Jake Halstead and Matt Banting off to a perfect start at Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
America’s Jake Halstead and Australia’s Matt Banting put on outstanding performances to clinch the win 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.
A convincing win in the 13th heat allowed Halstead to move directly into the third round, while Portugal’s Frederico Morais and Japan’s Hiroto Arai finished second and third respectively, consequently moving into the relegation round.
Banting’s success in the 14th heat also added him to the Round 3 line-up. America’s Andrew Doheny finished second, whereas Australia’s Dean Brown rounded out the third position. Both the surfers were forced to move into the relegation round as
a result.
The conditions at Burleigh Heads had become pretty demanding as the opening round moved into the afternoon session. While the waves were still somewhere between the two-to-three foot range, they had become quite tricky due to the on-shore winds.
Regardless of the changing conditions, the 13th heat saw Halstead put on the most dominant performance of the day to steal the show and walk away with a convincing victory, all thanks to his close observation of the conditions and a last-minute
change of board.
“Being in heat 13 I got to watch pretty much every heat today and see how the conditions were changing,” Halstead said. “I just went out and tried to have fun, that's what I always try to do. I was going to ride a polyurethane board, but changed to an epoxy,
it linked through the sections a lot easier, so it was a good decision on that one.”
As the three-man showdown got underway, Halstead went through a series of average-wave scores before posting a 7.67 on the score-board. He immediately followed it up with an outstanding 8.50-point wave to take his heat-total to 16.17 points, a score which
remained well out of reach of his rivals until the end.
Morais caught his business-waves in the opening minutes of the heat, scoring a 4.17 and 5.67 off them respectively, to finish with a heat-total of 9.84 points. As a result, he was forced to settle for runner-up place.
Arai finished just a few points behind his Portuguese rival after scoring a 4.17 and 5.60 off his best-two waves, consequently rounding out third place.
The 14th heat featured yet another one-man show, this time the local sensation, Banting, dominating his competitors to take a comfortable victory.
Banting got off to a solid start, scoring an 8.17 off his first business-wave early in the heat to take control of the heat. Adding another 7.33 points to his account halfway through the battle, the Australian extended his lead even further and held on to
it until the end to eventually walk away with the win.
Doheny, current No.6 on the ASP World Junior Rankings, needed to get a strong start at the final event of ASP World Junior Tour to keep his chances at clinching the title alive. However, he failed to make much of an impression on the opening day of the competition,
succumbing to the conditions and Banting during the 14th heat. Scoring a 5.23 and 5.07 off his best-two waves, the American finished with a heat-total of 10.30 points.
Bowen had little luck with the waves, managing to catch just three waves during the course of the heat. Failing to make the most of the waves that he did manage to lock, the Australian surfer finished with a heat-total of 9.63 points.
The Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Gold Coast in the third and final event of ASP World Junior Tour and will determine the men’s and women’s 2011 ASP World Junior Champion.
Tags: