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BOBBY HANSEN WINS VONZIPPER TRIALS
Author: ASP World Tour
Despite the conditions being somewhat tiny at North Narrabeen Beach, Sydney, Australia, the action was hot as competitors in the vonzipper Trials put on a tremendous display of small wave surfing as the waves slowly built throughout the afternoon.
The vonzipper Trials event is held prior to the main event – the men’s Billabong World Junior Championships – and determines the four remaining wildcards to join the best 44 under-20 surfers on the planet, who are already slotted into the first round draw.
The four finalists, and now main event competitors, included Bobby Hansen (NZ), Beau Walker (AUS), Blake Thornton (AUS) and Jean Estienne (FRA).
They finished the final in that order with Hansen claiming the victory after dominating all day. Showing brilliant flair he demolished almost every wave he rode and will certainly be one to watch when he attacks round one of the main event.
Organisers are hopeful to get underway again with either the men’s or ladie's tomorrow as forecasts are looking positive over the next few days with a decent north-east swell predicted.
“It’s looking like being one of the best starts to the event that we have had in years,” said Contest Director Luke Egan. “We should see a kick in swell tomorrow [Sunday, New Years Day] before a southerly change, then we should see a new swell build from that. It’s also forecasted to get reasonably solid later next week.”
Organisers will convene at 7.30am tomorrow with the hope of there being an 8am start.
The event is the premiere ASP International junior competition and both the men and women divisions follow contest formats identical to those of the elite World Championship Tours.
In the men’s there are 48 surfers who will compete in a man on man format after the first round of three man heats while in the women’s there will be 18 surfers who will also compete in a man on man format.
Surfers in the draw come from the seven ASP regions including North America, Europe, Asia, Hawaii, South Africa, South America and host region Australasia.
The full draw for tomorrow plus information on the competitors can be found on www.billabongpro.com or www.aspworldtour.com
Billabong and ASP will be hosting a full live webcast of the event every day also on the websites above.