PLAYA DE RAZO, A Coruna, Galicia – Spain (Friday, August 3, 2012) - Great surfing and excellent conditions today in Galicia made for an exciting second day of competition at the ASP 2-Star Men’s and 1-Star Women’s WAHRLD Pro Junior. With waves in the 5-6Ft range all day long and various peaks working with the different tides, everybody had the chance to surf quality waves and display their best maneuvers.
Frederico Morais (PRT) 20, was the most impressive surfer today, leaving his three opponents of Heat 9 in a combination situation needing two scores in the 9 points range to try and overtake him. In a bumpy line-up with sets in the overhead range, Morais lost no time opening his wave account with two good scores. He quickly took the lead and never let it go.
“It feels so good”, Morais said. “This is the first event of the Junior leg where we have really good waves and it definitely fits my surfing better, I was frothing out there that was so much fun !”
Morais then took it to the next level netting the first near perfect score of the event, an incredible 9.67 for a combination of powerful frontside hacks on a running right-hander. He quickly backed it up with another high scoring ride that came in as a 9.00 out of 10. His heat total of 18,67 marks the event’s best so far and will be hard to beat.
“I just got one of those perfect rights with the wall coming right up perfectly at me and I simply had to do the turns”, Morais commented. “I just had to do my surfing, trust my turns and I knew the score was coming and was going to be good ! What motivates me now is to qualify for the World Juniors, that’s been one of my goals this year so I want to finish in the Top 4 !”
In his last season amongst the under-21 European elite, Frederico Morais stands fourth on the regional rankings and eyes qualification for the World Junior Championships which he has already attended this year. With some encouraging results on the Star Tour as well, Morais feels ready to take it to the big leagues next year.
“I had two semi-finals in Vendee and Burleigh Heads on the Star Tour already this year, but I’ve been really focusing on the Junior Tour for my last season so I haven’t entered many bigger events. Definitely next year, I’ll be full time on the Star Tour !”
Dimitri Ouvre (GLP) 20, ended the day with a bang, claiming the biggest aerial of the event in the very last heat, and netting an incredible 9.57 out of 10. The young Carribean surfer took off on a running left-hander that culminated with a perfect ramp in the shorebreak.
“I’ve been monitoring that little left in the shorey for a few days and the timing of my heat was just perfect”, Ouvre said coming out of his nearly perfect ride. “I saw it coming and the surfer in yellow tried to take it, but I was in a better position and I started on the wave. I did a speed turn first to gain momentum and then I just hit the lip pretty fast and took off.”
Diogo Appleton (PRT) 19 from the little Portuguese town of Cascais, shone in today’s rough seas, making his way into the close circle of surfers who scored in the excellent range in this second round of competition.
“There are so many waves out there and it’s breaking all the time”, Appleton stated. “It makes it difficult but the waves are long and allow you to do multiple turns so it’s really good ! I’m frontside on the rights and it’s really fun ! I’ve been on the Junior Tour for a few years and I feel like I’m improving so I’m pretty happy !”
Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) 17, currently ranked 2nd on the European Junior Tour, was another strong surfer today putting excellent scores on the board and displaying his talent on the fun righthanders on offer at Playa de Razo.
“Wave selection was pretty tough today but it’s always better to surf bigger waves” Ribeiro said. “Everyone is having fun and the waves are great, I’m just going to try and keep it going.”
Ribeiro, one of two remaining contenders on the European Junior Title race, will need to go all the way in Galicia and stay ahead of his direct competition, Spanish surfer Vicente Romero, to secure his maiden Regional Title in this event.
“I’m great, I don’t really feel an added pressure on myself, off course I’m trying to win the title in this event but I’m basically going heat by heat and trying not to think too much about it right now. I’m out there having fun, trying to perform my best surfing and hopefully the waves stay like this for a little while !”
Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 18, opened today’s proceedings in great conditions at playa de Razo. The young Morrocan surfer was the first to score in the excellent range early this morning, netting an 8.00 point ride for a combination of big turns right in the critical sections of the wave.
“Finally some waves on the Junior Tour, it feels so good to surf 4-5Ft !” Boukhiam stated. “There’s a lot of mouvement out there, a little bit of backwash into it but if you get the good ones there are opportunities to show solid surfing and really push on your turns ! I think everybody’s stoked to have waves and everyone can surf good in those conditions so the difference is made on how strong you can hit the lip out there and the power in your turns.”
Boukhiam, who’s had a great season so far on the Pro Junior series with a third place in Gran Canaria, a win in Royan and a 5th place in Sopelana last week, continues to show consistence and moves into the next round of competition along with most of the top seeds today. With added support and physical preparation as part of his training, Boukhiam feels good and will be a serious contender for the event win in Galicia.
“Yannick Beven knows me very well, since I was a kid actually, and we’ve been working together for five months now, with Dimitri (Ouvre) as well. We are a really good team, Yannick is such a cool guy and with Patrick (Beven), Micky (Picon) they all really boost me so I’m loving it !”
The next Call is set to 10am tomorrow Saturday, August 4, 2012. Tomorrow’s proceedings should see the Men complete the Round of 32 and the quarter-finals, and the Women re-enter the water for their quarter-finals matchups.
