Slade Prestwich defeats Beyrick de Vries to claim 2012 Quiksilver Pro Junior title
South Africa’s Slade Prestwich emerged as the 2012 Quiksilver Pro Junior champion after getting the bettor of his fellow countryman Beyrick de Vries in the Final that went down at New Pier in Durban, South Africa, on Sunday, April 8.
The under twenty division of the competition comprised of a number of promising up-and-coming talent who were determined to prove their mettle and gain recognition for the skills. However, the testy four-foot waves kept majority of them at bay.
Prestwich and De Vries were two of the event’s biggest standouts as they adjust to the surfing conditions prevailing at the primary event site exceptionally well to post some of the biggest scores of the competition.
Passing through the initial rounds, Quarter-finals and Semi-finals, Prestwich came face-to-face with De Vries, the defending event champion. The clash between the two young-guns was expected to be nothing short of epic considering the excellent run of form
that they were exhibiting at New Pier over the last few days.
As the battle for the over-all victory got underway in demanding surf, the Durban-based Prestwich put his local knowledge of the waves to use and got in a position to lock a juicy wave. Unloading a series of exquisite manoeuvres on the wave, he successfully
posted an 8.25 on the score-board to take an early lead over his rival.
Keeping the momentum going, Prestwich caught his second business-wave to add an additional 5.75 points to his account, taking his heat-total to 14.00 points.
The Umhlanga-based De Vries got off to a slow start, evidently struggling to find his rhythm in the testy waves that were on offer. The failure to make much of an impact off his first business-wave left him requiring a near-perfect nine-point ride to challenge
his rival’s heat-total. However, the wall proved too high for him to climb as he eventually finished with a heat-total of 11.25 points, 2.75 points short of the required score. As a result, he was forced to concede victory and thus the event title to his rival.
“I am so happy to win the event, I have been training every day and it has paid off, the surf was difficult but I stuck to my game plan and it paid off,” said an ecstatic Prestwich
The Durban local took him a prize cheque of R15, 000 for claiming top honours in the event.
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