Oney Anwar Wins Dripping Wet Pro Junior
(SYDNEY, Australia) - Indonesia's, Gold Coast based Oney Anwar sent out a loud and clear message to the surfing world that the Indonesian's will be a power in professional surfing by becoming the first ever Indonesian surfer to win a major Association of Surfing Professionals Pro Junior surfing event when he won the Dripping Wet Pro Junior at South Curl Curl Beach on Sydney's northern beaches today.
An ecstatic Anwar commented on his historic performance today saying "it feels fantastic to win - this is my first time winning and im stoked - I'm going to be doing more pro junior events in the next couple of years and it's awesome to be the first Indonesian surfer to win a Pro Junior event"
The day was highlighted by aerial performances - more successful aerial moves than ever before seen at a pro junior event in Australia according to ASP Australasia Tour Director Dane Jordan and included an amazing tally of 11 aerial moves in the four man final.
Onwar has been based on the Gold Coast studying for the past three years and second in today's final was fellow Gold Coaster Thomas Woods.
Woods set the scene for today's remarkable performances scoring a perfect 10 point ride in an earlier heat when he executed a full rotation 360 degree air reverse.
Third in today's final completed the Gold Coast trio with Mitch Crews - all places posting outstanding final tallies on their top two scoring rides of above 16 points with Onwar on 17.75, Woods 16.50 and Crews on 16 while local Freshwater Beach surfer Tommy Myers came in fourth in the final with a modest final performance on 11.15.
Newport surfer Chris Salisbury made the semi-finals but saw his year-long goal of qualifying for the ASP World Junior events disappear when he placed 4th in that semi final to be eliminated.
The Dripping Wet Pro Junior final day was a spectacle, one of, if not the best days in ASP Australasian Pro Junior surfing history, and the performances of these fast emerging surfers again stamped the future of high performance surfing which is taking to the air and scoring big for surfing's highest degree of difficulty aerial moves.
Today wraps up the ASP Australasian Pro Junior season 2010 with the Dripping Wet Pro Junior and the Blue Kiss Pro Junior the final events of a hugely successful season.
Winners of the ASP Men's and Women's series ratings for 2010 are Mitch Crews (Qld) and Airini Mason (NSW) respectively and both join a very prestigious list of former winners who have used their series win as part of a launching pad to even greater heights in ASP careers.
The ASP Australasian region qualifiers of the upcoming ASP World Championship Junior Series which begins with event one in October are:
Pro Junior Men's: Mitch Crews, Davey Cathels, Jack Freestone, Ty Watson and Chris Friend
Pro Junior Women's : Airini Mason and Felicity Palmeteer