Noah Lane (Rainbow Beach/Queensland) and Laura Enever (North Sydney Beaches/NSW) have won the Pro Junior Men’s and Women’s divisions of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Australasia Fantastic Noodles Pro Junior.

In very good three-to-four feet (1 meter) surf both surfers produced outstanding 9 point plus rides to secure today’s wins.

Laura Enever ‘s victory was one of the best of her career and has further extended her lead on the ASP Australasian Pro Junior Series Women’s ratings for 2009.

Seventeen year old Enever was staring at a big defeat at the half way stage in the final which saw Tyler Wright open with a strong 7.75 and shortly after take a commanding lead with an excellent 8.75.

Enever, with just two moderate scoring rides was requiring a combination of scores to take the lead and with just 10 minutes remaining in the 30 minute final she found an excellent wave, unleashed four major bottom to powerful top turn snaps and found herself right back in the final when she was awarded the finals top scoring ride of a 9.25.

Her task was still difficult, requiring a 7.25 to win with Wright also holding priority and by the time Enever had returned to the outside peak the final had less than 5 minutes to go.

Surprisingly Wright allowed Enever to take a mid-sized wave under priority (Wright had the right to take the wave) and Enever wasted no time extracting every potential point out of the ride which she rode through to the beach and was awarded a 7.35 to take the final on 16.60 out of a possible 20 to Wright on 16.50.

“I never gave up at all in the final even tho I knew Tyler had a big lead” said Enever.

“I scored a 9.8 in the opening round so I actually thought I need to do that again and I was chasing a 9.5 ride to try and win it on one wave when I caught that second last ride.”

When the score dropped at 9.25 and it wasn’t quite enough to take the lead I at least realized another reasonably strong ride would win it and that’s exactly what happened, --- I’m quite proud to come back and win like that, it feels like a hard fought out win.”

“My ratings lead is extended and I feel really comfortable to fully qualify for the ASP World Junior Championships (top two on the season ratings qualify) and my goal this year was to win the ASP Australasian Junior Series and I’m on track to achieve that.”

In contrast to the closely fought out Pro Junior Women’s final, the Men’s was a very one-sided affair which saw Queensland’s Noah Lane dominate with two outstanding 9 point-plus scoring rides to easily defeat David Vlug (North Sydney Beaches) on a score-line of Lane on 18.05 out of a possible 20 to Vlug on 9.35.

“That was an awesome final for me and in my last year on the Pro Junior circuit it’s such a relief to finally win one” said 19 year old Lane.

“This win also jumps me up the ratings to fifth place and with the top four to qualify for the ASP World Junior Championships I’m in a great position.”

“Next week in Bali is a big event for me and I’ll hopefully further improve my position.”

It was Vlug’s first final at ASP Pro Junior level and he simply couldn’t get the right waves in the final to match Lane’s powerful scoring today.

Today’s event was blessed with the best waves over the three days which all enjoyed ideal offshore winds.

South Australia’s best performed surfer was Khai Adams (Victor Harbour) who placed was eliminated in the round of 16 and finished the event in equal 13th place overall.

At 17 years of age Adam’s has three seasons more on this circuit and only competes in a few of these events at this stage. His performance at this event was his best ever at this level and plans to follow the circuit more seriously next year.

Multiple Australian Champion Iron Man Trevor Hendy (Gold Coast Qld) participated in a celebrity Fantastic Noodles Drop In surf event today before the two finals and he displayed his talents on a performance surfboard stealing the show ahead of three other celebrities including Lehmo (Channel 10 Before the Game comedian compare).

The ASP Australasian Pro Junior Series now heads straight to Bali for the Grade-5 Rated Billabong Pro Junior to be run at Keramas and with forecasts indicating a seriously big swell to hit in two days time, all competitors who are flying from Adelaide in the morning for Bali are excited at the prospects of surfing huge quality waves.

SOURCE: Surfing Australia