WAITPINGA BEACH, South Australia (Saturday, July 18, 2009) - Clean three-foot (1 metre) surf at Waitpinga Beach in the southern waters of South Australia was on offer today as Australia's top 20-year-old-and-under surfers completed rounds three and four of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Grade-4 Fantastic Noodles Pro Junior.

The cold waters, which are down around 13 degrees celsius, and significantly colder with a wind chill factor in full force, did not stop the high-performance surfing with impressive showings from the events' top two seeds, Owen Wright and Garrett Parkes, both Byron Bay region of NSW.

Owen Wright is the defending event champion and he has not been defeated this entire season, having won all four ASP Australasian Pro Junior events to date in an display of unprecedented dominance at national ASP Pro Junior level.

This year he has also stormed the world with his surfing performances which sees the unassuming 19-year-old highly placed on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), following a major win in the Maldives last month and he is widely regarded as the hottest emerging surfer globally.

Despite all this great form and his comfortable heat win today, Wright cannot win this year's Fantastic Noodles Pro Junior because he'll forfeit his Semifinal place tomorrow as he heads to California for the ASP WQS 6-Star Hurley US Open of Surfing.

"I've had a break from competitive surfing the past month and thought this event would be good to get back into it before the US Open," Wright said. "I was hoping the event might finish today, but it won't, so I'll have to depart tonight, but it's been good and I'm ready to hit Huntington Beach in California."

So, Wright will suffer his first loss here by default, but his appearance has none-the-less delighted the surfers of South Australia who realize they are possibly watching surfing's next emerging star who has had great success in these waters over the past two years, winning this event last year and an Australian Junior title the previous year.

Wright's pending absence opens the door for all others and No. 2 seed Garrett Parkes should be hardest to beat here.

Parkes posted today's top scoring Round 3 heat win with a combined heat tally of 13.35 out of a possible 20 in his easy win over Mitch Crews (Qld).

Also advancing to the final 16 surfers today was local 17-year-old Victor Harbour surfer Khai Adams. Adams has three more years on the ASP Australasian Pro Junior circuit and is keen to gain experience this season with a view to tackling the circuit seriously next year.

"Making the final 16 here is the best I've done at this level so I'm really happy with my performance," said Khai after placing 2nd in his four surfer heat to advance to the final 16 behind Queensland's James Woods.

"In my local waters at my local beach I definitely have an advantage, I'm not sure how much further I can go but you never know, this is my beach," added Adams.

Adams is the sole South Australian surfer remaining in the event.

The Girls round one heats were also surfed late in the day with South Australian girls Brinkley Davies (Port Noarlunga) and Ellis Gilbert (Goolwa) both eliminated.