Filipe Toledo and Tommy Boucaut claim success in Round 1 of CHIKO Pro Junior at Merewether
Brazil’s Filipe Toledo and Australia’s Tommy Boucaut grabbed top honours in their respective Round 1 (Round of 112) heats of CHIKO Pro Junior at the Newcastle Surfest that continued at Merewether in New South Wales, Australia on Thursday, March 8.
The sixth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s Junior Qualifying event of the season had attracted a large number of emerging talents from all around the world due to its 4-Star rating, which meant bigger prize money and more coveted ASP Junior
rating points on offer. The series gave the surfers a platform to earn their place in the ASP Junior World Championship, making it an intense and exciting affair.
As the latest competition continued at Merewether, the surfers continued to take each other on in demanding six-foot waves and offshore winds. The waves were not easy to ride and thus kept a number of surfers from finding their rhythm and posting big scores.
As the competition came down to the seventh heat of Round 1 on Thursday, Toledo took on South Africa’s David Van Zyl, Australia’s Harry Wheeler and his fellow countryman Zack Lukas in a four-man battle for the Round 2 slot.
Where other surfers were finding it pretty hard to lock waves and pull off their tricks, Toledo surfed with apparent ease and unloaded a series of exquisite manoeuvres on his two business-waves to finish with a heat-total of 15.00 points. The score held
up until the end to earn him the win and thus put him in the Round 2 line-up.
Van Zyl seemed rather rusty during the battle, but still managed to secure runner-up place with a heat-total of 7.50 points to make his way into Round 2 (Round of 96).
Wheeler finished third with a heat-total of 6.50 points, while Lukas rounded out the bottom position with 4.85 points. The lacklustre performance by the two surfers led to the removal from the contention for the event title.
Moving to the eight heat of the opening round of the event, the fans witnessed a solid performance by Boucaut. The Australian surfer landed a string of impressive tricks on his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 12.65 points, claiming the win.
Portugal’s Francisco Alves successfully extended his life in the event as well after scoring a heat-total of 10.00 to clinch runner-up place.
Australia’s Robbie Rickard and Riley Laing made an early exit from the competition after rounding out the third and fourth place respectively, with Rickard finishing with a heat-total of 7.00 points while Laing managed to get to a two-wave total of 4.65
points.
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