Garrett Parkes and Marco Fernandez shine in Round 1 of Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
Australia’s Garrett Parkes and Brazil’s Marco Fernandez collected convincing victories in their respective heats during the opening round of Billabong Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Championships that went down at the iconic Burleigh
Heads in Gold Coast, Australia, on Saturday, January 21.
Parkes’ win in the ninth heat added him to the Round 3 line-up directly, while his fellow countrymen Wade Carmichael and Creed McTaggart finished in second and third place respectively, moving into the relegation round as a result.
Claiming top honours in the 10th heat allowed Fernandez to advance directly into the third round as well. Australia’s Tim Macdonald and Japan’s Kaito Ohashi, however, were forced into the relegation round after finishing in second and third place
respectively.
The surfing conditions at the primary event site turned out to be great on the opening day of the competition, with two-to-three foot waves and a sunny weather.
Parkes, current No.3 on the ASP World Junior Rankings, did exactly what a surfer was expected to do when he had the World Junior Title in sights. He dominated the ninth heat while pitted against Carmichael and McTaggart, showing no mercy to his compatriots
as he kicked off the final stop of the Tour.
In the opening minutes of the three-man battle, Parkes unloaded a string of manoeuvres on a wave to earn 8.60 points for the effort and went on to add another 6.67 points to his account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 15.27 points. The score moved him
well ahead of his competitors on the score-board to eventually earn him a convincing win.
Carmichael finished in second place with a heat-total of 9.83 points, which comprised of a 4.83 and 5.00-point wave.
McTaggart put on a pretty lacklustre performance after struggling to catch waves. He eventually finished in third place with a heat-total of 8.74 points.
The 10th heat turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair as well, with Fernandez taking control of the heat early on and holding on to it until the end.
As the three-man battle got underway, the Brazilian surfer locked an impressive 7.00-point wave to put his competition under pressure. Adding another 5.83 points to his account later in the heat, he finished with a heat-total of 12.83 points.
Macdonald finished well behind Fernandez, scoring 3.70 and 4.57 points off his best-two waves for a resultant heat-total of 8.27 points.
Ohashi failed to make much of an impact either and rounded out the third place after finishing with a heat-total of 8.20 points.
The Billabong ASP World Junior Championships is the third and final event of ASP World Junior Tour and will determine the men’s and women’s 2011 ASP World Junior Champion.
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