Defending Champions Salisbury and Fitzgibbons take a unique double in the Under 18s

Source: Surfing Australia www.surfingaustralia.com

Chris Salisbury (Newport Beach) and Sally Fitzgibbons (Gerroa) are the 2007 Quiksilver under 18 boy and girl NSW state champions decided today on the NSW Central Coast following five days of super surfing at the excellent Shelly Beach venue which delivered great waves throughout.

Both were the defending under 18 champions at this event to claim unique double titles today.

Salisbury opened the final in the best possible way by finding an outstanding opening ride in the first minute of the final. A series of critical backhand re entries saw him rewarded with a huge 8.75 score. His rivals tried throughout to find a similar excellent scoring ride but were unable to catch the leader.

After his win Salisbury said – “So happy to win again, it’s such a high quality field and you really have to surf well to win here – It’s also a relief to qualify for the Australian titles and I’ll focus on that event now!”

Sally Fitzgibbons (Sth Coast NSW/Gerroa) surfed a great final in the under 18 girls and was again pushed to the end by her rival Laura Enever (Nth Narrabeen). Fitzgibbons held a narrow lead throughout and on her final ride put the result beyond doubt with an excellent 8 point ride.

“I’m looking forward to the Aussie Titles again and the NSW team is going to be awesome so its good to be part of such a strong team!” said Sally after her final.

Along with deciding winners of probably the hardest and most prestigious junior title of any region in the world, the results from this event also decide most of the positions to represent NSW at the all important Quiksilver Australian Grommet Titles which will run in South Australia in December. From the Australian Grommet Titles, a large part of the Australian Team is decided for representation at the ISA Quiksilver World Junior Titles in 2008.

In a one sided under 16 Girls final Tyler Wright dominated throughout and posted two early excellent 8.25 rides to leave all her opponents chasing an impossible combination of scores to try and catch her.

Under 16’s Boys final was a much closer battle with Avalon surfer Billy Bain opening the final well with a solid 5.5 ride then extending his lead with a decisive 7.5 ride mid final. Newcastle’s Ryan Callihan attempted to overtake Bain on numerous occasions but fell just short of the mark leaving Bain a stoked winner. Bain is the son of former World professional surfer of the 80’s Rob Bain.

Under 14 Girl and Boy finals opened the day and the Mid North Coast of NSW excelled with Ellie Jean Coffey (Crescent Head) and Matt Banting (Port MacQuarie) taking convincing wins.

All finalists in the under 18 and under 16 Boy divisions as well as Girls under 18 division along with top three placed surfers in the under 16 Girls qualified for the NSW Junior Team along with 3rd placed semi finalists in the Boys 18 and 16 divisions.

Scan the results and check out the image gallery from this event in upcoming days on www.surfingaustralia.com and it’s easy to see that NSW will send another formidable team to the Australian Titles and the message from this event to all other states is, look out for The Cockroaches!

Results:
Under 18 Boys: Chris Salisbury, Sam Wrench, Owen Wright, Sam Lendrum.
Under 18 Girls: Sally Fitzgibbons, Laura Enever, Stephanie Sallis, Kirstie Jones
Under 16 Boys: Billy Bain, Ryan Callihan, Jake Sylvester, Troy Skillen.
Under 16 Girls: Tyler Wright, Phillipa Anderson, Ali Kelly, Rachel Prinsek.
Under 14 Boys: Matt Banting, Soli Bailey, Jesse Horner, Zac Scott
Under 14 Girls: Ellie Jean Coffey, Lana Parkes, Lauren McAleer, Kirsten Ogden

Semi finalist boys 3rd placed surfers who also qualified for the NSW team are Davey Cathels and Perth Standlick in the under 18’s and in the under 16’s Adam Dunlop and Max Ashford.
Note Well – Under 14’s do not compete at the national titles.

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