| Nic Jones shows outstanding surf skills at the Hyundai Malfunction Surf Festival |
| Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:26 |
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Itwas ‘Super Saturday’ at the 2010 edition of the Hyundai Malfunction Surf Festival today, with sensational semi-final action at Kingscliff. In easing 3ft peeling conditions, a mix of old, young, male and female competitors went head-to-head across several divisions in the race for all-important finals berths. All up, 22 heats were completed on the penultimate day of competition. The future of Australian longboarding looks bright with competitors in the Aboods Crane Trucks under 18 boys division going to town in the morning’s glassy waves. Leading the pack was Buderim young gun Nic Jones, who top scored in the division with a combined two-wave total of 15.7, which included an excellent scoring 8.5 and a strong 7.2, to defeat Jack Lynch (Scotts Head 13.5), Ed Cunningham (Bundaberg, 10), Scott Moir (Palm Beach6.5) and Col Elwaine ( NSW, 2.5). The young Sunshine Coast surfer stole the show from his fellow juniors, blending some stylish footwork with multiple nose rides and strong cutbacks to power through to tomorrow’s finals. 15-year-old Jones said he had a great time in his opening under 18 boy’s heat. “I was loving it out there,” said Jones. “The water was warm, the sun was shining and I got a few nice waves. Hopefully I can repeat my performance in tomorrow’s finals.” Burleigh Head’s ace Clinton Guest was just as impressive in the opening heat of the under 18 boy’s division, netting a 6.0 and 7.5 to beat Lee Cooper (Maroochydore, George Cunningham (Bundaberg) and Oscar Lalor (Apollo Bay). When tomorrow’s final kicks off, Guest will face-off with Jones, Lynch and Cooper in a talent-packed affair. But the Old Mal competitors didn’t let the youngsters show them up, with Victorian Jordie Brown and Evans Head surfer Issac Fields throwing their pre-1967 boards around as if they were new, high performance longboards. The Greenline Stand Up Paddle Surfing semi-finals were tightly fought with entrants lifting their game in the high stakes showdown. Lennox Head’s Noel Graham and Sunshine Coast star Keahi De Aboitiz were the superior riders on the day, winning their respective semi’s to storm into tomorrow’s finals. They will be joined by defending division champion James ‘Billy’ Watson (Burleigh) and Andy Davies (Lennox Head), who finished their semis in second place. The Retro semi-finals were also run today, with defending champion Harley Ingleby (Emerald Beach), Matt Aldridge (Coolangatta), Jared Neal (Coffs Harbour) and Brett Caller all progressing into the final. Competition will continue tomorrow with finals kicking off at 7.30am and finishing by 3.00pm (NSW EST).
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