Over 200 surfers enter Billabong Junior Series finale at J-Bay

An unprecedented total of 207 of the country’s best 20 year-old and younger surfers have entered the fifth and final event of the 2005 Billabong Junior Series in Jeffreys Bay from Friday to Monday, August 5-8.

At stake are the coveted series titles in the U12, U14, U16 and Pro Junior (U20) boys divisions and the Pro Junior girls, along with more than R25 000 in event prize-money and R35 000 in the series prize-pool, which will be shared by the top three in the ratings in each division.

The prestige Pro Junior boys category, where the top four in the year-end ratings also receive invitations to the US $45 000 (approx R300 000) Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia next January, has a record field of 77.

Durban’s Brandon Jackson, winner of the last two events, holds an unassailable ratings lead going into the final event and is followed by Shaun Payne (St Francis Bay), who placed third in the Australia last January, and Brandon Roberts (Sun Valley, W/Cape), both of whom are assured of making the four man squad.

The next dozen on the ratings are all in contention for the prized fourth spot in the squad and a top performance in the final event at Jeffreys Bay from the likes of Josch Schmeltzer (Westville), the Beach brothers from Queensburgh, Kyle and SA champ Rory, Kommetjie’s Dave Richards, the top seed for this event, or Keegan Nel (East London) could see any one of them joining the top three in Australia.

Tammy-Lee Smith(Salt Rock, KZN) heads the Pro Junior girls closely followed by Rosanne Hodge (East London), who missed the first event of the year but then won the next three, and national junior surfing team member Tarryn Chudleigh from Kommetjie. With just 350 points separating them and only the series winner allocated a spot in the inaugural girls world junior champs in January, these three will be going all out for success.

Klee Strachan (Sun Valley), last year’s U16 series runner-up, holds a slender ratings lead over Kyle Lane (Umhlanga) and Kyle Beach ahead of the final event and appears these three will be collecting a share of the prize-pool payouts from Billabong and First National Bank.

However, Chad du Toit (Durban), who went undefeated to win the U14 series title in 2004, fellow KwaZulu Natalians Dane Monks and Devon Mundow, and national team member Lungani Memani from Port Alfred will all be determined to force their way into the reckoning, along with the rest of the record breaking 48 person line-up for the U16 title in J-Bay.

There are just 230 points between U14 ratings leader and 2004 U12 champ Shaun Joubert (Mossel Bay) and current ratings runner-up Matthew Bromley (Kommetjie), with Joubert’s one win and three finals more consistent than the Capetonian’s two victories and two fifth’s.

Brendon Gibbens (Bishopscourt) holds third place after one win and three finals but will be hard pressed to stay ahead of local standout Dale Staples (St Francis Bay) who was one of the stars of the Billabong Grom team’s high performance training camp conducted at J-Bay by the Kahuna Surfing Academy during the recent Billabong Pro world championship tour event.

Billabong team riders David and Benjamin Brand from Kommetjie, who along with Dane Staples also benefited significantly from the training program, have each won two U12 events this year. While Benjamin (9) has reached all four finals it is David (12) with runner-up finishes in the two he didn’t win who holds the ratings lead.

Fellow Kommetjie pre-teen Michael February is just ahead of the younger Staples sibling in third place after consistently reaching the finals for a runner-up and three third places over the season. Diminutive but plucky Heidi Palmboom from Durban’s Bluff is rated fifth in both the U12 boys and the Pro Junior girls, the best combined ratings of any of those who are contesting two divisions.

As with all Billabong Junior Series events, there is also R1 800 up for grabs in the winner-takes-all Von Zipper Air Show at Jeffreys Bay while the Zigzag ‘Blowing Up’ award of R1 000 and a novel replica hand-grenade trophy will again be awarded to the surfer who is deemed to post the most outstanding performance. The Kustom Performance awards go to the top performing local boy and girl. Red Bull is in attendance at each stop on the series with their energy centre that provides welcome shade and refreshment for the competitors.

Every competitor is awarded ratings points based on the position they achieve in each event they compete in and the series winners in the five age categories are determined by their accumulated ratings points after the fifth and final event in Jeffreys Bay, where the annual series champions are will be crowned for the ninth successive year next weekend.

The top four Pro Junior men and the top Pro Junior woman receive invitations to the Billabong World Junior Championships in Sydney, Australia in the first week of January 2006. The air tickets for this squad are sponsored by First National Bank who also provides a R17 500 prize-pool in the form of fixed deposit accounts that is opened for the top 3 in the yearend series ratings in each division.

The 2005 Billabong Junior Series started at St Mikes on the KZN South Coast in February followed by Durban (April), Big Bay, Cape Town (May) and  Victoria Bay in the Southern Cape (June). The series concludes in Jeffreys Bay over the period 5-8 August.

Source: http://www.billabong.co.za

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