Matt Banting and Johnny Hicks take top honours in Round 5 of CHIKO Pro Junior at Newcastle’s Surfest
Australia’s Matt Banting and New Zealand’s Johnny Hicks emerged triumphant in their Round 5 (Round of 16) heats of CHIKO Pro Junior at Newcastle’s Surfest at Merewether Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday, March 10.
South Africa’s Beyrick De Vries and Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam successfully extended their life in the event as well by securing the runner-up positions in their respective heats.
The 4-Star Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s Junior Qualifying events continued to deliver a heavy dose of surfing action at Merewether on the third day as the young guns continued their pursuit for the $20,000 and coveted ASP Junior rating
points.
Banting, one of the major threats in the competition, continued his excellent run of form in the opening heat of Round 5 as he navigated through the waves, earning an 8.90 and 8.75-point wave for a heat-total of 17.65 points.
“It was a bit tricky out there today,” Banting said after winning the heat. “I watched the heats and was thinking the lefts were the best, but when I got out there, I ended up surfing the rights. You have to make your decisions according to the conditions.”
De Vries took runner-up place after scoring an excellent 9.25 off his first business-wave and adding an additional 8.25 off his second business-wave in the dying minutes of the heat for a two-wave total of 17.50 points.
Australia’s Creed McTaggart and Tim Macdonald got removed from the contention for the event-title, rounding out the bottom-two positions after finishing with a heat-total of 15.45 and 10.90 points.
The second heat went down to the wire with both Hicks and Boukhiam putting in a determined fight to get their hands on the win.
Boukhiam got off to a decent start, posting a 5.35 to his account early in the heat. He went on to add an additional 6.25-point wave to get to a heat-total of 11.60 points.
Hicks got off to a slow start, but gradually built momentum to begin his charge in the final minutes of the heat. He collected a 5.35 off his first business-wave and immediately followed it up with a 6.90-point wave in the dying minutes of the heat to finish
with a heat-total of 12.25 points, 0.65 ahead of his Moroccan rival to claim the win while forcing the latter to settle for runner-up place.
Both the surfers advanced through into the next round of the competition due to their top two-finish.
France’s Maxime Huscenot finished third after scoring a heat-total of 11.20 points, while Wales rounded out the bottom-position with a heat-total of 7.25 points. Both the surfers were consequently eliminated from the competition.
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