In fairly average conditions, The Central Coast’s North Shelly Board Riders have taken out the NSW North Qualifying event at Dixon Park in Newcastle. Read below to see what went down.
The Central Coast’s North Shelley Boardriders have upstage twelve other clubs to claim the Jim Beam Surftag NSW North Qualifying event at Dixon Park in Newcastle.
Despite tricky 1m waves, the relatively unknown team of Sam Patterson, Russell Maloney, Shane Holmes, Cameron Sharpe and Ryan Bignold outclassed rival clubs from Avoca, Port Macquarie and Umina to post an emphatic victory.
In a low scoring final which had less than seven points separating all four teams, it was the outstanding performance of North Shelley team member Russell Maloney that set up the win.
Maloney capitalised on a linking left hander early in the 60 minute final, putting in two classy backside wafts to post an 8.50 score, the highest of the day. Being his second “power wave” the score was doubled and put North Shelley into the lead.
The sharp surfing of seasoned professionals Drew Courtney and Glen Hall clawed Umina back into the fold through the latter stages of the final and at the death North Shelly needed to post a 1.50 score to steal the win. Team surfer Ryan Bignold rose to the challenge, using smart surfing tactics to grab a last ditch ride and lock in a 2.47, enough to claim first spot.
“It was a good team effort, we were a bit sketchy at the start and the points were really close but it was unreal to come away with the win at the end,” said Maloney. “North Shelly has got a good support base and we are a fairly big club, so it’s good for all the members, not just the guys who surfed today.”
“We were up against a few surfers who have been on the world tour and who do the world qualifying series so to have a solid team and get the win is really satisfying.”
Bignolds’ last-ditch effort had the North Shelley supporters screaming on the Dixon Park hill over looking the beach.
“I had the adrenalin pumping at the end there, it all came down to tactics,” said Bignold. “We are in the finals now, we need to redeem ourselves because we had a shocker down there last year.”
The final scores had North Shelly on 60.76, Umina 58.42, Port Macquarie 53.64 and Avoca 53.00.
All four finalist clubs from today’s event have qualified to compete in the Jim Beam Surftag Final, which will be held at Avalon on Sydney’s Northern Beaches starting February 3rd.
The series will now move to Torquay Victoria for the second regional qualifying event next weekend (December 18).
The 2011 Jim Beam Surftag is proudly supported by FCS, Sanyo and O’Neill. Media partners for the series are Swellnet and Tracks surfing magazine.
Results 1st North Shelley 2nd Umina 3rd Port Macquarie 4th Avoca 5th Merewether 6th Catherine Hill 7th Tea Tree 8th MacMasters 9th Forresters 10th Boomerang 11th Norah Head 12th Wamberall 13th Northside
2010/11 Jim Beam Surftag Dates And Locations Oct 15 Industry Challenge (Curl Curl) – (Winner – Quiksilver) Oct 16 Trade Off (Curl Curl) – (Winner – Bondi Life Guards) Nov 13 Women’s Surftag (Dee Why) – (Winner – Norah Head Women In Waves) Dec 11 NSW North Surftag (Newcastle) Dec 18 Victoria Surftag (TBC) Jan 8 West Australia Surftag (TBC) Jan 15 Queensland Surftag (Duranbah) Jan 29/30 NSW South Surftag (Cronulla) Feb 3/4/5 Surftag Australian Final (Northern Beaches, Sydney)
