After an action packed finals day Lincoln Taylor has been crowned the winner of the inaugural Red Bull Junior Surf Masters. The innovative new event showcased the outstanding depth of talent in the Australian junior ranks and Taylor's victory did not come easily.

Taylor won three tight heats today including an exciting dual with dynamic south coast surfer Owen Wright in the final. Wright pulled off a huge air reverse early in the heat and had the lead until Taylor answered back with a long wave and a series of searing backside snaps.

On the winner's podium Taylor gratefully accepted the $10,000 winner's cheque and made a humble acceptance speech. "The conditions were pretty tricky out there and I was lucky to get the better waves in the final. It's been such an awesome event. It's the best set up I've seen for a junior surfing event."

Taylor, 20, is currently ranked second on the Australian Junior Series. "I don't have a sponsor at the moment so this is an awesome win for me," he said. "I'd like to have a crack at the World Qualifying Series next year and I'll use this prize money to help with my travel expenses."

Equal third today were Heath Joske (Coffs Harbour) and Chris Salisbury (Newport).

Red Bull Junior Surf Masters, presented by Mick Fanning, offers the biggest prize pool for an Australian junior event ($50,000) and introduced a brand new contest format called 'Torched'. The premise for the event was to support junior surfing at a grass roots level and to help talented young surfers achieve their dreams of succeeding as professional surfers.

Mick Fanning was a keen onlooker throughout the final three days and labeled the series a success. "I've been really impressed with the standard of surfing I've seen throughout the event," said the current ASP World Champion. "I've been talking with the competitors and they all seem happy with the series which is the main thing."

After a day of travel from Portugal, the first competitors of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 5-Star Movistar O’Neill Pantin Classic were able to get their Spanish campaign underway in good four to five foot (1.2 to 1.5 meter) waves. Round 1 was completed and 10 heats of the second round were done today offering some excellent and promissing levels of surfing.

With less entries than on the previous events, proceedings got into serious clashes straight away and some renowned names who have already shined this summer in Europe had their go on Day 1 of competition.

Wiggoly Dantas (BRA), 18, who won the ASP WQS 5-Star event in England and placed equal 9th in the ASP WQS 6-Star contest in Portugal last week, lost no time to remind his opponents of his good form and improving surfing. Dantas, who arrived a month ago out of the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) Top 100, now sits No. 55 and will once again be a potential giant killer when he reaches Round 3.

"It is good to have some consistent waves and be able to have fun competing," Dantas said. "It was hard in the last event but I was stoked to make it that far. It looks like Pantin is going to be big and today was already solid enough to get some scores so it is really good."

Dantas, who posted an excellent 9.33 point ride out of a possible 10 in his first encounter of the day, managed to get through Round 2 after placing second in Heat 8 of Round 2.

Dantas was not the only Brazilian to shine on Day 1 of competition as fellow coutryman and current WQS No. 10 Pedro Henrique (BRA) came up with two strong performances winning both his heats after starting in Round 1 due to a late entry. Henrique, who placed equal 9th in Portugal last sunday, was on fire in the consistent surf and will be looking for another keeper for his ratings’ total in Pantin.

"I am so stoked to already have these two heats out of the way," Henrique said. "I was not planning to come here but I decided to enter while in Portugal knowing I was risking a shocker in first round but it is done now. It seems like we are going to get some solid waves this week so it is event better.