Australian up-and-comers Brent Savage (Casuarina), Jack Freestone (Coolangatta) and Noah Lane (Rainbow Beach). |
Australian up-and-comers Brent Savage (Casuarina NSW, Australia), Jack Freestone (pictured, Coolangatta, QLD, Australia) and Noah Lane (Rainbow Beach, QLD, Australia) have stolen the spotlight from their high profile opponents on day-two of the Association Of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 4-Star, Breaka Burleigh Pro. Brent Savage (Casuarina NSW, Australia) was this mornings outstanding surfer obliterating the barrelling Burleigh waves and performing some amazing manoeuvres on his way to posting a near-perfect 9.87 ride (out of a possible 10) in his round-two victory. Savage said that local surfers definitely have an advantage surfing the world-renowned point break of Burleigh Heads. Burleighs a tricky wave and surfing these points all the time definitely gives the local surfers an advantage, said Savage. Knowing the right waves to catch is crucial and in my heat I let a few waves go and when that good one came, I knew a good score was there for the taking with bigger waves tomorrow it’s going to be exciting, he said. Meanwhile, Noah Lane (Rainbow Beach, QLD, Australia) caused the events biggest upset to date eliminating elite ASP World Tour surfer Tanner Gudauskas (USA) in one of the closest heats of the day. Lanes precise and powerful backhand attack saw him register a combined two-wave total of 12.84 (out of a possible 20) with Beau Atchison (Central Coast NSW, Australia) also advancing in second position (12.83), while Tanner Gudauskas missed out by less than one point managing a 12.07 to finish third with Damon Harvey (Coolangatta QLD, Australia) finishing fourth. Also, Jack Freestone (Coolangatta QLD, Australia) lived up to the hype surrounding his growing profile in the surfing community, with the 17-year-old posting a combined two-wave total of 11.83 (out of a possible 20) casually disposing of the Sunshine Coasts (Queensland, Australia) Shane Doyle and Hawaiis Makai McNamara. Freestone who is only ning his promising junior (20 years and under) career, said that his main goal was to try and make it to a heat against one of the elite ASP World Tour competitors. To get a chance to surf competitively against someone like Mick Fanning would be a dream come true, said Freestone. That would give me so much experience to be able to apply to my junior surfing and it’d definitely be something I’d never forget, he said. Tomorrow will see the entrance of 1999 World Champion Mark Occhilupo (AUS) as well as the much publicised return of the enigmatic wildcard Nick Wood (AUS). Stay tuned to events website breakaburleighsurfpro.com.au for news, photos and updates relating to the Breaka Burleigh Surf Pro. The Breaka Burleigh Surf Pro will commence on February 17 and conclude on February 21, 2010. The event will be live web ning on the opening day. Connect to the live web at the mini-site via www.aspworldtour.com