The 2012 Wahrld Pro Junior is scheduled from August 2-5 in A Coruna. For all results, photos, video highlights, press releases as well as webcast LIVE log on to http://wahrld.aspeurope.com
UPCOMING WAHRLD PRO JUNIOR MEN’S ROUND OF 32 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR), Borja Agote (EUK), Fransisco Alves (PRT), José Ferreira (PRT) Heat 2: Pedro Correia (PRT), Imanol Yeregi (EUK), Natxo Gonzalez (EUK), Soli Bailey (AUS) Heat 3: Ugo Robin (FRA), Ian Fontaine (FRA), Nelson Cloarec (FRA), Mihimana Braye (PYF) Heat 4: Roberto Letemendia (EUK), Ethan Egiguren (EUK), Diego Mignot (FRA), Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) Heat 5: Frederico Morais (PRT), Miguel Blanco (PRT), Nomme Mignot (FRA), Gaspard Larsonneur (FRA) Heat 6: Marcelino Botin (ESP), Pierre Rollet (FRA), Kieran Bulard (REU), Diogo Appleton (PRT) Heat 7: Tom Cloarec (FRA), Vicente Romero (ESP), Will Davey (GBR), Guilherme Fonseca (PRT) Heat 8: Manex Bikuna (EUK), Alex Gironi (EUK), Luis Eyre (GBR), Dimitri Ouvre (GLP)
UPCOMING WAHRLD PRO JUNIOR WOMEN’S QUARTER-FINALS MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Maud Le Car (FRA), Garazi Sanchez Ortun (EUK), Camille Davila (FRA), Marion Bouzigues (FRA) Heat 2: Erika Franco (ESP), Keshia Eyre Seelow (PRT), Leticia Canales Bilbao (EUK), Ainara Aymat (EUK) Heat 3: Cannelle Bulard (REU), Carina Duarte (PRT), Loiola Canales Bilbao (EUK), Lucia Martino (ESP) Heat 4: Maria Abecasis (PRT), Yolanda Aneiros (ESP), Tanika Hoffman (ZAF), Ana Morau (FRA)
WAHRLD PRO JUNIOR MEN’S ROUND OF 64 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) , Charly Quivront (FRA), Pedro Correia (PRT), Harry Timson (GBR) Heat 2: Borja Agote (EUK) 13.33, Imanol Yeregi (EUK) 8.56, Mateia Hiquily (PYF) 8.03, Josh Piper (GBR) 6.80 Heat 3: Natxo Gonzalez (EUK) 13.67, Francisco Alves (PRT) 10.33, Jorgann Couzinet (REU) 6.33, Timothee Bisso (GLP) 4.33 Heat 4: Soli Bailey (AUS) 14.33, José Ferreira (PRT) 11.90, Joao Kopke (PRT) 7.17, Juan Diaz-Teran (ESP) 5.94 Heat 5: Ugo Robin (FRA) 11.77, Roberto Letemendia (EUK) 8.44, Arthur Lasse (FRA) 7.20, Joshua Braddock (GBR) 5.16 Heat 6: Ian Fontaine (FRA) 9.93, Ethan Egiguren (EUK) 9.06, Txaber Gaminde (EUK)7.07, Thomas Fernandez (PRT) 5.33 Heat 7: Diego Mignot (FRA) 12.06, Nelson Cloarec (FRA) 9.70, Luke Dillon (GBR) 7.80, Vehiatua Prunier (PYF) 6.87 Heat 8: Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) 15.17, Mihimana Braye (PYF) 12.94, Alex Iriondo (EUK) 6.60, Guillermo Gomez (ESP) 5.20 Heat 9: Frederico Morais (PRT) 18.67, Marcelino Botin (ESP) 8.40, Roberto D’Amico (ITA) 7.23, Diego Alvarez Lourido (EUK) 6.00 Heat 10: Miguel Blanco (PRT) 11.83, Pierre Rollet (FRA) 8.16, Pedro Coelho (PRT) 6.97, Gatien Delahaye (GLP) 5.00 Heat 11: Kieran Bulard (REU) 11.33, Nomme Mignot (FRA) 11.27, Ander Mendiguren (EUK) 10.67, Lucas Jannier (REU) 6.53 Heat 12: Diogo Appleton (PRT) 15.77, Gaspard Larsonneur (FRA) 9.77, Malik Berho (FRA) 7.83, Juan Fernandez (ESP) 5.87 Heat 13: Tom Cloarec (FRA) 13.27, Manex Bikuna (EUK) 8.80, Guillaume Cassaigne (FRA) 6.57, Julen Egiguren (EUK) 4.63 Heat 14: Vicente Romero (ESP) 15.56, Alex Gironi (EUK) 10.00, Charly Termeau (FRA) 9.00, Miguel Perez-Moneo (EUK) 7.13 Heat 15: Luis Eyre (GBR) 10.93, Will Davey (GBR) 9.87, Simon Sew-Heng (REU) 7.84, Toby Donachie (GBR) 5.80 Heat 16: Dimitri Ouvre (GLP) 15.90, Guilherme Fonseca (PRT) 8.80, Tom Good (GBR) 7.50, Luis Ansin (ESP) 5.16
