his easy win over Oscar Scanes (mid-north coast NSW), who also advanced to Round 2 placing second in the four-surfer opening round heats.
“That was a good heat to start the year” said Dive after his heat win. “I’m used to the cold conditions coming from New Zealand and the waves are quite powerful which suits me. It looks like getting bigger in the coming days and hopefully we’ll surf great waves at Bells from now on.”
Local surfer Harrison Mann, just 15 years of age and surfing well above his league in taking on Australasia’s very best 20-year-old-and-under surfers, showed he’ll be hard to beat in his familiar local waters by easily winning his opening heat where he defeated highly-rated Sydney surfer Steve Ahrens along with USA surfer Luke Davis, who was eliminated from the event in third place.
“It’s great to get through the opening round and I’m really looking forward to competing against the higher seeded surfers,” Mann said. “They are the best Pro Juniors in Australia and the experience will be good for me whether I get through my heat or not. I’m confident I can mix it with them, especially with good surf at Bells likely!”
Only six Round 1 heats were completed today and organizers plan to start early tomorrow, most likely at Bells Beach to complete round one then move into Round 1 of the Pro Junior Women’s division.
Today’s Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Robbie France, Matt Neilson, Alex Rix, Jonathon Spitere
Heat 2: Billy Bain, Sam Patterson, Thibault Upton, Isaac Austin
Heat 3: Alex Dive, Oscar Scanes, Nicholas Van Rupp, Logan Specht
Heat 4: Harrison Vann, Mitchell James, James Jamieson, Kiron Jabour
Heat 5: Max Weston, Justin Turk, Angus Forest, Elliot Marshall
Heat 6: Harrison Mann, Steve Ahrens, Lukje Davis, Wes Bainbrdge
(ASPWORLDTOUR:13641)
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Category: All ASP News, ASP Junior News
