by Greg
28. September 2010 08:56
The Mr. Price S.A. Junior Surfing Championships are set for Cape Town starting tomorrow. This is a huge event for our local juniors as it only comes around once a year and every junior wants to have an S.A. title next to their name. The cold water of Cape Town is always an advantage for the local W.P. team and this year is no different as they are fielding an extremely strong side but they will not have it their own way as the rest of the field including KZN, Southern KZN, Border, E.P., Boland, Southern Cape and Zululand will be hungry for the trophy. Good luck to all involved and make sure you push the limits and realise your dreams.
On the World Title Tour the Quiksilver Pro France is into the second round. South Africa’s Jordy Smith currently ranked 2nd in the world had a stellar start and won his round heat convincingly advancing to round 3. World number 1, Kelly Slater had a shocker of a start and recorded his lowest ever 2 wave heat tally in Round 1. He did however sneak through his second round heat against French wildcard Maxine Husenot. Kelly has not looked like he is on great form at this contest, however you never know when he will pull the rabbit out the bag, lets hope there is another gap here for Jordy to take number 1 spot. It looks like Kelly will have hot young wildcard Julian Wilson in his third round heat and Jordy will come up against Gabe Kling. Today saw 2 upsets in the event with world number 6 Bede Durbidge losing to Julian Wilson and world number 7 Adriano de Souza going down to Gabe Kling. When competition resumes South African Travis Logie will be up against Damien Hobgood in a must win heat for Travis if he wants to have a realistic chance of making the top 22 by the end of the Pipeline Masters.
This week we will also see the start of the Oakley Pro Junior at Keramas in Bali. The event will be the first of 2 on the ASP World Pro Junior schedule that will determine the ASP World Junior Champion. South Africa will have 5 Junior men and 2 Junior Women competing in Bali, namely: Shaun Joubert, Chad du Toit, Dale Staple, Beyrick de Fries, Matt Bromley and in the women it will be Sarah Baum and Chantel Rautenbach. A.S.P. Africa Junior Champion Shaun Joubert had this to say about the upcoming event: “I love Kerama’s and I can’t wait to compete there again. This will be my third year over there so I know what to expect so I am feeling confident and excited as I am really comfortable out there. My goal is to be ASP World Junior Champion so this event is really important as the first of 2 that will decide the Champion so I am really focused for it!
I will be over in Bali for the event so my next blog will be from there!
Till next week
Greg Emslie
Steven Sawyer will be one of the favourites in the U17 boys division at the 2010 Mr Price South African Junior Surfing Championships.