Matty King and Maxime Huscenot take top honours in Round 2 of CHIKO Pro Junior – Surfing News
Australia’s Matty King and France’s Maxime Huscenot put on excellent performances to claim victory in their respective Round 2 (Round of 96) heats at CHIKO Pro Junior during Newcastle’s Surfest festival that continued at Merewether in New South Wales, Australia,
on Thursday, March 8.
Throughout the first round of the sixth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Men’s Junior Qualifying event of the year, majority of the young surfing talent from around the globe struggled to adjust to the challenging surfing conditions. The
six-foot waves accompanied by the strong offshore winds were keeping the surfers at bay, preventing them for going for the more technical tricks lying in their arsenal.
The first heat of Round 2 saw King take on Indonesia’s Hairil Anwar, Australia’s James McMorland and his compatriot Banjo Harfield in a battle for the Round 3 (Round of 64) spot.
King put on a pretty impressive performance during the course of the heat to eventually get to a heat-total of 12.00 points. The score proved sufficient to keep him in the lead on the score-board until the end, consequently earning him top honours.
Anwar had put on a solid performance in the first round earlier in the day, but had to settle for runner-up place in the opening heat of Round 2 after finishing with a heat-total of 6.85 points, successfully making it into the next round.
McMorland finished third with a heat-total of 6.80 points, while Harfield rounded out the bottom position with a heat-total of 2.00 points, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
The second heat of Round 2 saw the 2010 ASP World Junior Champion Huscenot put on another phenomenal performance despite his unfamiliarity with the waves at Merewether.
After posting a 7.5 on the scoreboard early in the heat, the Frenchman charged towards a set of juicy waves and managed to climb to a heat-total of 17.00 points. The excellent effort served to earn him top honours, carrying him into the next round.
“I just wanted to surf tactically,” Huscenot said. “I went out the back and got my 7.5, but I could see the better waves were coming through inside. In competition we often surf small waves and we dream about conditions like this.”
Australia’s Joel Ford took second place with a heat-total of 9.10 points, successfully making the Round 3 cut.
Japan’s Yuta Iwabuchi finished in third place after reaching a heat-total of 5.75 off his best-two waves, whereas Australia’s Gus Harfield rounded out the bottom position with a two-wave total of 5.55 points. Both the surfer got removed from the contention
for the event title as a result.
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