AITPINGA BEACH, South Australia – 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.

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SAQUAREMA, Rio de Janeiro  – Itauna Beach cranked open the surf tap with clean four-to-six foot (1 – 2 metre) waves on offer for the third straight day of competition at ASP WQS 6-Star Coca-Cola Saquarema Pro pres. by Rip Curl that saw the event favourites and top ASP WQS campaigners No. 1 Brazilian Jadson Andre and No. 3 Australian Adam Melling advancing with good perfomances.

One of the highlights of the day was Brazilian Pedro Henrique, who got a beatiful barrel in the first heat of the day. Henrique took down top ASP WQS campaigner No. 8 Patrick Gudauskas posting an almost perfect 9.83 score (out of 10.00), with three judges giving him the perfect score (10 points) on his first wave of the heat.

“Ahh great heat without no doubt,”Henrique said. “WQS Tour is always difficult, all heats are strong, if you not get good waves you lose. I just want to thank God for that wave (9.83 points), I saw Trekinho (Marcelo) took an 8.30 on a wave that I almost went, so I knew I had to start well with a high score, and then that perfect wave came to me and it was just a magical wave. That thing bowled up on the inside and I managed to stick with it and come out. I was super stoked because the view was insane – whether I came out or not I was happy.”

Who came close to the new record of Coca-Cola Saquarema Pro pres. by Rip Curl was the American Brett Simpson, who earned a 9.17 from judges with three strong maneuvers, with pressure and speed.

“The waves are really fun, fortunately the waves came on my way,’Simpson said. “On my 9.17 score (out a possible of 10), I was on the spot and the other guy was too deep so I paddled into the wave, did two big turns and a huge floater in the end, that was a great waveThis is my first time here, for sure is the best waves that I always surfed here in Brazil, Fernando de Noronha Island is better but a different type of wave, and here is a great place for a contest and if the waves continues like this will be perfect for us.”

Brazilian Neco Padaratz who finished in second place in the ASP WQS 6-Star event last week in Florianopolis ended in second place in the last heat of the day, moving straight to Round of 24 of Coca-Cola Saquarema Pro pres. by Rip Curl.

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JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Tuesday, July 14, 2009) – High drama and excellent scores were the order of the day as rifling six-to-eight foot (2 – 2.5 metre) surf poured through South Africa’s most iconic lineup for Rounds 2 and 3 of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay.

Event No. 5 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay witnessed the ASP’s top seeds hit the water today, posting the highest scores of the event mixed in with some of the biggest upsets, all going down in what some are calling, “the best Jeffreys Bay ever.”

Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion and four-time past winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (’96, ’03, ’05, ’08), put in an historic performance, netting four nine-point-plus rides in his Round 2 heat to collect the highest heat total of the event, an 18.84 out of a possible 20 (throwing away a 9.23 and a 9.00).

“It was just unbelievable,” Slater said. “The waves were just pumping. I couldn’t get back out there fast enough. It just kept barreling. I went all the way down through tubes and doggy-doored to the end, must’ve gotten like 4 or 5 barrels on that thing. It was a pretty sick wave. I don’t know what else I could’ve done on it. I surfed it as hard as I could. I’m pretty happy. I had a really good heat – that’s the best heat I’ve had this year by a mile.”

Currently ranked 9th on the ASP World Tour ratings, Slater rebounded from three, consecutive 17ths to start the year with a win in Brazil last week before setting the bar today at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay.

“I feel like the current leg we’re competing on is a strong one for me,” Slater said. “I went to Brazil without much motivation, but it turned out to be a good event for me. Now we’re here in Jeffreys where I feel really comfortable and the next events are ones I usually do well at. A lot of guys are surfing good though – Sean (Holmes), Joel (Parkinson), so we’ll take it one heat at a time.”

Michel Bourez (PYF), 23, 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie, caused the upset of the event today, eliminating former ASP World Champion (2007) and two-time past winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (’02, ’06), Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, from competition in their Round 2 bout. The heat would prove one of the highest-scoring affairs of the event (18.27 – 17.17), with Bourez sealing the win with the event’s first Perfect 10-point ride.

“I was just feeling really good in the water,” Bourez said. “To surf that wave – perfect barrels, long rights – I was definitely ready for that. On my 10, I had just come back from my first wave and was so tired, but I saw that one coming and said that’s the one. It was breaking on the sand, and I got three barrels on it. I was so stoked that I claimed it. I had to!”

Dane Reynolds (USA), 23, 2008 ASP World Tour Rookie of the Year and current ASP World No. 34, put in a sensational Round 2 performance, collecting the event’s second Perfect 10-point ride with some committed forehand hacks before a mind-blowing barrel, en route to eliminating current ASP World No. 8 Jordy Smith (ZAF), 21.

“I kind of started off the heat sitting pretty far up the point,” Reynolds said. “Jordy (Smith) came out and paddled straight by me way up to the top of the point so I was like alright, I’ll just try and get scraps off him. I think that no matter where I surf, anywhere, I like to stay wide I like to see waves coming to me. Even when I’m free surfing, I never sit out the back and wait for sets. I’m always hunting insiders and a lot of the times it messes me up in heats. On that 10, I wasn’t even sure if that was going to be a good wave. I had priority and got to the bottom and you could see it lining up for days – I knew it was going to be good from there.”

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 3: Dean Morrison (AUS) 13.83 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.33
Heat 4: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.50 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 8.43
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) 15.83 def. Roy Powers (HAW) 7.50
Heat 6: Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.73 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 5.20
Heat 7: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.10 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 10.87
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.90 def. Heath Joske (AUS) 7.83
Heat 9: Sean Holmes (ZAF) 18.60 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.33
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) 13.50 def. Tim Reyes (USA) 11.17
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.27 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.17
Heat 12: Dane Reynolds (USA) 17.83 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.90
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.84 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 9.34
Heat 14: Taylor Knox (USA) 16.43 def. Chris Ward (USA) 12.66
Heat 15: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.50 def. Greg Emslie (ZAF) 16.00
Heat 16: Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.00

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.60 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.17
Heat 2: Dean Morrison (AUS) 17.63 def. Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.57
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 15.00 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.50
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.50 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.33
Heat 5: Sean Holmes (ZAF) 15.50. Michael Campbell (AUS) 13.57

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 6: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

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