Stuart Kennedy Notches Up His First Win at the Kus...

JAN JUC BEACH, Australia (Monday, January 14, 2008) - Stuart Kennedy (18 years/Lennox Head NSW) today joined a very prestigious list of past winning surfers that include Mick Fanning, Dean Morrison and Bede Durbridge by winning the 2008 Kustom Jetty Surf Pro Junior.



It was Kennedy’s best win of his career in solid surf 2m surf at Bells Beach. Kennedy peaked right on cue in the 30 minute grueling final with two excellent waves score of 8.65 and an 8.0 to take a very strong win over Gold Coast surfer Nick Vasicek whose two wave heat tally totaled 13.40.



It was also Kennedy’s first win on the ASP Australasia Pro Junior circuit and sets up his season with the Kustom Jetty Surf being the biggest points and prize money event for the year.



“So good to win and especially in these waves on the final day – I’ve actually been training really hard over the last 6 months and building my fitness and strength for a serious go on the circuit this year and straight away it seems to have paid off ! We had to surf four times in rough and large surf and I felt strong and confident in the final despite knowing that I was really tired – It’s great to win the opening event of the season and it’s the perfect start to try and win this series and qualify for the ASP World Junior Titles at the end of the year.”



It was also Vasicek’s (Coolangatta) best ever performance on the Pro Junior Circuit. The former Australian under 18 champion has been a consistent quarter finalist in these events but has never threatened to win until today.



“I’m naturally disappointed not to take out the final but still I feel good having achieved my best result – I’ve set myself goals of winning this year on this circuit and qualifying for the world’s so this is a great start – The waves were excellent today and I was confident going into the final but Stuart surfed a smarter final, picked the best waves and has obviously surfed them well to take the win.”



The biggest swell of the summer season greeted the surfers today and made for an excellent test of solid wave surfing along with endurance with the finalists required to surf four times.



International surfers looked like causing an upset today with Sth Africa’s Klee Strachan, French surfer Maxime Huscenot and Hawaiian Granger Larson all winning their early morning heats today. Strachan made it through to the semi finals after clashing with and defeating Larson in the quarter finals. He went down in a close semi to eventual winner Kennedy.



Fifteen year old Huscenot was also defeated in the quarter finals but gained some consolation by winning the Cadet Cup final which ran just prior to today’s Junior Men’s final.



Manly surfer Nick Riley was another to have notched up a great result today by making the semi finals where he was defeated by Vasicek. Equal 3rd placing for Riley is a strong opening result to a season that Riley is expected to be a serious challenger for the overall ratings.



Local surfer Josh Johnson – Baxter (Ocean Grove) was the best placed local surfer finishing 9th overall in what was his best ever result.



All competitors now head off to Victoria’s East Coast on the Mornington Peninsula for the second event on the series, the Ozmosis/Nova Pro Junior which runs at Gunnamatta Beach beginning on Wednesday and running through to Sunday January 20th.



The Kustom Jetty Surf Pro Junior is the first event for 2008 and the richest ASP Pro Junior event in the southern hemisphere and features $35,000 prize money across three divisions.