Jack Freestone and Matt Lewis-Hewitt prevail in Round 1 of Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
Australia’s Jack Freestone and New Zealand’s Matt Lewis-Hewitt walked away with top honours in their respective heats during Round 1 of Billabong Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Junior Championships that went down at Burleigh Heads in Gold
Coast, Australia, on Saturday, January 21.
The successful result in the seventh heat sent Freestone straight into the third round, whereas Hawaii’s Nathan Carvalho and Portugal’s Vasco Ribeiro rounded out the second and third position respectively, consequently getting relegated to Round 2.
Hewitt moved into the third round as well due to his win in the eighth heat. Brazil’s Caio Ibelli and Australia’s Eli Steele were forced to face a trip to the relegation round after finishing in second and third place respectively.
Freestone, reigning ASP World Junior Champion and current No.5 on the ASP Men’s World Junior Rankings, had arrived in Australia aiming for an excellent result and if his performance on the opening day of the competition was a prelude to what he planned on
delivering during the course of the event, then a successful title defence could be safely expected.
As the seventh heat kicked off, the Australian surfer got down to business right away and locked his first business-wave to pull off a devastating combination of tricks, posting an 8.00 on the scoreboard. He added another 7.57 points to his account in the
dying minutes of the three-man heat to finish with a decisive heat-total of 15.57 points.
Carvalho got off to a decent start, scoring 6.33 points off his first wave, but found himself in need of a near-perfect score to surpass Freestone on the score-board. He only managed to add another 5.60 points to his account, thus finishing in runner-up
place with a heat-total of 11.93 points.
Ribeiro failed to make much of an impression during the battle and only managed to find the best-wave scores with the four range to eventually finish in third place with a heat-total of 8.90 points.
The eighth heat saw Lewis-Hewitt made the most of the opportunity to participate in the ASP World Junior Tour event, replacing Australia’s Davey Cathels who was forced to withdraw due to an ankle injury, on the opening day of the competition. Despite pitting
against the top contender for the ASP World Junior Title, Ibelli, the New Zealander successfully held his own to defy the odds and take the win.
“I was sitting on the inside waiting for them to read out the scores, I was pretty nervous,” Lewis-Hewitt said. “Then they announced that I'd won, it felt great. Having a tough first heat and coming away with the win is a big confidence booster. Being the
only Kiwi in the main event and having a few of the boys over here giving me support feels awesome! I love surfing at Burleigh, I've surfed a few events here before and I love going right and taking to the air.”
Ibelli tried to put his competitors under pressure by collecting an early 5.33-point wave, but Lewis-Hewitt snatched the lead from him with a 6.67-point wave. The latter extended his lead even further with an immediate 6.57-point wave to move to a heat-total
of 13.24 points.
Ibelli kept searching for an adequate response and came really close to taking the win after giving his all on his final wave of the heat. However, the final effort earned him a 7.83, just 0.08 points short of the required score. As a result, the Brazilian
surfer was forced to surrender victory to Lewis-Hewitt.
Steele did little to attract attention during the three-man battle. Scoring a 5.77 and 4.17 off his best-two waves, the local surfer finished in third place with a heat-total of 9.94 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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