ISC Tour
(Keramas-Bali, June 19, 2008): Seemingly impossible but true, Keramas stepped it up a notch from the day before and delivered some of its best quality waves yet. In his Round Two heat, Brenden Leckie pulled into and weaved through an absolute beauty and was rewarded by a perfect 10 by the judges. He followed that up with a 9.9, an outside barrel followed by another short one on the inside section for a 19.9 point heat win.
By contrast, in one of the most anticipated matchups of the day, Indonesia’s Made “Garut” Widiarta battled back and forth with Billy Kean through the first half of the heat before breaking his board on a deep closeout. He swam in, grabbed another board and hit the line up still well in contention, but snapped that board also on his very next wave. He was visibly frustrated as he swam in. Unfortunately, no other Indonesian surfer made it through the day’s competition and into the Quarterfinals being held tomorrow.
The conditions at Keramas Beach were perfect for these talented young Pro Juniors, with the sun coming up and lighting up the beach from one end to the other, tinting the whitewater framing the picture perfect tubes a golden-orange color. The rising tide was lobbing 4-6 foot waves into the reef and setting things up for another epic day of competition.
Standouts from the day included Billy Kean, who continued his solid tube riding exhibition, punctuated with long reentry’s and lip bashes. In his first heat of the day, he quickly combo’d the rest of the competitors and coasted to the heat win.
Coff’s Harbor’s Madison Williams was the come-from-behind kid in Heat Four. Putra Hermawan and Blake Ainsworth were battling it out for the lead until the five-minute mark, when Madison got his first wave of the heat, an 8.17, to jump into second place. With one minute to go, he took the lead out from under the other two by smashing out a 7.17! “I was having a bit of a problem with my board, it just didn’t feel good, and I just barely pulled that off,” he said. In his Round Four heat against Wayan Winjaya, he quickly charged into the lead with a 9.0, and then stayed comfortably in the lead until the horn blew. “This time I got a good one to start, using a different board, then finished things off one that had a great little section inside. Hopefully I’ll be as lucky tomorrow, as it’d be nice to get a win here.” he added. Williams won the Kuta Reef event at the Billabong Pro Junior last year.
Heath Joske was the recipient of the day’s other perfect 10 ride. “I didn’t think I was going to make that one, but it just kept opening up and opening up,” Joske said after the heat. “I managed to throw a turn in on the end, and then heard the announcer call it a 10. I was so stoked!”
Friday morning’s quarterfinal line up looks to be a supercharged battle between the remaining Aussie Pro Juniors, as the prediction is the surf will continue bump up slightly and give these boys a great arena to compete in and a great final day of surf action for the spectators and crew on the beach.
Quarterfinal One will see Heath Joske up against Billy Kean followed by Brendon Leckie taking on Madison Williams in Quarterfinal Two. Next up will be Dean Iezzi and Nick Vasicek in Quarterfinal Three, then Davey Cathels and Sam Wrench will round things out in Quarterfinal Four.
The Billabong Pro Junior Series is supported by Discovery Kartika Plaza, Hawaiian Tropic Suncare, Nixon, Kustom, and Von Zipper.
About The Billabong Pro Junior Series:
The Billabong Pro Junior Series is sanctioned by the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championships as part of the Pro Junior Championship Division. The series is the most lucrative on the Indonesian calendar, attracting surfers from Australia, Indonesia, USA, Hawaii, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Europe.
In line with the ISC’s goal of seeing talented young Indonesian surfers on the WQS and eventually on the WCT, Billabong is delighted to be an integral part of attaining this goal, as the Billabong Pro Junior Series is widely recognized as the premiere career booster for surfers aged 20 and under with world renown surfers such as Andy Irons and Joel Parkinson having launched their careers with wins at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.
2008 Billabong Junior Series
June 18-22: Billabong Pro Junior Series Keramas
July 9-13: Billabong Pro Junior Series Kuta Reef
August 13-17: Billabong Pro Junior Series Canggu
August 13-17: Billabong Occy’s Grom Comp Canggu
Media Contacts:
Tim Hain (On Ground, BALI)
Indonesian Surfing Championship
+62 812 360 6674
[email protected]
Simon Barratt (In Australia)
[email protected]
Peter Thew
Billabong SE Asia
+62 812 380 8855
[email protected]
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